Regional Environmental Technical Assistance 5771
Poverty Reduction & Environmental Management in Remote Greater
Mekong Subregion Watersheds Project (Phase I)

RRA Report on

MAE GOK WATERSHED IN CHIANG MAI AND CHIANG RAI PROVINCES

Watershed Profile

By

Mr Colin McQuistan

1.0 Introduction: The Mae Gok Watershed.

The introductory data focuses upon secondary sources collected from provincial departments of various government agencies. This provides an introduction to the present situation in the watershed area as a whole.

1.1 Project area and target of study

The Mae Gok watershed is located in southeastern Myanmar and northern Thailand and covers a total area of 10,870 km². The river Mae Gok originates in Myanmar and covers an area of approximately 2,980 km² in Shan State of Myanmar. The River Mae Gok enters Thailand at the village of Ban Tha Don, in Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai province. The watershed in Thailand covers an area of approximately 7,990 km².

In Thailand, the Mae Gok watershed covers 8 separate districts and 2 minor districts of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. This area encompasses a total of 63 sub-districts with 677 villages as registered by the Department of Local Administration (DOLA) of the Interior Ministry. The watershed in Thailand constitutes the Mae Gok river and three principle tributaries, these are the Fang river, Lao river and Suai river. The basic physical attributes of the entire watershed are as follows;

The basal stream flow as measured at the 25 principle water monitoring stations on the Mae Gok river indicate an average flow of 5,280 Million m³ /year. Of this total, an average of 330 Million m³/year is diverted or stored within the watershed. This results in the average stream flow of 4,950 Million m³/year entering the Mekong River.

Table 1.1: The stream flow of the three major tributaries

In 1992 there were almost 240 separate water development projects of various Thai government agencies in the Mae Gok watershed. These ranged in size from farm ponds to village weirs and small scale dams. These projects have a combined irrigation benefit to almost 90,370 hectares. The majority of these projects belong to either the Department of Local Administration or the Royal Irrigation Department.

At present there are 3 water power electricity projects under construction in the Mae Gok watershed. Two of these projects are from the Department of Energy Development and Promotion and the third from the Provincial Electricity Generating Authority. These hydropower projects have a combined power production of 8,675 kilowatts or approximately 29.4 million units.

The water from the Mae Gok watershed is utilised for numerous purposes. The majority demand is for agricultural irrigation, which accounts for almost 96%, with only 4% used for consumption, tourism, and industry. This water demand is predicted to increase but the overall proportion in each activity remains the same.

A study of reservoir simulation utilising the HEC-3 model to predict water supply and demand indicates that overall the water supply situation for the Mae Gok watershed is adequate up to the year 2006, if no major changes in the hydrologic system occur. Although the model predicts shortages in some areas for agriculture especially in the Mae Sao and Mae Lao project areas and for potable water in the Chai Prakan and Fang district. Although the model predicts shortages in the short term they do not appear serious whereas the long term predictions suggest serious problems if the supply and demand situation does not change.

The current physical situation in the Mae Gok watershed suggests the following priority projects for the sustainable development of this watershed.

• Long-term developed plan (before 2006).

• High potential developed plan.

1.2 Land utilisation

Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai are the two most northerly provinces in Thailand both with their northern borders joining Myanmar. Both provinces have a long history of human occupation with Chinag Mai once being the centre of the Lanna kingdom. Both provinces have a wealth of natural resources with large areas of natural forest, agricultural lowland and upland areas inhabited with ethnic hilltribes. This mosaic of land use types, developed to a great extent by the various resident population results in a very diverse landscape. Table 1.2 indicates the land utilisation for the two provinces in terms of agricultural land, Forest land and land used for other purposes.

Table 1.2: Land utilization in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai : 1985-1993

1.3 Public health facilities

Chiang Mai is a center of high education for northern Thailand with excellent further and higher education facilities. This situation results in the proportion of medical and public health staff to the resident population being higher than in neighbouring provinces. Although this situation occurs in the provincial centres, in the remote districts such as in the Mae Gok watershed the medical provision is poor. Thus if figures for the province as a whole are examined the supply of medical facilities appears adequate.

Table 1.3: The provision of medical staff Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces

If medical staff in the remote districts are examined it is found that the staff supplies reported above are focussed upon the district centres. Thus the provision of medical staff in the Mae Gok watershed itself is poor.

The provision of public health service facilities ranging from large hospitals to small clinics in the two provinces is indicated in table 1.4. As with medical staff these facilities are focussed upon the district centres. The supply of medical facilities to rural areas is often very poor with a total absence of medical facilities for the people living in the mountain regions.

Table 1.4: Medical facilities in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces

1.4 Social and economic situation

In 1998 the average income for the entire population of the northern region of Thailand was $621 per year. The population of Chiang Mai province reported the highest income for the region with an average of $798. By comparison the average income for Chiang Rai province was $557 which is significantly lower than the average income for the northern region. These figures compare to the national average income of $1,053 per year.

A survey of single household employment in the Mae Gok watershed in 1992 by Chiang Mai university found that single household employment figures are highly contradictory when compared between the two provinces. For example the data for Chiang Rai province ranks occupations in the following order; Farming, Service sector, Arable crops, and Trade followed by a minority in other groups. Whereas, for Chiang Mai province the Service sector is number one followed by other agriculture with rice farming ranked only as number four. This discrepancy is caused by numerous factors, but fundamental to this is the excessively small sample size. Single occupation households constitute only 5% of the registered population and even less when the unregistered hilltribes population is included. Even though this data is highly questionable one important point is indicated. The figures for the service sector in the two provinces are comparable. Thus service sector individuals receive adequate returns and perhaps have insufficient time to undertake additional occupations.

Table 1.5: The number of single occupation households for
specific activities in the Mae Gok watershed

The situation regarding land tenure in the Mae Gok watershed indicates that approximately 50% of the land area is converted to permanent agriculture. A total area of 876,011 Rai is covered by forest of which 855,941% is National Forest Reserve (See section 1.4, page 8). Land is also set aside as community forest land with a total area of 55,221 Rai designated. Of this community forest area only 10,035 Rai has been replanted or 18.2%. For the distribution of land use types see table 1.6.

Table 1.6: Land Tenure status

The second largest land category in the Mae Gok watershed which covers 45.9% of the area or 855,941 Rai is national reserved forest. This large proportion of land, most of which is situated over 500m, above mean sea level is regarded as forest area and is managed by the Royal Forest Department as conservation areas, protected either as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries or class A, protected watersheds.

Table 1.7: Arable agricultural statistics for the Mae Gok watershed

Table 1.8: Livestock raising in the Mae Gok watershed

The distribution of the 1,843,576 Rai of agricultural land which has land documents, in terms of farm size is as follows.

Table 1.9: Farm size distribution

Most industry in the Mae Gok watershed concerns small scale primary agricultural processing. For example rice milling and tobacco drying are the two principle industries. Subsidiary industries present especially located around urban areas include, tea processing and food canning. The majority of these industries are located in Fang district, Chiang Mai province and in the urban area of Chiang Rai.

The principle water sources in the Mae Gok watershed are ponds, streams, rivers, small reservoirs, water-well, and bore holes. The principle river of the Mae Gok watershed is the Mae Gok which flows for approximately 147 kilometers from the Myanmar border in the west to the Mekong river in the east. Flowing into the Mae Gok are three principle tributaries the Fang, Lao, and Suai rivers.

Table 1.10: Dendrology of the tributaries of the Mae Gok river

Data collected in 1992¹ indicated that on average each village registered by the Department of Local Administration (DOLA) in the Mae Gok watershed has 1 community bore hole, 13 private bore holes, 2 community water-wells, and 104 private water-wells.

Table 1.11: Water supply in the Mae Gok watershed

In the Mae Gok watershed there is a problem with drinking water supply. About 45% of households do not have adequate year round supply of clean water as the figures in table 1.12 indicate. In total approximately 53,735 household suffer from a drinking water shortage during the dry season. Traditionally villagers collect rainfall during the rainy season and this is stored for drinking purposes in the dry season. If in previous times this rainwater supply was adequate, then either the amount of rainfall has reduced, the consumptive demand has increased or alternative "stop gap" supplies have disappeared?

Table 1.12: Potable water supply in the Mae Gok watershed

Due to the high agricultural prices that can be achieved for production of crops in the dry season many farmers in the Mae Gok watershed attempt to cultivate crops during this period. To be able to produce crops during this time the farmer must have an alternative source of water, this supply source ranges from wells, bore holes to ponds and other Rainwater storage devices. At present, for off season production 76% of the irrigation supply comes from shallow source wells for example surface ponds or shallow wells a smaller majority utlise deep water bore holes while others rely upon infrequent and unpredictable Rainfall. In most years, this alternative supply is inadequate for the majority of farmers in the Mae Gok watershed.

Table 1.13: Irrigation supplies in the Mae Gok watershed

This shortage results in inefficient land use. In 1992, 394 villages or 58% of all villages in the Mae Gok watershed reported problems concerning insufficient irrigation for agriculture. The farmers from each village are asked to classify their village in terms of; insufficient, adequate or plentiful concerning dry season water supply. This classification is undertaken for a variety of crops from high water demand agriculture such as a second rice crop, through short-term crops, long-term crops, vegetables to fruit which are lower water demanding crop systems. It is found that the majority of villagers suffer water shortage as indicated in table 1.14.

Table 1.14: Water supply sources in the Mae Gok watershed

When the problems related to water use are translated into land use efficiency then the following trends emerge. Villages reporting severe water shortage totals 289 villages, thus 43% indicate serious land inefficiency. An additional 313 villages or 47% indicate a moderate problem. Only 69 villages report adequate water supply, enabling high capacity land use. This suggests that only 10% of the land in the Mae Gok watershed is being used efficiently.

Table 1.15: Number of villages that report a water problem in the Mae Gok watershed

The Mae Gok watershed’s principle factor resulting in poor land use efficiency is the lack of irrigation supply during the dry season. A total of 60.4% of farmers reported that insufficient irrigation supply was their principle agricultural problem. Additional problems faced by farmers in the watershed include financial restrictions and associated problems. Interestingly a lot of the farmers in the watershed are contract farmers. They borrow money in advance to produce a specific crop, such as Tobacco or vegetables. The farmer enters into a contract to produce a specific amount, at a certain quality. But often the farmers find that due to poor rainfall or other problems the contract crop is of poor quality and they cannot thus pay off their debt. This debt is then calculated at very high rates with the farmer becoming tied to a particular company and their crop in a recurring debt cycle.

Interestingly, traditional agricultural problems such as land infertility, flooding, knowledge and labour shortages are not reported in this watershed (see table 1.16).

Table 1.16: Specific agricultural problems reported in the Mae Gok Watershed

1.5 Forest

Within the Mae Gok watershed in Chiang Mai province there are 23 different National Reserved Forest Areas, 3 of which have been classified as conservation forests. The total area of forest in this province covers 1,012,031 Rai. In Chiang Rai province the total National Reserved Forest area covers 2,169,354 Rai. Thus this area contains a total area of 3,181,385 Rai or 69% is classified as conservation forest. The list of the different forest blocks is shown in table 1.17.

These forests provide many important functions including watershed regulation, biodiversity conservation, primary production and also additional regulatory functions such as climate regulation and carbon sequestration.

The forests of the Mae Gok watershed are of three principle types, which are zoned in terms of altitude. In the valleys and lower elevations mixed deciduous forest dominate, as altitude increases this forest type changes to hill evergreen forest, above 800 meters the dominant species are the two native pine species. Over 1800 meters Oaks and Sycamores species become mixed with the pine species. Thus the forest at the summits become very similar to temperate forests.

The forests in the valleys and lower elevations are of a mixed deciduous type, often with Teak (Tectona grandis) as the dominant species. This forest type is categorised by deciduous species and includes; Xylia xylocarpa, Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Lagerstroemia sp., Adina cordifolia, Terminalia sp. and Spondias pinnata. The undergrowth of this forest is dominated by many herbaceous species most notable being, Bambusa sp. And Dendrocalamus sp.

At higher elevations this forest type gradually changes to become more evergreen and thus hill evergreen forest becomes the dominant forest type. This forest is found in the more humid upper elevations and is dominated by trees that retain their leaves year round. Most notable families present include; Dipterocarpaceae, Sterculiaceae, Leguminosae, Fagaceae and Lauraceae.

On the uppermost slopes of the mountains and on the summits pine forest dominates especially above 800 meters. There are only two pine species, Pinus merkusii and P. kesiya native to Thailand. Above 1,800 meters this forest is often merged with evergreen species especially Oaks. Not only are these forests rich in tree species they are also a refuge for numerous animal species. These forests also provide a valuable source of numerous forest products including; honey beeswax, bark, leaves, herb, charcoal, fuel wood and orchids.

The Forest Planning Division of the Royal Forest Department undertook a large scale national survey of forest area between the years 1982 to 1985 and found a total forest area of 320,696,885 Rai covering the entire country. Since this time the forest area has been reduced to 93,158,274 Rai or 29.05% of country area. The average rate of deforestation since 1982 averages 1,572,242 Rai per year. When deforestation statistics for the regions of Thailand are compared the frontier for forest destruction is the north of Thailand where forest reduction is now 0.71% per year, whereas the central region reports 0.64%, the southern region 0.45%, the northeastern region 0.33% and the eastern region only 0.01%.

Table 1.17: Conserved forest areas in the Mae Gok watershed

2.0 Rapid Rural Assessment (RRA) of the Mae Gok Watershed

2.1 The Northern Thailand Situation

Data collection for the baseline assessment of the northern region including the Mae Gok watershed was collected from numerous sources including Chiang Mai University, Provincial, district and sub-district level, local government offices and interviews with people working in the field. Additionally reference materials were consulted concerning at various points.

2.1.1 Location and population

The Mae Gok watershed in Thailand covers a total area of approximately 7,990km² in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces of northern Thailand. This area includes two provinces, 7 districts, 2 minor districts, 75 sub-districts with 793 villages as registered with the DOLA.

Table 2.1: Area, distance from district to provincial capital, number of sub-districts,
number of villages in the Mae Gok watershed (1994)

This registered population must be supplemented by the informal population of hilltribes who as their name suggests are the principle population occurring in the mountains above 500m. Therefore the estimated total number of villages and resident population living in this area should be updated as indicated in table 2.2.

Table 2.2: The registered and unregistered population of the Mae Gok watershed

Thailand is home to numerous groups of ethnic minorities who inhabit the mountainous regions between Vietnam, Laos, Southern China, Myanmar and Thailand. These groups are referred collectively in Thailand as the hill tribes, although this group is actually made up of a diverse set of ethnic groups. The tribes live in small communities of between 50-400 people and are sparsely distributed in northern Thailand. The tradition of establishing their villages in mountainous areas means that until recently they have been fairly isolated from lowland populations. However there is quite a long tradition of trade and bartering between the two groups.

Today this highland population is scattered over a total of 75 districts in 20 provinces. Total population figures have been collected by the Tribal Research Institute since the middle of the 1970,s, and in the year 1995, the total was 694,720. The Karen are the largest group, and the Khamu are the smallest. This total figure excludes the "Palong" and the "Mlabri" and all unregistered hilltribe people. The Palong are an ethnic group that has only recently migrated into Chiang Mai Province in Thailand. There are presently 4 villages with a total of 90 households and 485 persons. The Mlabri, are hunter/gathers, and are estimated to consist of no more than 182 persons. They live in Phrae Province and Sa and Na Noi district of Nan province. In the Mae Gok watershed area there are five ethnic minorities present these are; Karen, Akha, Lisu, Lahu and Hmong, although other groups could also be present.

Apart from linguistic classification based upon linguistic origin (see appendix II), many researchers classify the hill tribes in respect to the type of agriculture they practice. All hilltribes traditionally practice a form of swidden agriculture, although there are numerous variations for this particular land use, which reflect the diversity of the hilltribes themselves. The following describes the hilltribes in respect to their specific swidden farming strategy, into two types of swiddeners;

The hill swiddeners or pioneer swiddeners who also have tended to be labeled the highland dwelling opium poppy growing peoples. These ethnic groups prefer to live at higher altitudes which incidentally is better suited to growing the opium poppy, which being a subtropical plant only grows well above 1,000 meters. Included in this group are the Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lisu, and Akha, most of who migrated into Thailand (from Myanmar and Laos) within this century.

The forest swiddeners consist of the Karen, Lawa, Khamu and H’tin ethnic groups. These peoples occupy the intermediate altitudes between 700-1,000 meters and practice an ecologically informed mode of cyclical shifting cultivation. The Lawa and the Karen prefer, where feasible, to grow wet rice which is considered to be indigenous to Thailand and the adjoining areas of Myanmar and Laos. This practice which grows rice in traditional paddy fields is more environmentally sustainable. The field’s fertility is restored by inundation of the paddy field this recycles nutrients from the floodwater. This practice means that these groups have tended to be more sedentary than the higher mountain groups.

In Thailand the term "hill tribes" designates ethnic minorities, most of whom live in the remote highland areas of the north and south western parts of the country. These people first attracted the serious attention of the Thai Government in 1959 when the National Committee for the Hill Tribes was set up. There are many governmental and non-governmental agencies working with the hill tribes. These included military and civilian organisations, a few specialized United Nations agencies, and private voluntary organizations such as, and most important of all, the Royal Development Project for the Hill Tribes. The present policy of the Thai Government towards the hill tribes is based on the Cabinet’s decision of July 6,1976, which states the government’s intention to integrate these people into the Thai state and give them full rights to practice their religions and maintain their cultures. The principal objective of this policy is clear. It is stated quite precisely that the Thai Government wishes to enable the hill tribes to be self-reliant Thai citizens.

There are many hill tribe problems as identified by Thai authorities. Most of these problems relate to some aspects of the hill tribes way of life which are considered to be inappropriate to the present socio-economic and political situation of the country. It is widely believed that the type of shifting cultivation (swiddening) practiced by most the hill tribes causes deforestation and the deterioration of highland watersheds. Some tribes engage in opium production, and opium addiction is also a problem. The hill tribes also have less access to educational services, suffer poorer health and earn lower incomes when compared with other sectors of the national population. Moreover, as tribal groups live in relative isolation it is much easier for cultural misunderstandings to occur and to be labeled as political infiltration and insurgency.

2.2 Socio-economic status

The highland groups can be divided into three groups depending upon their cultivation practices: upland dry rice cultivators, wet or irrigated rice cultivators, and a combination of these two. These groups display three principal forms of land use.

1. Pioneer or primary swiddening, shifting cultivation where the village moves into a virgin area of forest and initiates agriculture. The village then stays at this location until the harvests begin to fall and the village then relocates to a new virgin location.
2. Land rotation of cultivable fields, sometimes called cyclical bush fallow. This system is based on permanent residence and can be said to be a stable or permanent form of agriculture.
3. Wet rice cultivation.

Pioneer swiddening appears to be closely correlated with opium cultivation. Opium poppy growing has for many years been an important economic crop and is well suited to the hilltribes way of life. Additionally this crop only grows well at higher altitudes where the pioneer swidden farmers live. The second type of land use, the rotational farming system, is practiced by the Karen, Lawa, H’tin and Khamu, who do not traditionally grow opium. This rotation system does not exhaust soil fertility if practiced within limits. Also this system operates within fixed village boundaries and therefore offers less possibility to encroach further afield. The Karen and the Lawa also construct wet rice terraces in the lowlands, upland and on valley sides infact wherever there is sufficient water for irrigation. In all these systems the majority of farmers grow mainly rice, supplemented with a few other crops, primarily for home consumption with a little surplus for sale. All groups also utilise forest products. Additional income comes from short-term labour especially for rice planting and harvesting and also fruit picking on lowland farms.

In traditional highland society, two corporate structures form the most important social institutions. The largest institution is the village, made up of houses mainly of the same ethnic group. However, in the village of the opium poppy-growing groups, there may be one or more houses of traders who are "Haw" or Yunnanese Chinese, Shan, Lue or Northern Thai. There are also other ethnic persons who do seasonal work as wage earners for opium producing households. These migrant workers are often paid in opium and are usually addicts who have chosen to take up residence in that village.

Villages of the same ethnic group are widely scattered and may be surrounded by villages of other ethnic groups. Normally there is a main settlement with one or more small hamlets located in the general vicinity. Such hamlets form because there may be limited space in the original village, some people want to live closer to cultivable land, or some wish to live in a group consisting of only their own relatives.

Hill tribe villages are reported to be unstable and often break up. The reasons for this are many, including: shortage of good cropland, dissatisfaction with village leaders, intra-village disputes, disputes with neighbouring villages, frequent harassment by bandits, many deaths in quick succession of either villagers or their livestock, expulsion of new religious converts by the traditional group, and, in recent years, fear of terrorism by political insurgents. Dispersion is more frequent among the opium-poppy growing communities.

Highland villages, except those of the Lisu, are led by a headman with one or more assistants. This structure is most likely if a village is formed by many households coming together from different locations. In general, the headman is responsible for maintaining the peace, settling disputes, hosting visitors to the village, and also acts as the village liaison with government authorities. In a mature village, there is usually an informal council of elders whose advice is sought on important issues by the headman. This council participates in the making of all important decisions which affect the village. Typical issues include whether the village should be moved to a new site or not, whether outsiders should be allowed to cut swiddens on village land, or whether a particular household should be expelled.

In tribal culture there is no supra-village organization. This also means that there is no higher leader or chieftain of each tribe who can extend his power over a number of villages belonging to his group.

Most highlanders are animists and mostly pantheists who believe in spirits of all kinds: heavenly spirits, natural spirits, ancestral spirits, house spirits and spirits in certain things. These spirits, either benevolent or malevolent, usually require propitiation and sacrifice; and for some tribes, their highest and most respected spirits are godlike. Many cases of sickness are believed to be caused by offended spirits, especially the evil ones. These spirits are considered to have cast bad fortune on the individual or group concerned by taking away their souls, causing sickness, and harming their livestock. Either the shaman or the religious leader must diagnose the cause of sickness. The benevolent spirits are requested to come and are provided with offerings, in return they force the evil spirits to return the soul to the sick person. However, many spirits can be either benevolent or malevolent depending on whether or not they are treated properly.

In some tribes, the religious leaders also perform village wide rituals and pray for the welfare and prosperity of the whole village or individual households. These people are therefore very important local leaders in highland society, and in some tribes, like the Pwo Karen, the shaman may also be the village headman. In traditional groups, with the exception of the Lawa, most of whom are well integrated into lowland society, there are no social classes. The only group which might be defined as exclusive is that of the village elders who are widely respected beyond their own households. In other words, highland society is egalitarian.

The second important corporate structure in tribal village is the household. The household is the basic socio-economic unit charged with the responsibility of providing food, shelter, welfare, education, religious training, and socialization. Hill tribe households consist either of the extended or the nuclear family. The nuclear family household consists of just two generations, a husband and his wife and their children. Extended family households are more common among the Meo and the Yao, and these groups are often polygamous. While the Lahu, Lisu, Akha, Karen, Lawa, H’tin and Khamu are usually monogamous.

2.3 The Hilltribe problem?

The problems blamed upon the large population of hilltribes in northern Thailand as stated in the national policy on the hill tribe during the past 30 years are:

1. Depletion of natural resources and environment
2. Opium cultivation
3. Security problems
4. Low standard of living

During the past 3 decades, the government, NGO’s, and some voluntary organisations , especially the Royal Project, have attempted to solve these problems. Today the situation is much improved. However, new problems have arisen unexpectedly. Such problems resulted from people’s ignorance, selfishness, and social changes.

Deforestation continues although it has reduced from previous years. The Land Sat 5 picture showed that in 1985 there was 49.59% forest cover in the northern part of Thailand where the hill tribe people mostly live. The highland development projects have been encouraging the tribal people to practice conservation farming while the people themselves are turning to sustainable farming (rice fields and fruit trees). Although often this new this development created additional problems. For example through the increase in tourism and tourism promotion lowlanders became interested in buying land in the hills. Another problem is the overuse of pesticides in the hills this is a serious health danger to mountain dwellers and lowlanders alike.

The Thai Government was successful in reducing the amount of opium produced in Thailand from 145 toms in 1967 to 24 tons in 1988. However, when less opium is available, it is imported from other countries and sold to these tribal people who are addicted. Besides, other kinds of drugs, such as heroin and stimulants are now found in tribal villages.

In 1967, the communist party was quite strong in some parts of Thailand. However, the government was able to control the situation by 1983 and was successful in turning the tribal activists into "cooperators with national development ". Nevertheless, this matter of security is something we have to keep a watchful eye on so as to prevent the conflict with the minority.

Many positive changes are happening among the hill tribes i.e. more hill tribe students are graduating from universities, hill tribe people are more familiar with modern medications, health care, and family planning; hill tribe people now earn more and grow more kinds of crops ; and more hill tribe people are working outside their farms. However, new problems are also developing. More educated hill tribe people are unemployed; malnutrition occurs among some tribal children; and venereal disease and AIDS are increasingly found among the tribal people. Social changed and poverty are forcing people to come down to towns where they become labourers, beggars or prostitutes. Tribal people are discarding their customs and traditional practices out of ignorance and a feeling that the old ways are not worth preserving. (for instance, the dances and herbal medications are disappearing) The migration of members of their ethnic groups from neighbouring countries is another problem that is not yet solved.

2.4 Hilltribe policy

There are 3 different approaches that can be taken in response to ethnic minorities: separation (segregation), assimilation or integration. The Thai government approach is to promote integration of hill tribe culture into mainstream Thai culture. For example the Ministry of Interior Policy (1995) does not use the word "hill tribe" but refers to the "remote people" (Welfare for Remote People Policy).

The first specific legislation for the hilltribes was enacted on June 3^rd 1959, which led to the establishment of the Hill Tribe Welfare Committee. This was when a national policy in respect to the hilltribe communities began. In this year the Department of Public Welfare was appointed to take responsibility for working with the hill tribes together with the provincial hill tribe welfare committees. The provincial Governor chaired these committees. The policy resulting from these provincial committees was aimed to deal with all hilltribe problems and was not concentrated on any particular issue. In 1982, then Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanond was aware of inefficiencies of official work regarding the problems faced by hill tribes and especially opium cultivation, so he appointed a second committee to review security and opium issues. The 1982 National Policy on the Hill tribes (the security and opium issues) consisted of 3 aspects:

• Administration
• Opium and addiction
• Social and economic development

This work was to be undertaken at 3 different levels:

1. The National Level: composed of the National Security Committee on the Hill tribes and opium growing. The Deputy Prime Minister as Chairman and the National Security Council Secretariat as a committee member and Secretary.
2. The Ministerial Level: composed of a central committee with the Ministry of Interior as Chairman and the Director General of Department of Public Welfare as Secretary.
3. The Provincial Level: Provincial Hill tribe Committee.

In 1987 the Third Army stepped in and worked on the hill tribe problem as another regional organization working in cooperation with the national and provincial organizations. The Third Army has been appointed to work on specific missions such as hill tribe censuses, land use and housing. In 1989 the government began the development of a National Policy on the hill tribes this was completed and enacted in 1995. This policy covers three aspects:

1. Censuses to be undertaken and Thai nationality be considered or granted to those who meet the qualifications. For those who are not granted Thai nationality, their certain legal status must be stated in accordance with the regulation.
2. Administration and management within hill tribe communities to be organized in accordance with the law, and suitable development plan prepared. For communities in which systematic administration is not yet possible, suitable management procedures have to be developed so as to prepare the people for future democratic administration.
3. Land and permanent residences to be provided to the hill tribes. Although, certain matters must taken into account, namely, local factors, socio-economic development, security and natural resource conservation.
4. Official national law and regulations be effective in every area, with strict punishment for those who break the law. Propaganda and appropriate pressure be used to encourage the target people to obey the law.
5. The hill tribes should have a correct understanding of Thai society, of their rights and duties as Thai citizens under Thai law. This is to be achieved through public relations.
6. Persistent action must be taken to prevent more immigrants from entering Thailand and to repatriate recent immigrants. Measures to be set out to pressure those who support immigrants, give them shelter or facilitate hill tribe immigration.
7. The influence of subversive groups, including the Communist Party of Thailand to be reduced by improving official staff protection and providing security for the hill tribes. The hill tribes should be able to protect themselves and become self-reliant to some degree.

2.1) Promoting quality of life and income levels.

1. Economic and social development of tribal society should be undertaken, stressing self-sufficiency and natural resource preservation. Development should be done with regard to the local situation. Availability of land and natural resources in the highlands should be the primary consideration when permanent settlement is proposed for the people.
2. The hill tribes should be encouraged to stop growing opium and identify alternative income sources sufficient to make their living. Focus should be upon self- sufficiency. Develop improvements to their farming techniques, farm products, marketing system and the promotion of other professions to increase their income. NGOs should be encouraged to assist with hill tribe development.
3. Health-care service should be provided to as many communities as possible. Basic health care should be improved and treatment for drug addiction promoted.
4. Family planning must be adopted to control the highland population birth rate. This will keep the balance between population numbers and natural resource availability.
5. Both formal and non-formal primary education should be provided so as to form the foundation for future communications, socio-economic development, political administration and natural resource conservation.
6. Buddhism to be promoted among the tribal societies so as to build up national unity. Missionaries of other religions to be supervised to ensure that they do not create conflicts among the people which could affect national development.

2.2) Opium growing and use

1. The people should be taught of the dangers of opium growing and smoking, through propaganda and other psychological approaches.
2. Legal action to be taken especially in the area which have been officially recognized and developed.
3. Aid should be requested from foreign organisations to develop alternative solutions to the drug problems in the highlands and also to help Thai addicts.

1. Land use plans should be made in order to help conserve and develop natural resources in the highlands. The plan is to be strictly followed under close control.
2. Legal restrictions and laws regarding natural resources are to be taken seriously.

The work in response to the 1995 National Policy on the hilltribes is delegated at the national, regional, provincial and district levels. The organisations responsible for hill tribe work are:

1. National level: the National Security Committee on the hill tribes and opium affairs.
2. Regional level: The Third Army (the committee of hill tribe affairs and the eradication of opium growing).
3. Provincial level: the provincial committee of hill tribe affairs.
4. District level: the district committee of hill tribe affairs.

Thailand, unlike other countries with minorities, does not have a specific Ministry or department, which works directly with the minorities. However, the government is considering establishing one department to work specifically on hill tribe affairs.

Since 1959, the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has been working in accordance with the National Policy on Hilltribes as follows:

1. Acting as a committee member and secretary to the Central Hill tribe Committee 1959-1982.

2. Making plans and undertaking welfare work for the hill tribes:

• Setting up 4 self-help resettlement projects which started in1960.
• Setting up mobile units for hill tribe welfare work in key and satellite villages working under the Provincial Hill Tribe Welfare Center.
• Proposal of "Integration Policy" in 1976 so as to make the hill tribes become good and self-sufficient Thai citizens through the zonal integrated development project.

3. Setting up the Hill Tribe Welfare Division in 1963.

4. Research and survey work.

• First survey of socio-economic status in 1961-1963.
• Founding of the Tribal Research Centre in 1965 in cooperation with Chiang Mai University. This centre which became the Tribal Research Institute in 1984 acts as the advisory division to the DPW with information and data from various researchers to help with the planning of hill tribe work.
• Cooperation with Australian experts and the Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, to study regeneration of old swidden farmland, which has been deserted by the hill tribes due to low soil fertility and problems. Attempting to find ways to restore the land for future use (either for cultivation, livestock or forestry).

5. Building up relationships with the hill tribes.

• Promotion of Dhammajarik Project in 1965 (Buddhism promotion).
• Cooperation with volunteer groups from different universities and NGOs.

6. Providing aid to other projects such as the Royal Project, the Substitution Cropping project (UN), the Non-formal Education Project, the Addiction Healing Project and other training projects. The Tribal Research Institute has been approved as a cartographic and socio-economic survey database.

7. Act as the contact organisation for foreign organisations which work in the highlands in cooperation with the Thai Government, such as the Thai-Australian Project, the Thai-Norway Highland Development Project (which is supported by Norwegian Church Aid) and Thai-German Highland Development Project.

8. Working on the eradication of opium growing, on healing addiction and on reforestation in hill tribe villages.

9. Working on hill tribe censuses for future application of Thai nationality for the hill tribe peoples.

2.5 The Mae Gok watershed

Data collection for the socio-economic and environmental situation in the Mae Gok watershed took place between 21^st March until the 3^rd April 1999. Data was collected from numerous sources including local universities, provincial, district and sub-district level, local government offices and informal structured interviews with people in the field. Additionally reference materials and local people were consulted concerning various points. The total number of villages from which data was collected totals 149 communities, 80 of which were located in Chiang Mai province section of the Mae Gok watershed and 69 in the Chiang Rai provincial section.

The diversity of hilltribes encountered during the RRA visit was as indicated in table 2.2 below. Overall out of 149 villages the make up of ethnic communities was as follows, 43% Lahu, 27% Northern Thai, 12% Akha, 9% Karen 7% Lisu and 4% Hmong. The total figure 164 is greater than the number of villages visited as some communities had more than one ethnic minority present.

Table 2.3: The distribution of ethnic minorities in the communities visited

Only the Lahu and the Karen appeared not to mix whereas the Lisu, Northern Thai, Akha and Hmong often live in mixed communities. The total population of hilltribes was 27,033 people, with 7,670 in 69 villages in Chiang Rai province and 19,363 in 80 villages in Chiang Mai province. See table 2.3 for the ethnic distribution of these people.

Table 2.4: The resident populations of hilltribes encountered

The villages were located at various altitudes with the lowest altitude being a Thai community in Mae Ai district of Chiang Mai province and the highest being a Lahu community also in Mae Ai at 1,340 meters above sea level. The mean village altitude recorded for Chinag Rai province was 892 meters above mean sea level whereas Chiang Mai recorded only 581 meters. This difference may in some way reflect the geography with the highest areas in Chiang Mai province being along the border with Myanmar, which at the time of the survey mission was dangerous with foreign nationals warned from travelling into this area.

Table 2.5: Village locations in terms of altitude

The majority of villages located above 500 meters are on land regarded as reserved forest. The table below (2.5) indicates the scale of the problem. 28.4% of the registered villages located in Chiang Rai province are located in reserved forest, with 30.7% in Chiang Mai. These figures do not include the majority of hill tribe villages that are not registered with the Department of Local Administration, of the Ministry of the Interior. Therefore the actual problem of poorly located villages, in unplanned locations is much greater than the figures above indicate. Estimates that over 50% of the villages in the Mae Gok watershed are located in areas sensitive to environmental degradation

Table 2.6 Distribution of villages located in reserved forest.

Upon further investigation the situation regarding reserved forests and communities rights to live in these areas is very complicated and a cursory mention of current figures will highlight this situation. In the latest edition of the Royal Forest Department annual report of forestry statistics, for the year 1996, the forestry information for Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces are as follows;

Table 2.7 Forestry and land tenure situation (in Rai)