Indigenous People in Parks: Raising Awareness

By Narumon Arunotai
Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, THAILAND

Centralized government agencies mandated to manage and protect natural resources generally uphold to national rules and regulations that are based on sets of modern scientific knowledge and management. These rules and regulations are often imposed on local communities without much regard for existing local management systems and traditional knowledge.

The Andaman Sea Pilot Project supported by UNESCO has carried out several activities to raise awareness about the lives of a community of Moken sea nomads who have continually occupied and made their livelihood in the area of the Surin Islands Marine National Park for centuries. In the case of the Moken, pilot project activities have developed to open, and maintain, a process of dialogue with scientific researchers and park administration (based locally and in Bangkok). Within this exchange, education and awareness-raising addresses the fact the indigenous people have a place and role to play in parks and their management schemes.

Project activities have targeted Park administration and staff, visitors to the islands, and the general public to inform them about the Moken way of life and their traditional knowledge in both managing and making a living from forest and marine resources. These activities included setting an exhibition hut in the Moken village and distributing several publications, namely "We, the Sea People" (additional reading material for elementary school children written in Moken, Urak Lawoi, Thai, and English languages), "Mai-Ngarm Beach Trail Guide", and the UNESCO-CSI publication "Indigenous people and parks: the Surin Islands project." A major objective of these activities is profile the importance of indigenous knowledge in natural resource management and to explore ways that it may be accepted and incorporated into modern park management systems.

Among the publications listed above, "Mai-Ngarm (beautiful wood) Beach Trail Guide" deserves special mention since it was a result of a cooperative effort between several parties: the Moken; UNESCO; Surin Islands National Park staff; Department of Fisheries of Kasetsart University; Social Research Institute of Chulalongkorn University, and the Siam Motors Co.Ltd.

There was a need for such a trail guide booklet because Mai-Ngarm Beach Trail is the only hiking trail on the islands developed by the Surin Islands National Park Authority. Along the two kilometre stretch, there are eleven "stations" with signs detailing information on natural aspects of ecosystem, plants, and animals found in the area. Although these stations contain interesting information, the place and knowledge of the local people was neglected.

The Andaman Pilot Project arranged to compile information about Moken ethnobotanical knowledge, mainly from an assessment study conducted by Ms. Aroon Thaewchaturas, and add it into the existing information researched and documented by the Park Authority. After the incorporation of specific items of cultural information, the publication lay-out was designed by THINK EARTH an initiative of the Siam Motors Co. Ltd. designed to support social and environmental activities. THINK EARTH also supported publishing costs for 1,000 copies of the trail guides (in Thai) to be distributed to visitors who wish to walk the trail.

Although the trail guide booklet is but a small publication, it has a potential to foster a better understanding of Moken livelihood and their rich knowledge about their environment. Such activities in the Pilot project have created a dialogue and a spirit of cooperation among stakeholders. They have also raised awareness about the importance of indigenous people and their place in the management and conservation of natural resources.