Conclusion: Local contributions to positive peace
Since the mid-1990s Thailand has experienced several major financial crisis, two military coups, two constitutional changes, and other factors that contributed to political and social instability and conflict. It may seem paradoxical that actively dissenting groups like the CBOs in Northern Thailand contributed to positive peace - especially in a context where there was a real risk of violent conflict in some cases. Yet through the analysis above I conclude that they have levered strengths in PPI pillars to create more political space and capacity for local participation, and even received some funding support from the state via CODI. This might appear to contradict the imperatives of top-down policy makers. However the combination of these actions sustained over decades likely countered destabilization by supporting local conditions, national policy, and local relationships with national government that correlate with a good PPI score.
These CBO’s have also pushed for new ways of thinking about policy. They highlight interdependent relationships between people and nature in policy discussions. And they propose approaches such as including the Rights of Nature in policy.[xix] Academic and organization reports and conferences add further legitimacy to those concepts. As the scholar Joanne Barker observes, water “teaches us to think about knowledge in continuous movement,” and, “brings our attention to the connectivity and interactions between water, land, and air, between humans and other-than-humans.” [xx]
Reframing policy and drawing on a systems perspective is important. Establishing rights for nature and democratization of management in law and culture requires sustained effort. If policy is to create the conditions for a society to flourish [xxi] then the approach to policy must also facilitate understanding of and address assumptions about 1) power, i.e. respect for the human; and 2) the nature of relationships, i.e. respect for ‘the natural’ and humans interdependence with the rest of the natural world. Informed and empowered CBO’s have raised these points and others that relate to the water-energy-food nexus[xxii] and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment recommendations.[xxiii]
Applying the PPI as a framework for policy analysis results in acknowledgement of the value of CBO’s significant contributions to a stable, equitable society with high human capacity and positive relationships. Those CBO actions might otherwise be perceived by policy-makers as obstructions to attaining planning priorities determined at the national level. The PPI does have some gaps that require further evolution as a tool or concurrent application of additional analyses. Subjective valuation, non-cash economy and spiritual values do not appear overtly in the PPI framework. And PPI terms like ‘human capital’ do not fully reflect local people’s understanding of human capacity and relationships. Yet the PPI can help clarify for policy makers what drives community actions. And its application illuminates and acknowledges the important role played by CBOs in building Positive Peace from the local level.
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*Andrew Stone is a systems ecologist, educator and Rotary Peace Fellow. Based in the Columbia River basin in the USA, he has spent 3 months annually since 2011 in lower Mekong countries supporting community-based organization’s and networks with a focus on water and development.
[i] Simpson, G. and G.P.W. Jewitt (2019, February). The Development of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus as a Framework for Achieving Resource Security: A Review. Front. Environ. Sci., (8). https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00008
[ii] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005). Ecosystems And Human Well-Being: Wetlands And Water Synthesis. World Resources Institute, Washington, DC. https://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.358.aspx.pdf (Accessed 20 November, 2020.)
[iii] Masterson, V. A., R. C. Stedman, J. Enqvist, M. Tengö, M. Giusti, D. Wahl, and U. Svedin. (2017). The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda. Ecology and Society 22(1):49. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-08872-220149
[iv] Institute for Economics & Peace (2019). Positive Peace Report 2019: Analysing the Factors that Sustain Peace. IEP, Sydney. https://www.visionofhumanity.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/PPR-2019-web.pdf (Accessed 16 February, 2020.)
[v] Ibid, 10.
[vi] Ibid, 10.
[vii] Agreement on Commercial Navigation on Lancang-Mekong River among the Governments of the People’s Republic of China, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar and the Kingdom of Thailand (April 2000). https://www.jcccn.org/images/rule/Agreement.pdf (Accessed 16 February, 2020.)
[viii] Community Organizations Development Institute (date unknown). Finding new ways for government to support communities at scale. https://en.codi.or.th/about/history-of-codi/ (Accessed 20 November, 2020.)
[ix] Lu, X.X. and R. Y. Siew (2006). Water discharge and sediment flux changes over the past decades in the Lower Mekong River. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 10, 181–195, 2006. Retrieved from https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/10/181/2006/hess-10-181-2006.pdf (Accessed 23 November, 2020.)
[x] AFP (2020). The 97km that frustrate China's mastery of the Mekong. Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/1832839/the-97kms-that-frustrate-chinas-mastery-of-the-mekong (Accessed 16 February, 2020.)
[xi] Author interviews with Noparat Lamun (local organizer), Dr. Apisom Intralawan (MaeFahLuang University), and Dr. Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University) in November 2020 supplemented by personal field notes and prior interviews from 2009 to 2020.
[xii] Deetes, P. (2019, January 4). Sudden Public Hearing on Mekong “Rapids-Blasting” Project Catches Community Group by Surprise. CTN News. https://www.chiangraitimes.com/featured/sudden-public-hearing-on-mekong-rapids-blasting-project-catches-community-group-by-surprise/ (Accessed 16 February, 2021.)
[xiii] Stone, A. (2019, January 28). Chinese company consults locals over Mekong blasting. China Dialogue. https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/11040-Chinese-company-consults-locals-over-Mekong-blasting (Accessed 20 November, 2020.)
[xiv] Thepgumpanat, P. (2020). Thailand scraps China-led project to blast open Mekong River. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-china/thailand-scraps-china-led-project-to-blast-open-mekong-river-idUSKBN1ZZ1T6 (Accessed 16 February, 2020.)
[xv] Author interviews.
[xvi] Wajjwalku, S. (2019). Chapter 6 Civil Society and Water Governance in Northern Thailand: Local NGOs and Management of Mekong’s Tributaries in Chiang Rai. In K. Otsuka (Ed.), Interactive Approaches to Water Governance in Asia (1st ed., pp. 123-154). Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2399-7.
[xvii] Author interviews.
[xviii] RECOFTC (2020, June). Boon Rueang Wetland Forest Conservation Group of Thailand wins global environmental award: The Equator Prize. https://www.recoftc.org/press-releases/boon-rueang-wetland-forest-conservation-group-thailand-wins-global-environmental (Accessed 26 November, 2020.)
[xix] Author interviews.
[xx] Barker, J. (2019). Confluence: Water as an Analytic of Indigenous Feminisms. American Indian Culture and Research Journal, 43:3. https://doi.org/10.17953/aicrj.43.3.barker
[xxi] Institute for Economics & Peace (2019).
[xxii] Simpson (2019).
[xxiii] Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005).
Figures, Tables, Photos
Figure 1: Product of the Transboundary Freshwater Dispute Database, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University. Additional information about the TFDD can be found at: http://transboundarywaters.science.oregonstate.edu. Retrieved from https://transboundarywaters.science.oregonstate.edu/database-and-research/galleries/asia- gallery (Accessed 16 February, 2021.)
Figure 2: Basemap data from Esri, DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, i-cubed, USDA FSA, USGS, AEX, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, swisstopo, and the GIS User Community.
Tables 1 - 2: Institute for Economics & Peace, Positive Peace Report 2019.
Photos: Copyright 2021, Andrew Stone.
