River bank garden

Communities and river

Fish species found in the Salween river and its tributaries

          “We are the receiver of the problem, we are directly affected people, our lives have been destroyed by the dam, when fish and nature restored to the river, our lives are restored too,  We try to make other people to see and understand the impacts of what is going on after the dam gates are opened. And so we think of documenting the impact of the opening of gates by doing our own research.  If outsiders conduct research, we are afraid that they will not see and collect all aspects of impacts from the dam because they are outsiders who live in cities and do not understand our lives.  They do not know about fish, ecosystem, and The Mun River like us.  If they conduct research, they have to come to observe and interview us.  Therefore, we decide to do research of our own.”

Thongdham Chatapan, village researcher at Pak Mun

• Thai Baan Research: Villagers’s Research and Transboundary Environmental Issues
• Thai Baan Research: Why and How  Living River Siam

Activities

• First Meeting of Thai Baan Research Network of Thailand  6-7 August 2010, Chiang Kong, Chiang Rai Province
• NGOs and villagers from Vietnam visit Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand to learn about Thai Baan Research  25 Feb - 1 Mar, 2009
• Midterm workshop on Local Knowledge Research at Me Linh village, Vinh Phuc, Vietnam 27-28 Jan 08
• Workshop on Thai Baan Research for a Chinese NGO group in Chiang Khong district, 5-8 Dec 07
• Thai Baan research training in China by SEARIN staff, May 07
• Thai Baan research training in Vietnam by SEARIN staff, July 06

Articles and News

1. Fishing for Influence: Fisheries Science and Evidence in Water Resources Development in the Mekong Basin  Richard M. Friend M-POWER 2009
2. Building on local knowledge for a Basin Development Plan  by CEPA March 2008
3. Community Based Fisheries Research in Thailand  Carl Middleton and Pianporn Deetes October 15, 2006
4. The village-researchersof Tai Baan : Improving wetland management through joint learning  David J.H. Blake and Rattaphon Pitakthepsombut  June 2006
   
5. Local Knowledge on Fish in the Mekong River
6. Doing it for themselves   Bangkok Post 27 June 2005
7. Thai Baan Research in the Lower Songkhram River Basin – Reflexions on Experience and Guidelines for establishing Participatory Research elsewhere  IUCN July 2004
8. Case study for empowerment and democratization – Thai Baan research (Villager’s research): Local Wisdom for resources Management   Chainarong Sretthachau
9. From Dammed to Liberation by Sam Hui : API Fellowship of the Nippon Foundation, July 2004  
10. A River, Its Fish and Its People: Local Knowledge of the Natural Environment
    at the Mouth of the Mun River  Mekong Watch  May 2004

Publications available on print and vcd

Thai Baan Research on the Ecology and Local History of the Seasonlly-Flooded Forest in the Lower Songkharm River Basin
by IUCN

• Read the summary  ( pdf 66 KB)
• watch VDO