Forests and WaterIn traditional thai worldviews the wild forest (pa) was perceived in largely negative terms as a place of danger, illegality, and cultural lack. The pa was a place physically and symbolically remote from the lowland . settlements (muang). Of course, this imagery has not been erased, but there is now much more frequent emphasis on the desirable attributes of the forest and on the interrelationship between muang and pa. In the reframing of the pa, the forested uplands are now seen as a source of natural resources and environmental services. In the popular imagina¬tion the key resource provided by the forest is water.Motorists on mountain roads in northern Thailand are constantly reminded of this relationship between forests and water. Numerous road¬side signs—many erected by the Royal Forest Department—remind those passing of the environmental and livelihood benefits to be derived from forest protection in the uplands. In this discursive project of statemak- ing, particular emphasis is given to the role of forests in maintaining the nation’s hydrological health (figure 4.1). On a spectacularly forested and winding section of road to the west of Chiang Mai, for example, a series of rustic signs declare: “if you love the country you have to love forests”; “if the soil loses forest, the sky loses rain and people lose their hearts”; “if the forest is destroyed the soil is dry—the forest is the source of water”; “if the forest disappears the earth is dry. rain disappears and the rice dies”; and “the streams will dry out if the covering shade of the forest is lost” (A. Walker fieldwork 2003). The roadside exercise in civic education is inter¬rupted somewhat by advertisements for fertilizer and agricultural chemi¬cals, but it climaxes in a ridgetop display of nationalist symbolism at the entrance to the Royal Forest Department’s watershed management unit. Beneath a cluster of Thai flags and the royal crest, passing motorists are reminded of the role of forest cover in ensuring a “sustainable Thailand. ” Various forms of knowledge underlie claims about the relationship between forests and water supply. Clearly, there is considerable disagree¬ment about the best strategies for the management of upland forests in northern Thailand. But, at the same time, there are also broad agreements on certain environmental assumptions (or narratives), especially the importance of forests in maintaining the hydrological health of local and national catchment systems. A strong discourse coalition has emerged, based on the notion that there is a symbiotic relationship between forests and water supply. This relationship has become a widely accepted part of the knowledge and aesthetic of upland Thai landscapes, and the road¬side claims of the Royal Forest Department are echoed in the statements of academics, ngos (both “conservationist” and “people-oriented”), and many farmers. There are two key elements of this hydrological knowl¬edge to explore critically: the claim that forest cover ensures reliable rain¬fall; and the claim that forests are catchment “sponges” that store wet-season rainfall and release it steadily during the dry season. These par¬ticular forms of knowledge have played a significant role in northern Thai- land’s most famous environmental dispute.
đang được dịch, vui lòng đợi..