Hill tribes struggling for a land deal

The highlands of northern Thailand are an example of a contradictory situation arising when a centralised government system extends its control to remote areas and clashes with traditional shifting cultivation practices. On the government side, policy is characterised by conflicting interests between forest preservation on the one hand, and the integration of ethnic minorities on the other. Hilltribes, on the other hand, are looking for land security to meet their subsistence needs. The issue has become one of mediation and conflict resolution in order to overcome the dichotomy between forest protection and agricultural subsistence. This research project combined a participatory approach with GIS to go beyond the demarcation of land types and to connect the village level to higher planning bodies. Land use maps were digitised to help overcome contradictions between central land use classifications and local village boundaries. Stumbling blocks to participatory planning are illustrated and recommendations for a co-ordinated policy for highland development are made.