Upper tributary watersheds in the Mekong Region have become a conflict zone over land, forest and water policies and management practices. The most typical configuration sets State agencies with strong lowland perspectives against upland farmers with different land-use practices and cultures. NGOs, mass-media and academics align at opposite poles making contradictory claims about impacts on forest conservation, flood risks, poverty reduction, usage and availability of water and so on.
In this case study we propose to contrast the ways in which different kinds of actors, from grassroots organisations representing the interests of ethnic minorities, academic experts, and bureaucrats in State agencies have framed environment and livelihood issues in the uplands. We pay special attention to the role of ‘water’ and ‘watershed’ management in these discourses, policies and politics. Our proposed focus is on the upper tributaries of the Salween (Thailand), and adjacent areas of the Chao Phraya-Ping (northern Thailand), as well as upland areas in Lao PDR and Yunnan province (China).
Our expectation is that the regional perspective and comparative analysis will provide new opportunities by which minority people can better represent themselves and debate the issues in fora from which they are usually excluded. We also hope that within the various areas we can contribute to on-going and new dialogue processes that will help reduce conflict.
Selected Publications
Series Nos.
Title
MP-2009-14
Shue, R., and Badenoch, N. 2009. Information, institutions and inequity: the case of the Nam Khan watershed in northern Laos. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2009-14. Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand. (481)
MP-2009-09
Jun, H., and X Jianchu. 2009. Mainstreaming payment for environmental service: an application of SWOT-AHP model for improving Asian water tower governance in Yunnan, Southwest China. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2009-09. Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand (476)
MP-2009-03
Xu Jianchu and Rajesh Daniel. 2009. Risks and Rights of Mountain Peoples. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2009-03. World Agroforestry Centre, China Program and Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand. (456)
MP-2009-02
Daniel, R. and Ratanawilailak, S. 2009. Contested watersheds: Actors and institutions in the local politics of watershed management in the uplands of northern Thailand. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2009-02. Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER), Chiang Mai University, Thailand. (455)
MP-2007-07
Xu Jianchu and Devid Melick. 2007. Towards Community-driven Conservation in Southwest China: Reconciling State and Local Perceptions. M-POWER Working Paper MP-2007-07. ICRAF China. (403)
MP-2006-03
Lebel L., Daniel, R, Badenoch N, Garden P, Imamura M. 2008. A multi-level perspective on conserving with communities: experiences from upper tributary watersheds in montane mainland southeast Asia. International Journal of the Commons 1(2):127-154 (331)
MP-2006-01
Rajesh, D.N., Lebel L. 2006. Land policy, tenure and use: institutional interplay at the rural-forest interface in Thailand. . M-POWER Working Paper MP-2006-01. Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University: Chiang Mai. (329)
MP-2004-03
Khrutmuang S, Huaisai, D, Lebel L. 2005. The emergence of an adaptive co-management regime after a decade of conflict: a case study of water governance in the Mae Ta Chang watershed, Chiang Mai, Thailand M-POWER Working Paper MP-2004-03. Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University: Chiang Mai. (332)
Other Papers
Series Nos.
Title
OP-2006-05
L. Lebel, X. Jianchu, and A. P. Contreras, editors. 2006. Institutional dynamics and crisis: how crises alter the way common pool resources are perceived, used and governed. Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainablle Development, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai. 176pp. (297)
Workshop : Linkages of Forest Protection, Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction - Issues and Approaches in Vietnam Hanoi, Vietnam.(ICRAF, CIFOR and MARD)
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