(Photo by Kaeng Krachan National Park)

 

The listing of Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex as a World Heritage Site has added another jewel to Thailand’s collection of globally-recognized natural and cultural treasures. However, UNESCO’s inscription also further complicates a long-running dispute involving Kaeng Krachan’s ethnic forest dwellers.

 

The July 26 recognition by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee has added to concerns about the livelihoods and rights of Karen villagers who have lived in the forest for decades.

 

Pinnapa “Muenoor” Prueksapan, a Karenni woman whose activist husband disappeared in 2014, said the UNESCO listing could make the lives of Karen people in Kaeng Krachan’s Bang Kloi village more difficult.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/did-unesco-add-fuel-to-the-fire-by-inscribing-kaeng-krachan-forest-complex/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-08-04

 

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6 hours ago, webfact said:

UNESCO listing could make the lives of Karen people in Kaeng Krachan’s Bang Kloi village more difficult.

That is an understatement.

The Karen have been kicked out of the park twice already. (Their ancestors have lived there for more than 100 years. Long before it became a National Park.)

Some villagers have been jailed and some have been assaulted. (The head of the park was jailed for a while for what he ordered to be done to the villagers.)