Community Forest Management in Thailand: Current Situation and Dynamics in the Context of Sustainable Development

Community forest management (CFM) has received increasing worldwide attention from governments, researchers and educational institutions over the past two decades. Many governments, especially in developing countries, have prioritized CFM over traditional forest management systems. In Thailand, CFM is not recognized by the legal system; however, there are de facto CFM practices under common property resource regimes. CFM has in essence been practiced here for hundreds of years by local people, and represents an important aspect of Thai culture. This study aims at evaluating CFM in Thailand in the context of sustainable development. To meet the objective, the study gathered information through focus group discussions with various stakeholders: academics, Forest Department staff, and members of the Chang Tok Tay community forests. From the study, it emerged that forest resources are critical for the livelihoods and survival of rural people, and so they have protected forests to ensure sustainable livelihoods. This study identified that prospects for sustainable CFM in Thailand are bright because: (i) community members are highly motivated and are sufficiently interested to protect trees because they are well aware that their livelihoods are under threat from depleting forests; (ii) tradition and culture of rural people support their relation with nature; (iii) non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play a crucial role in local livelihoods for subsistence and necessitate protection of the forest watershed, which is vital to support their occupations; (iv) spiritual rituals such as those where Buddhist monks bind yellow cloth on trees play a vital role in protecting trees, something rare in other countries. The study further identified various hindrances to achieve sustainable CFM: (i) legal support for CFM is absent; (ii) the Royal Forest Department (RFD) cannot transfer appropriate technology to community people due to lack of legal support; (iii) scope for developing effective strategies for sustainable CFM by combining traditional knowledge with existing scientific knowledge is limited; (iv) a formal institutional arrangement for CFM does not exist; and (v) community members’ access to the hard technology of CFM is limited. Therefore, in addition to legalizing CFM, a formal institutional framework for elaboration, implementation and control of CFM is essential to achieve sustainable CFM in Thailand.