ความท้าทายในประเทศไทย

Secure legal community forestry. Approval of a national community forestry bill could establish the status of community forestry in protected areas, along with the benefits that communities are entitled to receive.

Develop a comanagement model for protected areas. Under a 1998 Thai Senate provision, communities have temporary rights to comanage protected areas where they have been established prior to area declaration. Civil society organizations can explore and document the successes of this approach through on-the-ground research.
    
Synchronize advocacy efforts. Many civil society organizations and government agencies hold different views on how community forestry management should proceed. Multiple parties with a vested interest in Thailand's forests need to better communicate and collaborate.

Strengthen communities' capacity to engage with REDD+. Introducing communities to techniques for ecosystem assessment and monitoring will allow them to engage meaningfully with REDD+ opportunities.

Encourage local governments to recognize community forest management plans as official. In lieu of a national community forestry act, local governments (Tambons and provincial administration organizations) have the right to locally recognize community forestry. Civil society organizations can share best practices from where this is happening — as in Mae Tha — working to support collaboration through workshops and trainings.

Strengthen local forest administration officials' capacity to aid collaboration between subdistrict governments (Tambons) and communities. Local forestry officials will play a key role in facilitating collaboration between subdistrict governments and communities. Training programs can improve their understanding of how community forestry is a valuable tool for securing livelihood benefits for the community and the sustainable management of forests.