Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers: The Politics of Environmental Knowledge in Northern Thailand

1. Environmental Crisis and the Crisis of Knowledge

1 Environmental Crisis and the Crisis of Knowledge These days, many people assume that developing countries are undergoing some kind of environmental crisis. Thailand is no exception. James Fahn—who spent a decade writing for the environmental section of a Thai newspaper1—portrays this pessimism in his book, A Land on Fire, where he describes how Thailand seems to “consume itself through its breakneck pursuit of progress” (Fahn 2003:10). Writing of the “environmental catastrophe that is Thailand today,” he argues that “virtually every resource the country owns has been squandered with too little thought for the future.” Population growth and inconsiderate economic development have left the nation’s forests devastated, “their amazingly rich biodiversity became endangered before it could even be fully recorded.” Commercial agriculture with “wanton use of pesticides has poisoned the countryside.” Long stretches of the beloved coastline have been converted to shrimp farms and “the seas have been plundered of their fish” (Fahn 2003:5). Forest Guardians, Forest Destroyers challenges this deeply pessimistic viewpoint. The aim is not to greenwash—to suggest that environmental problems do not exist or that environmental policy is unnecessary. Instead, the chapters that follow present a deeper political analysis of how and why—and with whose influence—environmental problems are defined the way they are. Along with a growing number of analysts from diverse backgrounds, this book questions the accuracy of “environmentalism as usual” and proposes that many popular descriptions of environmental degradation actually impede appropriate environmental management and sustainable development. The aim is to replace these 3 simplistic ideas with a more biophysically nuanced and politically representative understanding of environmental change. The geographic focus for this book is the highlands of northern Thailand .2 Current discussions of environmental degradation in this region are influenced by misleading and simplistic explanations, which may fail to address the causes of environmental problems and which may lead to policies that unnecessarily restrict the livelihoods of many residents of this region. Again, it is not the intention of this book to argue that environmental problems do not exist in northern Thailand or that urgent action is unnecessary in certain locations. The argument is that environmental knowledge—or the principles that are used to explain biophysical problems and to guide regulatory responses to them—has occupied a curiously unexamined role in politics to date. Analyzing the politics of environmental knowledge, and opening it to broader and more inclusive discussion, will help make environmental understanding more effective and will contribute to better solutions for the challenge of sustainable development in Thailand. politicizing environmental knowledge in northern thailand For many readers, “northern Thailand” inspires images of teak forests, Buddhist temples, lush green rice fields, and remote hillside villages inhabited by colorful “hill tribes.” The region has grown rapidly in popularity as a tourist destination, and for many visitors from both inside and outside Thailand it is a place of astounding beauty, environmental wonder and cultural diversity. So, why focus on this bucolic region? The Political Significance of Northern Thailand Northern Thailand is, without doubt, the most researched zone in mainland Southeast Asia. Research has been conducted in fields as diverse as anthropology, geography, economics, development studies, epidemiology , hydrology, and ecology. Physical scientists have often been inspired by the region’s striking mountainous terrain, its complex geology, its world-renowned forests, and its agricultural and hydrological resources. And social scientists have been attracted by the breathtaking diversity of ethnic groups and the mosaic of cultures juxtaposed in a complex landscape of valley bottoms, hill slopes, and mountain ridges. The eth4 Environmental Crisis and the Crisis of Knowledge nic minorities in the hill zones of northern Thailand are often considered to be very different from their lowland neighbors, and they have held an enduring fascination for researchers, development workers, missionaries , and ngo activists. Northern Thailand is also an important frontier area. In physical terms, the region’s mountains form a rugged edge of the plains of central Thailand, and the northern provinces were only fully integrated into the Bangkok-based administration in the twentieth century. More importantly still, the region is the southern gateway to the mountainous and inaccessible terrain that links Southeast Asia to China via the remote northern borderlands of Burma and Laos. Until the 1990s, northern Thailand was the closest Western travelers could get to neighboring communist countries without special permission, thus making it a popular research location for people wanting...