Healthy Forest, Healthy People: Remote Sensing and Monitoring Support Implementation of Community Forestry in Thailand

Thailand, with one of the world's highest rates of forest destruction, has been under pressure to enact policies to reduce the loss of forest habitat. The government has responded by designating forests as protected areas, restricting access and use for the forest-dwelling communities and maintaining a threat of eviction. These marginalized communities frequently receive the blame for forest degradation, regardless of empirical data that indicates forest communities are more often part of the solution than part of the problem. Community Forestry (CF) presents an opportunity for a village to simultaneously manage forest land sustainably, and improve its standard of living. We show that satellite and land-based mapping and monitoring tools can significantly improve the effectiveness of a CF program. Haui Lu Luang village began implementing its CF program in the late 1970's to preserve its forest land and meet the needs of its residents. Two non-governmental organizations, Upland Holistic Development Project and Plant With Purpose, were invited to the village in 2006 to enhance, evaluate and document the program with the hope of gaining formalized land tenure rights. Starting in 2007, community-based mapping efforts, using Global Positioning System (GPS) data collection and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, documented forest boundaries according to local understanding. Community development and technical improvements to the program continued, culminating in a 2011 assessment of the effectiveness of the forest management and the effects on the livelihoods of the residents. As a part of the assessment Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data were analyzed to indicate the overall effect of the CF program on the forest vegetation. We report sustained forest health and significant improvements in community standard of living. We recommend the further development of remote sensing and monitoring methods to measure long-term trends and identify areas for further improvement. Evidence presented here demonstrates empirically that local CF provides effective, sustainable forest governance and a potentially scalable forest management solution, transferable to other forest-dwelling communities.