A portrait of an indigenous Thai farmer from a rainforest-dwelling community set against a backdrop of the forest, including a sacred tree with orange cloth tied around it.

Friends of the forest: Inclusive policies can turn indigenous communities into environmental champions

There is a scene in The Beach when a young Leonardo DiCaprio and his fellow travellers must escape the gunfire of indigenous Thai farmers protecting their cannabis crop.

This makes for exciting viewing, but it also reveals an unsettling truth: this is how remote communities are often framed.

It is certainly how the Government in Bangkok has traditionally approached indigenous communities in Thailand, who are regularly viewed as the primordial, ethnic ‘other’.

According to the authorities, ‘hill tribes’ in the north of the country have long posed a problem of some sort. In the post-war years they were seen as communists leading a jungle insurgency.

Later, they were variously seen as illegal opium farmers, major contributors to deforestation due to their shifting cultivation practices, or a problem due to their economic underdevelopment.

The latest incarnation of this discriminatory discourse is what I call the ‘green terror’.

This is the Government imposition of top-down conservation measures to safeguard forests and stop the pernicious problem of air pollution caused by forest fires.

The measures include national park regulations that tolerate business investments for firms and wealthy individuals while excluding local communities from forest use.

This prevents them from implementing effective environmental management practices, such as forest-fire monitoring, community forestry, and animal grazing.

Some rural development policies have even had the unintended consequence of displacing communities and pushing them into more intensive farming, thus accelerating forest degradation.

However, I am glad to report that attitudes are shifting, helped along by a research project that I have been involved in, which is partly funded by the Warwick Business School (WBS) Impact Fund.

Working with Marco Haenssgen and his fellow researchers from Chiang Mai University, I have been exploring how behavioural science can influence policy makers to become more inclusive and equitable in their interactions with the indigenous peoples of the northern hills.

We have also investigated how behavioural science techniques can support highland communities to maintain a healthy relationship with the tropical rainforest that surrounds them.

As it turns out, these communities already have long-standing traditions of preserving the land through sustainable practices.

One of these is the ordination of sacred trees, a practice rooted in Buddhist culture that makes it taboo to fell an ‘ordained’ tree.

Another is the worship of stream spirits and the associated practice of protecting fresh water sources. All that is required is to build on this environmental heritage.

This involves appreciating the diversity of these communities, which include the Hmong and the Karen peoples, and the unique abilities and knowledge they bring to forest health.

It also requires the Thai Government to recognise their rights, not only to their ancestral lands but also to their right to contribute to the common effort of protecting the planet.

Behavioural policy design can contribute to this more inclusive approach to environmental preservation, by inspiring highlanders to exercise their rights as stewards of the land to the full.

In broad terms, this involves nudging communities into the broader adoption of sustainable habits they already follow, such as tree-planting or creating fire breaks.

More specifically, it employs some of the motivational concepts I have developed as a behavioural scientist.

One of these is creating new, ethical social norms. Fire prevention is a case in point. By recognising and celebrating those who clear dry leaves along forest corridors to slow the spread of potential fires, we can encourage others to follow suit and promote positive behaviour change.

If the same forest-clearers can publicise their dedication to this work, through something as simple as wearing stickers declaring their commitment, that is even better.

A public pledge will always appeal to the pride and identity of these communities as forest custodians and tap into that very human desire for a positive and consistent self-image.

The other major initiative is more market orientated. The hill villages of Thailand have long grown coffee and fruit such as avocados amongst the trees of the rainforest using regenerative cultivation practices.

Backed by the WBS Impact Fund, we are working with Reading University and Chiang Mai University to develop a food origin label together with the Mae Tha district in Chiang Mai province to create ‘salience’ around these crops.

The idea is to design packaging that communicates to downstream urban consumers that highland produce is organic and sustainable.

There is definitely an appetite for highland products in the hipster cafes of Bangkok and beyond.

Government policies could nurture this by helping growers through micro-financing and subsidies for organic agriculture. This could go beyond agricultural goods to encompass handicrafts and fabrics.

These are the very practical outcomes that have emerged from a range of related research projects conducted by scholars and academic activities in the northern Thai highlands.

However, our gaze is not confined to Thailand, as important as that work is. In fact, Thailand is already drawing on research revealing that the world’s healthiest forests are found around indigenous settlements.

By including such communities in decision-making processes, countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal and Taiwan have achieved sustainable outcomes while respecting local rights.

Take two mountainous regions. In Nepal, low-income villages have displayed effective stewardship of river habitats by developing sustainable sanitation facilities, community gardens and a biogas plant.

By their actions, they are overcoming life-threatening challenges such as waterborne diseases and contributing to preserving the local habitat and biodiversity.

And, in the mountains of central Taiwan, an indigenous Tsou village has revived a state-run national forest by collectively and voluntarily regulating the use of resources in the area, establishing themselves as forest stewards.

The message is clear: by collaborating with indigenous communities in inclusive policymaking and acknowledging them as equal partners, we can make progress in the global mission to combat climate change and habitat destruction.

Further reading:

Three ways to nudge customers to buy green products

How can the world reach Net Zero?

Five steps for companies to deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Have big corporations nudged us in the wrong direction?

 

Ivo Vlaev is Professor of Behavioural Science and serves on the World Health Organization's Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Sciences for Better Health. He teaches Behavioural Sciences for the Manager on the Executive MBA, Full-time MBA, and Global MBA programmes. He also teaches on a range of Undergraduate and Master's programmes.

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