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The rapid expansion of rubber cultivation in a village in northeast Thailand since the early 2000s, spurred by the economic growth of emerging countries, is dramatically transforming the livelihoods of farmers and their link to the surrounding natural ecosystem. This article analyzes how the changes are integrating the ecological network of the villagers’ living world into the network of the global rubber industry, applying the framework of actor-network theory while considering power relationships among the actors. It then discusses how the farmers can overcome their subordinate status in the global network. The knowledge of rubber cultivation provided by outside agencies works as an interface to absorb the farmers and various elements of their living world into the global rubber industry. The doctrine of effective rubber production is also reconstructing the farmers’ living world as a whole. The ecological link between the villagers and the natural world is broken, and the environment is reconstructed as part of the global network of the rubber industry. This changing process makes villagers anxious. At the same time, the villagers find it difficult to resist the allure of rubber because of the powerful prospect of a rich life. Thus, they do not welcome all aspects of the transformation in their environment. In order to overcome their subordination to the global network and subjectively design their own living world, the villagers have to relativize the powerful doctrine of effective rubber production. In terms of balancing rubber cultivation for cash income and other livelihoods based on the local ecosystem, such as paddy cultivation and the use of natural resources for daily life, the villagers’ own notion of how to adapt rubber into the ecosystem of their living world and practical ways to do this should be developed so that their lives as a whole can be secured and stabilized.

The Community Forest Bill was finally passed by the Thai legislative assembly 17 years after it was introduced. This article examines what transpired during those 17 controversial years by analyzing the notions and behaviors of the actors and how they led to changes in the draft bill. The bill provides for 1) conditions and procedures for the establishment and abolition of community forests; 2) regulations on the resource use and management of these forests; and 3) organizational procedures for implementation. The bill aims to achieve sustainable forest management by local people with the assistance of NGOs and the government. It institutionalizes its own decision-making system based on this tri-sectoral collaboration, not through existing administration organizations. Among the bill's provisions, the conditions and regulation of community forests in protected areas was the most controversial issue. The question was whether community forests could be established even within protected areas. The forest department has accepted the idea of community forests in protected areas since 1996, but nature conservationist NGOs have opposed the policy. During the whole 17 years, there have been only a few occasions when nature conservationists and social activists supporting local peoples directly discussed the draft bill. Activist groups and their local partners negotiated with party politicians, while conservationists issued public statements and utilized connections with and/or influence over relatively conservative senators who did not belong to political parties. Since the Senate resolution of 2002, which disallowed community forests in the protected areas, there have been more occasions to discuss the bill directly. But the various political actors could not reach an agreement, prompting them to resolve the issue by voting. This resulted in a bill accepting community forests in protected areas under certain conditions. This politically plural decision-making process led to drastic changes to the draft bill, foremost of which was the total denial of community forests in the protected area by the Senate in 2002. Moreover, the role played by informal political influence and under-the-table negotiation in reaching a resolution caused a strain in the otherwise good relations between local communities, NGOs and the government. If this bill moves to the implementation phase, more transparency is needed in order to reach a common understanding about the principles of the bill in society as a whole.

Southeast Asia has a rich ecosystem of tropical forest that has been rapidly degraded. Malaysian Sarawak, like other areas in Southeast Asia, is the target of international criticism for commercial logging that causes deforestation and destroys native people's livelihood. In fact, Sarawak still maintains a large portion of forested area and deforestation is not rapid compared to other areas in Southeast Asia. Abuse of minority people, who depend on the forests, through logging and development projects, is also commonly found in Southeast Asia. Therefore, it seems that commercial logging in Sarawak has been among the most criticized in Southeast Asia not only because of its environment impact, but also because of Sarawak's social and political framework. This article examines the socio-political structure in relation to forest resources in Sarawak and considers recent changes in both NGO and government policy. Since the late 1980s, the Penan, a native people in the Upper Baram and Limban river basin, have blockaded logging roads to protest commercial logging. This movement attracted the commitment of foreign environmental activists to the international anti-logging campaign. Domestic NGOs alone were not powerful and easily suppressed by the government. The urban middle class is divided into ethnic clusters. Therefore, environmental degradation and the thread to Penan's livelihood caused by the commercial logging did not become a public issue in Sarawak, and the Penan had to rely on foreign activists.Recently some changes are apparent. In the 1990s, the Sarawak government introduced a "Sustainable Forest Management" policy, including application for MTCC timber certification that actually started in 2002. NGOs and the native people's movement have shifted from physical methods, such as blockades, to waging legal battles, and more local NGOs are assisting native people. A major issue is still the government policy that does not recognize native customary rights in the natural forests. But it is also necessary to find temporary and practical solutions to improve native livelihood. For that purpose, persistent dialogue among all concerned should be continued.

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。

この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。

application/pdf, TROPICS/熱帯研究. 2002, 11 (3), P.169-185

Intensive field research in a Lao village in Northeast Thailand revealed that the villagers, Lao peasants, perceive or classify the forest or other natural environments from two different perspectives. One is a concrete, zero-or one-dimensional perspective based on their interaction with the natural environment in daily life. However, the definition or boundary of each category is ambiguous. The other is an abstract, two-dimensional perspective regarding land tenure or other social relationships, which places emphasis on the boundary of each category or territory rather than the situation within the boundary. These two contrasting perspectives correspond to the plurality of their mode of subsistence, which consists of not only agriculture but also hunting and gathering, and show the cultural importance of the interaction between man and forest in everyday life in a peasant society., この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。

Villagers' acquisition of food materials from the natural environment in a Lao village in Northeast Thailand is examined from the viewpoint of interaction between man and nature. The village is surrounded with exceptionally rich forests, on which villagers depend for a large part of their daily diet besides rice, the staple. Villagers' cooking methods and tastes are well adapted to the natural materials available around the village. The availability is influenced by seasonal factors as well as the micro-level changes of natural conditions. What food materials are taken is also affected by villagers' own schedules. They choose daily food materials from among what are available and from the viewpoint of diet diversification. Hunting-gathering activities are basically for the next meal. Villagers know what food materials are available and plan hunting or gathering based on past experience. These features are generated through villagers' daily interactions with nature. The core idea is that they want to live their lives following the conditions of nature. This idea underlies the rhythm of the villagers' daily life., この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。