Southeast Asian Studies, Vo1.38, No.3, December 2000 Farmers and Forests: A Changing Phase in Northeast Thailand Buared PRACHAIYO * * The author was a forest ecologist at Khon Kaen Regional Forest Office of the Royal Forestry Department of Thailand, and joined CSEAS as a visiting research fellow from May 1995 to April 1996. On October 28, 1996 he passed away in Thailand. - 3 - 271 Contents Preface ( 5 ) 1. Introduction ( 6 ) 2. Northeast Thailand .. (14) 1. Area (14) 2. Farmers (22) 3. Forest (29) 4. l.and Utilization (38) 5. Paddy Fields (43) 3. Farmers' Use of Forest and Encroachment into the Forests (50) 1. Wood Products (50) 2. Non-wood Forest Products··············································...................................................... (53) 3. Forest Degradation (61) 4. Man and Forest Interaction (72) 1. Fuel-wood (72) 2. Community Forest (79) 3. Forest Conservation by the Farmers (92) 4. Trees on Paddy Fields (105) 5. Mitigation of Forest Degradation (122) 5. The Role of Forest in the Socio-economic Life of the Farmers (134) 1. Trees and Farmers (134) 2. Trees and Paddy Fields (137) 3. Farmers, Trees and Paddy Fields (138) 4. Trees and Home Economy of Farmers (141) 5. Farmers and Society (144) 6. Conclusion and Proposals (146) 1. Conclusion (146) 2. Recommendations (148) Bibliography . (153) Appendix I (157) Appendix II (176) 272 - 4 - Preface Writing a preface for this special paper by the late Mr. Buared Prachaiyo is a sorrowful task for me. This paper would have been his doctoral dissertation if he were alive. I met Mr. Buared for the first time on January 19, 1991 at Khon Kaen Regional Forest Office of Royal Forestry Department of Thailand, where he worked as a forest ecologist. We had been assigned by the Mekong Secretariat to find the cause of and countermeasures to soil salinization in Korat Plateau. Close collaboration between a pedologist and a forest ecologist was strongly needed to achieve this goal, and it was the late Mr. Buared who was chosen to tackle the task. A Thai soil expert, Mr. Manop Tandatemiya of Department of Land Development, and a Japanese forest ecologist, Dr. Yamada Isamu, also joined the team. Mr. Buared's extensive knowledge of the phytogeography of the Karat Plateau was very effective for discovering how vegetation types and index plants correlated with the pedo­ geomorphological nature of terrains. Mr. Buared was familiar with many Japanese scholars as a result of his enthusiasm for collaboration, which was based on his love of disclosing nature's truths and his respect for his countrymen. In May 1995, Mr. Buared came to Kyoto to stay at Center for Southeast Asian Studies of Kyoto University for one year in order to write a doctoral dissertation on man's role in managing and recreating the forest in Korat Plateau. He ambitiously studied the topic: disclosing the ecology of various forest types; inventorying the traditional ways of forest use; studying the history of deforestation, creation of rice fields and community forest build-up; respecting the religious beliefs that have been fostered in the forest environment. His paper was almost completed at the end of April 1996, when a heart disorder struck him. He returned to Thailand for a heart operation, and in July we received a letter from him saying that he was feeling better. He wrote love of his work and his wish that we could work again together like in the old beautiful days, and he wrote his hope to see us soon both in Khon Kaen and Kyoto. On October 28, 1996, to our great sorrow, he passed away suddenly at his home. According to his will, a forest park and forestry library were created at his home school. It is a small consolation to us that we can now dedicate his last publication to Buared Memorial Forestry Library. May he sleep peacefully embraced by our common great teacher the Buddha. Furukawa Hisao Professor of Ecological History Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies Kyoto University - 5 - 273 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Preface ofthe Study Forests and farmers are an old combination which depends very much on the complementary relationship between them. Forests play important roles that precede the start of human activities. Trees as the main component of forest provide many products to satisfy the farmers' needs. Farmers have learned step by step from trees and forests and gradually created ways of handling them, which finally transformed into the tradition of each community and remain alive in the processes of performances and rituals necessary for living. 1.1.1 Justification ofthe Study The main idea of the study is motivated by observing the fact that the farmers are strongly supported by forest and non-wood forest products. The significance of the forest seems to have deep roots in time immemorial when the trees in natural forests were plentiful. The importance of the forest seems to be blurred in the modern times. But due to the increase of the farmers' population and the controversial decrease of trees and forests, the significance of forests has become more clearly among many people. The community forest is now frequently referred to as the proper method to manage the national forests. Community forest, indeed, is not new at all. Many indigenous people realize the important role of trees and create many forms of community forests for the benefit of their community. The changing condition of forest is the main reason that this topic has attracted wide interest. Farmers are normally concerned with four types of trees: trees in natural forests, trees in home compounds, trees in paddy fields, and trees in community forests. The trees of each type are all important to their living. They use various kinds of products, such as timber from trees in natural forest, vegetables from trees planted in the home compound and so on. I was born in a rural village, and I spent my childhood years among circumstance where trees and forests were flourishing around my village and provided my neighbors with many products. I spent some days in collecting fuel-wood, mushrooms, and vegetables with my ancestors, spent days in the paddy field during the cultivating season. The farmers' ways of living is one of my favorites. Studying in the Faculty of Forestry in an academic institution was not only my duty but really made my life. For nearly two decades I worked to serve this particular need in both carrying on many research works in Forest Ecology, Management, Social Forestry, learning through personal contacts with most of my farmer friends, and through my own observation. All of the work done was reported at many seminars and meetings at both national and international levels in order to foster a better understanding about the relation between trees and the farmers and how to maintain them. This paper is a part of my previous works done in community forest studies. The compilation 274 - 6 - B. PRACHAlYO: ch. 1 Introduction into one document will give a clue for people to learn about the importance of the relations between farmers and the forest. 1.1.2 Scope ofthe Study The study is focused on the farmers' roles in changing the forest conditions. The farmers' roles are mainly the results of living in their communities such as daily activities, land occupations, social events; and the changes in the forest are mostly forest disappearance, decreasing of forest products; also formulation of the rules for the community to maintain their forest. 1.1.3 The Objective ofStudy There are four main targets of this study: the compilation of the farmers' ways of maintaining their community forests, such as community organization, duties and rules; facts concerning the existing forests and forest products; possible methodologies to increase the number of community forests, forest plantations; and protection of natural forests. With these objectives, I hope very much to see some outputs such as cordial cooperation among the farmers, officials and private sectors to carryon activities to protect the natural forests for farmers' use; fruitful community forest projects in every community; and the willingness of the farmers to plant trees for their own use and to increase the number of commercial forests. 1.2 The Importance ofthe Study 1.2.1 Trees and Buddhists Since before the Buddhist Era, trees and people have had a very close relation, and many works of literature describe in detail that our King Buddha was born in the middle of the forest on the way to his grandfather's home. During the beginning of his monkhood period he spent a lot of time meditating within the dense forest. On the last night in his self-learning he sat under the big canopy of mujarintara tree (Eugenia cumini) for one week with the final meditation after his enlightenment. His first teaching on makabucha night (the full moon night of the third month in lunar calendar) among the 1,250 monks was done in a bamboo grove. He spent his last day under the couple of sal tree (Shorea robusta) in his last teaching and then passed away. The Ficus religiosa tree was native to his funeral place at Kusinara city in Nepal. The tree now plays an important role as the Buddhist tree of the world. The propagation of massive planting has continued for centuries and the tree is now flourishing in nearly every Buddhist temple, especially in Thailand. Buddhist temples were established later on both inside and outside of the forests. Most temples were planted with trees, and the temple forests are one of the green features in the community. People never cut the trees because they believe in the holiness of the trees since the time of the King Buddha.