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โครงการหนังสืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์ด้านการเกษตร เฉลิมพระเกียรติพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว

Abstract

The research project, “Highland Management: A State of Knowledge Review,” has six
objectives, namely: (1) to review Thailand’s government policies on highland management
from the past until the present; (2) to review research results, concepts, and

recommendations on highland management previously proposed by scholars and various
institutions; (3) to review highland development projects implemented by government
agencies, foundations, and companies; (4) to review international experience in highland
management, including agreements in international conventions and declarations regarding

highland indigenous peoples; (5) to review problems and obstacles in the efforts of the
government and other agencies to develop the highlands; and (6) to draw lessons on
highland management from both successful and unsuccessful cases according to the initial
goals, so as to propose policy guidelines in the future.

Based on the literature review and interviews with government officers in the selected study
areas, seven key problems are identified, as follows: (1) deforestation, (2) opium cultivation,

(3) soil erosion, (4) landslide, (5) hill tribe issues, (6) occupational problems of highland
populations, and (7) environmental problems. In order to solve the above problems, the
government and other organizations continue to implement various highland development
projects. The results from managing the highlands in the past 60 years indicate that some
programs and projects have been successful in solving the seven problems mentioned

above. These include highland development projects under the royal initiatives,
development projects of the Royal Project Foundation, the Pid Thong Lang Phra Foundation,
the Watershed Conservation Projects, an Initiative of Her Majesty the Queen and several other

projects initiated by various government agencies. Some ongoing projects are currently
implemented step-by-step. However, a large number of highland areas in the country remain
without development projects, so the seven problems still persist until now. The degrees of
the problems vary from place to place.

From the review of the state of knowledge on highland management, 10 key lessons can be
drawn that could be used as policy guidelines in the future, as follows: (1) Lack of a nation-
wide highland development master plan; (2) Lack of a committee that coordinates overall

highland development activities; (3) Certain policies with specific agricultural development
and land-use objectives have impact on the highlands; (4) Policies cannot address problems
due to lack of implementation plan and delays in policy implementation; (5) Lack of
databases on highland management; (6) the problem of water shortage in the highlands; (7)

The smog problems during the dry season cannot be solved without changing the crop
system or the shifting cultivation system because of the need to prepare land for cropping;

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