Scaling impact from farm to landscape level requires collaboration towards Kor Tor Chor land and livelihood development

Forest communities do not always have secure land rights. In Thailand, several land allocation policies have been implemented to strengthen tenure rights for forest users. However, ensuring local livelihood support and strengthening restoration of degraded forest areas has not been a straightforward process. Forest community members continue to lack stable income and environmental problems persist.

In 2015, the Thai government enacted a policy to certify local community members’ rights to utilize land in reserved forest areas for their livelihoods. Known as Kor Tor Chor, the policy aims to promote community members’ roles in restoring forest ecosystem services while boosting local incomes. Its implementation is supervised by the Office of the National Land Policy Board.

The policy calls for the planting of diverse tree species per the government-designated ratio for each Kor Tor Chor land type. This is a tactic to reduce monocropping and revitalize soil and water while creating sustainable income sources for communities.

Santisuk district in Nan province is among the key pilot areas for Kor Tor Chor land development in Thailand. More than 80 percent of the district is classified as Kor Tor Chor land, totalling around 43,624 hectares. The mountainous area, with a total population of 15,595 (as of 2023), is also one of the country’s most important watershed areas. However, its forests have become severely degraded. The need for restoration is urgent.

Overall, the province has made significant progress in issuing Kor Tor Chor land certificates for all areas and creating opportunities for organizations to support local farmers. However, there is much work that needs to be done. Support from organizations has proven crucial to the success of Kor Tor Chor land. Collaboration among these various actors could help scale the impacts – from a handful of Kor Tor Chor farmlands to the larger landscape.

RECOFTC is working through our Trees4All project towards Kor Tor Chor land and community development in Santisuk. “Kor Tor Chor land development efforts in Santisuk district have, so far, lacked collaboration,” says Warangkana Rattanarat, country director, RECOFTC Thailand. “Building a collaborative mechanism among organizations and across sectors is essential to scaling up our impacts from farms to landscapes. We need to set common goals and parameters for landscape restoration and alternative livelihood development.”

Government, civil society and private sector come together for landscape-level impact

To this end, on 16 July 2024, RECOFTC got together with the Highland Research and Development Institute, Hug Muang Nan Foundation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Nan Community College, Rajamangala University of Technology, Lanna Nan and the Raks Thai Foundation to organize a Kor Tor Chor forum in Nan.

The forum brought together participants from all sectors. Among those attending were representatives from government agencies such as the Royal Forest Department (RFD) and the Office of the National Land Policy Board, representatives from the private sector, civil society organizations, academic institutions and local farmers. Together, we reviewed and assessed the local situation and set common goals and priorities.

We also established a collaborative mechanism to scale up Kor Tor Chor land development in Santisuk district. With the completion of land certification, the next priorities are to accelerate the allocation of land to local people and ensure they use it for agriculture in ways that align with the government’s conditions.

Incentivization and training are necessary to further land restoration and support a transition from monocropping to diversified tree planting. Farmers need motivation to plant trees other than rubber. They also need guidance to instil or improve knowledge and skills related to planting and nurturing other tree species. There is also a need for alternative sources of income that will support farmers while they wait for young trees to mature.

For alternative livelihood development, the most important thing is to work with farmers to increase the quality and value of their agricultural products. Support from local academic institutions and civil society organizations remains crucial, but it is necessary to seek collaboration with the private sector as well. This will enable us to access new domestic and international markets.

In a fire-threatened area like Santisuk district, fire management is another aspect of Kor Tor Chor land development and management. At the forum, RECOFTC’s Community-based Fire Management (CBFiM) project facilitated a group discussion on effective and sustainable fire management in highland areas.

The participants set a goal to reduce fires in the forest and agricultural areas of Santisuk district by 50 per cent from 2023. Santisuk will prioritize the CBFiM approach, encouraging communities to create fire management plans following the integrated fire management framework’s 5Rs – review, risk reduction, readiness, response and recovery.

It is imperative to equip communities with context-appropriate fire management tools and technology and provide capacity development that matches their needs. Encouraging communities to avoid fire use for foraging, funding firefighting volunteers and providing incentives to communities with successful fire management are also essential.

Securing markets is key to securing livelihoods

At the event, diverse stakeholders provided their take on reviving land and livelihoods under the Kor Tor Chor policy. They agreed on the necessity of multi-sectoral collaboration and emphasized the importance of attracting business interest for market access and profits. This will raise farmers’ motivation, they agreed, encouraging more of them to participate in Kor Tor Chor land restoration and development efforts, and eventually achieving landscape-level impacts.

Chonlatit Surasawadee, from the Expert Committee on Land Management under the Kor Tor Chor policy, noted that given the government’s more relaxed regulations, the availability of financial support and Nan province’s readiness, the next step should be a multi-sectoral collaboration. “This will help establish a common vision for holistic land use, from tree planting to product sales,” he said.

Farmers need to be equipped with relevant knowledge such as land-use conditions, prices of potential products and product processing to maximize benefits. Planting teak, for instance, has high potential as teakwood is a high-value product. If the land is developed and managed sustainably and with proper water management, farmers may also consider livestock, fish farming and herb cultivation as possible livelihood options.

Sakda Maneewong, director of the land management office at the RFD, emphasized the importance of expanding current efforts while complying with the government’s conditions. Given the more relaxed and flexible regulations, he encouraged local farmers and organizations to develop their agribusinesses in accordance with their land-use conditions and strengthen unique selling points of their products.

Santisuk district needs support from the private sector, particularly businesses that specialize matching the farmers’ products and expertise. Market access, product quality improvement and fair benefit-sharing for farmers will be success factors.

Collaboration and community understanding are critical

Samruay Phadphon, director of Hug Muang Nan Foundation shed light on the importance of improved understanding of land laws and use conditions. Different Kor Tor Chor land types are bound by conditions that may be complicated and difficult to understand for some communities and relevant organizations.

“Communities should be equipped with practical knowledge from research and highland-appropriate land management technology,” Phadphon said. “Water management, farm design and regenerative agriculture practices to accelerate land restoration are among the most important for Santisuk district.” There is a need to develop community capacities in market-led approaches, create opportunities for collaboration with the private sector and ensure knowledge transfer to the next generations through hands-on education.

Representing the private sector, Khomwit Boonthamrongkit, vice president of the Thai Timber Association and chief executive officer of Chale’t Forest, highlighted the role of collaboration between communities and businesses. Since agriculture in Nan province still needs to attract interest from large corporate bodies, the products should respond to modern consumers’ growing interest in ecotourism and green and healthy living, he noted. “Landscape-level efforts and long-term benefits are important,” he said, “but short-term benefits and incentives must not be overlooked to motivate local communities.”

Wuttikorn Srakaew, lecturer at the Faculty of Animal Science and Fishery of Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna Nan, commented on the need for enhancing community knowledge, developing highland-appropriate technology for livestock farming and supporting community-based enterprise development. Srakaew emphasized the importance of both people and forests, and presented animal husbandry as a high-potential pathway to sustainable livelihood development and forest landscape restoration. “For better market access, the unique selling points of community products, such as ‘low-carbon meat’ for instance, should be linked to sustainability.”

A holistic approach is key to scaling success

Expanding the impacts of Kor Tor Chor land development from the farm to the landscape level will be possible with multi-sectoral collaboration in land restoration and livelihood development. “We need to bring in every sector’s expertise and utilize context-appropriate, holistic approaches” says Rattanarat. The private sector will be the key to opening up new opportunities in the markets for farmers.

RECOFTC and partner organizations will work together to create workplans for healthy landscape and sustainable livelihoods in Santisuk district. The Hug Muang Nan Foundation will serve as the coordinator in this collaborative mechanism.

Deputy governor of Nan province, Niwat Ngamtura, has expressed optimism for this collaboration. “I believe that this initiative will set the stage for more effective watershed ecosystem restoration, sustainable land-use planning and livelihood improvement for our people,” he says. “It aligns with Nan province’s mission and will enable us to scale up the impacts. We are willing to be one of the main pillars of the mechanism.”

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Nitchanun Tantapong is communication officer at RECOFTC Thailand.

The Community-based Fire Management project is made possible through a five-year cooperative agreement between the USDA Forest Service International Programs and RECOFTC. The project receives financial support from the United States Indo-Pacific Command of the Department of Defense and funding from USAID and the USDA Forest Service International Programs.

The Trees4All project receives financial support from the Global EbA Fund and Wyss Academy for Nature.

RECOFTC’s work is made possible with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Government of Sweden.