Thirty-six ethnic-Karen families have demanded they be given access to conduct unlimited shifting cultivation over 5,400 rai of land in Bang Kloi village of Phetchaburi’s Kaeng Krachan National Park, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment says.
Ministry adviser Yutthapol Angkinan said yesterday officials in the “Phet Watershed Forest Protection Operation” negotiated with the Karen villagers. They had been accused of encroaching on and destroying the forests, but insisted they would not budge.
He said 36 families demanded they be permitted to conduct shifting cultivation, an agricultural system where sections of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned before farmers move on to other plots.
The deal they seek involves 15 rai per family over a period of 10 years.
They also insisted that no one else or other locals be given access to the land they…
