Co-management in Land Demarcation for Reducing Conflicts from Utilization of Forest Area: A Case Study of Mae Tia-Mae Tae Watershed, Chom Thong District, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

Previously, the natural resources management showed no effective solutions to the resource management for sustainability with no conflicts among the stakeholders both direct and indirect since the management approach failed to cover the entire problems. In addition, those solutions did not recognize the holistic approach regarding the ecosystem, economic development, and social context of people who rested on the resource utilization. In fact, such problems are dynamic as explained in terms of political ecology and ecological economics. Moreover, the resource management is mainly decided by the top down or management guidelines proposed by communities and local authorities or bottom up might fall underway if the bridge of effective management is not yet established. Co-management is an approach to link and transfer authority of management to the concerned stakeholders who propose and solve the problems together with the authorities and organizations through the concept featuring complete solutions of all dimensions. It is therefore to sustain the ecosystem, develop the local economy, and improve a life quality of the locals. Also, suitable strategies to match the social context of such areas along with the clear procedures as advised by the academic institutes and experienced advisors should be addressed to achieve the goals. Co-management is regarded as a modern management to solve the conflicts arising from the forest area utilization. The initial startup on a demand for the solution is the land demarcation in the forest area which causes severe conflicts among the communities located in the forest area whereas other conflicts are raised between the communities and government officials in charge of forest conservation. The Joint Management of Protected Area (JoMPA) is funded and managed by SLUSE, responsible for providing academic suggestions and bridging the strategies with objectives of the project to create plans and activities for participatory management between stakeholders and related organizations. According to this study, co-management for a reduction of conflicts over the forest area utilization requires four components; 1) A complete concept for an operation; 2) Effective management mechanism; 3) Co-management tools, and 4) Clear operation procedures. As a result, it helps generate more protection to the ecosystem while there are no more forest invasions and conflicts over the decrease of forest area utilization. More importantly, cooperation for resource management among the stakeholders is eventually secured. Additionally, suggestions to follow up changes on the forest area utilization and results of an analysis suited for the land functions are applied in decision making for the future land use. Meanwhile, the ecosystem rehabilitation along with the economic development with no harms posed to the ecosystem is on a demand. The success of co-management should be further taken into account in terms of policy making in respect of the forest area utilization.