Community-led Reforestation and Food Sovereignty in Thailand

The Assembly of the Poor (AOP) is nationwide organization of grassroots community-based organizations and groups of people affected by Thai government’s policies and economic development projects. Members of AOP are both the rural and urban poor, e.g. farmers, small-scale food producers, forest products collecting farmers, traditional fisherfolks, the indigenous and workers. Grow Ahead partnered with the AOP to support a project that enhances agroforestry and community forests for food sovereignty across Thailand. Working in the Baan Na Community (Phattalung province, South), Gud Ting Community (Bungkarn province, Upper Northeast) and Kok-Edoi Community (Srakaew province, Lower Northeast), AOP implemented an agroforestry program to grow more native trees and increase biodiversity in the integrated farms, agroforestry farms, community forests and family food forests.

The Project Worked to:

1. Grow more native trees and increase biodiversity in the integrated farms, agroforestry farms, community forests and family food forests. 
2. Enhance food sovereignty and agroecological production at local levels.
3. Hand down the peasants’ knowledge about native trees forest conservation to the youth.
4. Encourage the capacity and role of peasant youth in growing trees and reforestation activities.

The Assembly of the Poor is fighting against the mainstream and conservative reforestation of the government. The current governmental policy generally fails to deliver any effective results and negatively affects local people and local ecosystems through forced removal of native villages, criminalizing traditional uses of forests and clear cutting original forests for reforestation events and brining in non-native but commercial trees. Instead, AOP is demonstrating that people can sustainably live with forests and that they have knowledge and capability to manage their own natural resources and native genetic resources.