Huai Hin Lad Nai is an Indigenous Karen village in Wiang Pa Pao District, Chiang Rai, living on over 10,000 rai (1,600 hectares) of forest land, of which 1,632 rai are used for farming. The community has received several conservation awards, including the UN Forest Hero Award, and leaders hope the village can become a model for other high-risk communities.
In September 2024 the village was hit by floods and landslides that locals described as a once-in-a-lifetime disaster. After the event, video clips and news reports accused the community of causing the flood through rotational farming. A Facebook page shared an aerial image and claimed monocropping prevented tree growth, and some academics blamed the community for deforestation. Civil society groups criticised those reports as misinformation that reinforced negative stereotypes about Indigenous farming.
A research project presented in February 2025 found that climate change and the effects of past logging concessions are likely factors in the landslides. Lecturer Jatuporn Teanma said a La Niña weather pattern brought heavy rain and the monsoon stalled in Chiang Rai. The study noted that areas opened to logging concessions before 1989 were left with mainly softwood trees that are less resilient on softened soil, and that some landslides occurred in forest areas protected by the community and not used for farming.
Villagers described traditional warning signs, such as big-headed turtles and crabs moving to higher ground and unusual heat, and they continued local monitoring after the disaster. Leaders want to combine traditional knowledge with science and technology and develop a long-term monitoring system. Remaining barriers include laws that do not recognise communal ownership and forestry rules that give the state control over forest land. Activists are calling for constitutional amendments to protect community rights and clarify that natural resources belong to every citizen, not only the state.
Difficult words
- indigenous — original people living in a region
- rotational farming — farming system that moves fields over time
- monocropping — growing the same crop every year
- concession — permission to use land or natural resourcesconcessions
- resilient — able to withstand damage and recover quickly
- landslide — sudden movement of earth down a slopelandslides
- communal ownership — shared legal control of land by community
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Discussion questions
- How could combining traditional knowledge with science and technology improve the village monitoring system? Give reasons based on the article.
- What problems do laws that do not recognise communal ownership create for communities like Huai Hin Lad Nai?
- How did media reports and some academics affect the village’s public image, and how might that influence policy or support?
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