via Prachatai English, 21 December 2020: Indigenous Karen communities fear that the nomination of the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex as Unesco World Heritage will evict them from their lands. Longstanding issues of land ownership and citizenship have not been resolved.
Members of the indigenous Karen communities living near the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex have raised concerns over unresolved community rights issues ahead of the Thai government’s 4th nomination of the forest for world heritage status in 2021.
On 16 December 2020, an event was held at the hot spring centre in Nong Ya Plong District, Phetchaburi, where members of the indigenous Karen communities living in the areas surrounding the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex came to speak about unresolved community rights issues, including issues of land rights, citizenship, and loss of their traditional way of life.
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The Thai government previously nominated the Kang Krachan Forest Complex as a natural world heritage site three times: in 2015, 2016, and 2019. All three times, the World Heritage Committee referred the nomination back to the Thai government in order to allow it to resolve the rights and livelihoods concerns relating to the Karen communities in the area and to reach a consensus of support for the nomination. At the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in 2019, the Committee also encourages the Thai government to “work in partnership” with Myanmar “on future biological connectivity and collaborative efforts on conservation between the nominated property and the proposed protected area in Myanmar.”
The 44th session of the World Heritage Committee was previously scheduled for 29 June – 9 July 2020, but was postponed to June – July 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is to take place at Fuzhou, China. The Thai government will once again be nominating the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex as a world heritage site during this session.
