SPECIAL REPORT: Karen start afresh after sacrificing their land for conservation

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SPECIAL REPORT: Karen start afresh after sacrificing their land for conservation

By Piyaporn Wongruang 
The Nation Weekend

 

 

Allocated plots in Bangkloi are being demarcated to help secure their land use rights.

 

As a village head, 53-year-old Karen Nirund Pongthep felt emotional relief after one of six plaintiffs from his Bangkloi Lang village, who won a court case against the state, would finally have the temporarily allocated 7-rai plot of land demarcated.

 

He, along with the six, had filed a petition in the Administrative Court following the 2011 burnings of properties deep in Kaeng Krachan National Park by the park officials. 

 

The official demarcation of the temporary plots was a major step in securing Karen's life and future, Nirund said, and he hoped that the other two plaintiffs, and 10 other families in the village, would finally receive the same treatment by the park, now headed by a new chief, Mana Phermpool.

“Whatever you call it, land rights or anything else, we just hope that the state would not take [the land] back, but allow us, our children and grandchildren to use it. We are not demanding or anything, we just need it to allow us to continue living,” said Nirund, who has given his land to his son.

The problem of Karen villagers in Kaeng Krachan was little known until 2011 when news broke that a joint force of military and park officials at Kaeng Krachan, led by a former chief Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn, had burned 98 properties in the deep forest close to the Thai-Myanmar border. Some were later claimed by the Karen of Bangkloi Lang and nearby Pong Luek.

 

The case, being the first concerning customary and land rights reclamation in the country, was brought to the Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court last month ruled that the National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department, must pay Bt50,000 to each of the six plaintiffs for the damage done. (read SPECIAL REPORT: A painful judgement on land rights)

 

The court decided that they were indigenous Karen who once lived in the old communities known as Bangkloi Bon (the Upper Bangkloi) and Jai Pan Din (the heart of the land) in the deep forest. However, as they were located in the park their properties and farms violated forest laws.

 

Officials, on the other hand, violated their rights because they did not properly follow official procedures, although they had negotiated with people they described as “the encroachers of a minority group”. 

 

Through the courts’ six-year-long deliberations, which began in 2012, the case rejuvenated the call for the Karen’s land rights and unveiled painful facts once hidden in the deep forest of Kaeng Krachan.

 

 

Tough years

 

The status of Jai Pan Din and Bangkloi Bon villages has been debated at length, on whether they really exist and whether they are “communities” acknowledged by the state, thus qualifying for Karen’s customary land rights.

 

According to the courts’ rulings and others – including Nirund and the first chief of Kaeng Krachan, 73-year-old Samart Moungmaitong – Karen had been living on the highland and in the deep forest close to the Thai-Myanmar border for decades.

 

Nobody can confirm when they first went to live there, but there have been reports of people roaming along the border, deeper in Kaeng Krachan forest, and down along the Bangkloi and Phetchaburi rivers, resettling in houses scattered in the area.

 

This prompted park officials to deny they were a community. Jai Pen Din was actually just a marker on a military map, said Samart, with makeshift shelters of “encroachers” scattered across the area.

 

Nirund said the Karen lived that tough life, clearing forest land to grow rice and rotate their plots over eight to 10 years. Relatives would build houses close to each other, while others would build houses far away, but they were called a community, such as Bangkloi Bon or were simply known as Bangkloi. 

 

He said Bangkloi was once proclaimed as a village part of Tambon Song Phi Nong in 1971 despite the houses being scattered the area.

 

Living deep in the forest, these Karen had no record of land rights claims with the state, although the 1936 sixth land deed issuance law recognised such rights nationwide for those who had occupied and utilised the land. 

 

However, this has left them in conflict with the state in recent years, as forest officials enforce forest laws that prohibit the occupation and utilisation of forestland.

 

Complicated by an influx of newcomers, the problem boiled over into a security issue resulting in sporadic clashes that even left some Thai officers dead. 

 

As a chief of Kaeng Krachan, Samart enforced his authority in 1996 to relocate 57 Karen families living in Bangkloi Bon and Jai Pen Din to Pong Luek's vast field to resettle as the new village of Bangkloi Lang.

 

Without any policy framework but his sole authority under Section 19 of the National Parks Act that enabled him to proceed with some activities prohibited by other sections, Samart allocated plots of land averaging 7 rai each to the villagers along with new houses. 

 

However, he did not finish his work of helping the villagers resettle as he was transferred, and park chiefs after him did not continue the work, leaving the Karen in despair. 

 

Eventually, some of them decided to leave Bangkloi Lang to their old communities.

 

“It’s a very tough time for us as we moved just to realise that we could not do anything much to live. We left the land where we were once able to grow rice, to find out that the new land could not grow anything. The villagers asked me what to do next, and I said I had no idea any more. As a village head, it’s really a headache,” said Nirund.

 

 

Moving on 

 

After the relocation, Bangkloi villagers lived in desperation for about 10 years. Nirund recalled that the land at that time was too lateritic and gravelled to allow them to grow rice to feed their families. Despite being located next to the Phetch River, there was a lack of irrigation and water for households.

 

While they had to adopt a new farming style, there was not much support as their new village was located in the national park where development was not allowed.

 

The situation, however, started to improve when Chaiwat took office in late 2008, Nirund said.

 

Without any framework to address conflicting land rights claims, Chaiwat applied a similar authority as Samart to enable more development.

 

He was asked by villagers to help build a road, a bridge, a school, a malaria surveillance and treatment unit, irrigation system, and also issue Thai IDs.

 

In 2011, the Pid Thong Lung Phra Foundation stepped in to help with development. The lives of the Karen started to improve as they were assisted in adjusting to their new lifestyle, shifting from rotational farming to irrigated farming. Water and soil improved, with selective crops, including bananas, durians, and other items.

 

“I thought at that time that if they could make a living and feed their families, and we could manage and differentiate them from newcomers as well as control our area not to be encroached upon further, it should be okay to let them develop.

 

“I just did my best,” said Chaiwat, who was later labelled by human rights activists as cruel-minded for burning and demolishing the Karen’s properties.

 

 

The way forward

 

Chaiwat left Kaeng Krachan in 2014 – following a controversy concerning the disappearance of a young Karen named Billy – and Bangkloi Lang villagers were left to struggle with their new lifestyle.

 

While things have improved to a certain degree, Nirund said the land rights issue remained the most problematic. 

 

Nirund said villagers now want to have security over new plots of land. Some have not yet received allocated plots, or their land is so infertile that it is impossible to farm. Without arable land, some villagers are forced to sneak into the forest and clear it to farm.

 

“There was a case where an elderly woman sneaked back to her late husband’s field to farm, but was arrested. She was arrested in her field, and that was sad,” said Nirund.

 

When Mana entered office at Kaeng Krachan two years ago, he applied the land occupation and utilisation examination concept, under the 1998 Cabinet Resolution, and the 2014 National Council for Peace and Order order No 66, which were available to help guide his work for the villagers.

 

The department last year also put in place a new guideline to manage protected areas and watersheds.

 

Following the new guideline, the management of communities in the forest was addressed more clearly. They were separated in three groups following periods of time: before 1998, during 1998 to 2014, and after 2014.

 

The group before 1998 would have their land rights examined by cross-checking with the declaration dates of the forest they lived in. If they were found to have lived earlier, they would be subject to land use rights (CN), following the 1998 Cabinet Resolution. 

 

The second group would be allowed to continue living in the forest, but only if they are poor, as determined by a provincial committee. Big encroachers and those found living in the forest after 2014 would face law enforcement.

 

So far, the park has managed to examine the villagers’ rights in Pong Luek and Bangkloi Lang, and learned that they could only allocate them land use rights, under the 1998 Cabinet Resolution. This involved 75 people, 106 CN plots, totalling 356 rai at Bangkloi Lang, and 111 people, 138 CN plots, totalling 1095 rai at Pong Luek.

 

Land plots boundaries have also been set for 59 poor people, totalling 447 rai in both villages.

 

There were 42 relocated families, to whom the park could not allocate land plots, with a few encroachment cases near the villages.

 

The next major challenge would be land demarcation, under which villagers check their land boundaries with park officials, a joint initiative along with others, where park officials hope to gain understanding and acceptance from the villagers.

 

Mana said it would be impossible to reclaim land rights over plots in old communities any more as the present laws do not allow it. Land-use rights, he said, would be the best compromise for the villagers.

 

Nirund said the villagers did not expect much by reclaiming their rights. The younger generation, he said, is adapting to a modern lifestyle and does not want to farm like their parents.

 

But as the villagers sacrificed their land for the sake of conservation, they should be helped to get back on their feet.

 

“We lived for a long time on our land, but suddenly we became “encroachers” just because the forest was declared and covered our land. Is it us who invaded, or the state? They found us and labelled us as “encroachers”, is that right? It’s not,” said Nirund.

 

“It’s a lack of understanding between us. I myself do not think that we want to go back there anymore, but the challenge is how to help us get on our feet and continue living here. It’s  some sacrifice needed from all of us.”

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30349524

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-07-07

[canopy]

23 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Without arable land, some villagers are forced to sneak into the forest and clear it to farm.

 

They are not forced to do anything. It's time to stop sugar coating the truth and call it what it is: these people are deliberately destroying national forests and they won't stop and they don't care. Look at that map that shows new encroachment spots in just two years. These are not old lands. Before long they may succeed in having burned down everything. Then what? What is worse, killing a black panther or destroying the last remaining habitats of such great creatures so they will never be able to exist in the wild again? This is the tragedy unfolding right in front of us.