inspiration in the hills

Terraces of rice paddies are spreading over the hills of Doi Phukha National Park under a project to create harmony between its forests and the people who dwell among them.

 As the park's chief, Poonsatit Wongsawat, explains, the paddies are just one part of a grand-scale project launched in 2004 to give locals joint management of protected areas for sustainable use. The aim is to end the chronic problems of slash-and-burn farming and tree clearance, which are endangering the national forest reserves as well as the locals themselves.

Giving locals control

 "This is a pivotal project that will last for six years. The idea is to let locals live in the forests as long as they protect the national park and its natural resources," he said.

 A collaboration between the National Park, the Raks Thai Foundation and the Mekong Environment and Resource and Institute, with financial support from Denmark's Danida aid agency, the project encompasses 14 villages which are helping to protect a combined area of almost 200,000 rai (32,000 hectares).

 The land around the villages has been divided into watershed zones, farming zones and zones of forest that can be cut, though local loggers have to get permission. Locals are helped to develop livelihoods that conserve the environment but also increase their revenue.

 The project has expanded largely due to initial success at Pang Yang village.

When Doi Phukha National Park was established in 1999, primitive slash-and-burn farming had been the way of life here for generations. Pang Yang village was no exception.

 "When I first visited Pang Yang in 1993, I saw lots of youngsters suffered from malnutrition," Ban Pang Yang School headmaster Somnuek Tanta says. "The problem was due partly to the mobile plantations, which didn't produce enough food to eat."

 Somnuek said locals didn't seem to realise they needed to change their way of life. In a bid to help them, he turned to books on agriculture, which convinced him that terraced paddy fields could be the answer. But the agencies he went to with the idea were sceptical.

A terraced paddy experiment

 "Without any support or funds, I had to rely on my students' help. Together, we created an experiment at our school," he said. In line with his idea, cascading layers were cut into sloping land. On the top layer, the students dug a large pond for a fish farm. The layers below were prepared as rice paddies and irrigated by pipes that ran from the pond.

 "It was a success, and when locals saw what we had achieved, they began to follow our example." Today, there is 20 rai of terraced paddy fields in Pang Yang.

The idea, key to which is the fishpond irrigation system, won silver medals from the Teachers' Council of Thailand in 2007 and 2008. The awards then drew the attention of several agencies. With their support secured, residents in other villages decided to join the project.

 "The villagers agreed to join in when they saw the success. Once their stomachs are full, they are willing to lend hands," says forestry-study academic Ratkawee Boonmake Raks of the Raks Thai Foundation. "Both environmentally and economically speaking, the terraced paddies are superior to mobile plantations. They give higher yields while using less space."

 As a result, the villagers have returned about 100 rai to the authorities in return for the piped water.

 "These returned plots are then preserved as watershed areas, which are crucial to the healthy ecological balance of the park," says Ratkawee.

 Dam Ponsan, 53, is one of the farmers who have already switched to the terraced paddies.

 "They are much better than the mobile fields because it takes less time and less work," he says. "And the fishpond is very useful."

 So far, 29 families -- over half of the village -- have embarked on terraced rice farming on 36 rai of steep-hillside land.

 "One rai of the terraced fields give me at least 400 kilograms of rice," says Pang Yang village head Watcharin Panasan, 32, who switched from slash-and-burn farming three years ago.

 After noticing notice their neighbours' success, farmers in the village of Huai Win were quick to sign up for the project. Their lands were surveyed and divided into zones for farming, usable forest and conserved forest.

 "We have successfully rehabilitated many old farming plots," says Huai Win village board member Klao Pisjarn. "Some have been restored to flourishing forestland."

While these two villages have opted to use their land for terraced rice paddies, the remaining 12 villages in the area are free to choose other livelihoods such as growing coffee, raising livestock or brick making.

 Poonsatit of the national park says it is important that communities and authorities work together to agree plans that will lead to sustainable development.

 "I realise the villagers can't be pulled out of the forests, but we must have ways to ensure the harmonious co-existence of locals and their environment," he says.