Conservation, Renewability and Development of Pabung Patham "Flood Plains" In the Chi River Basin by Community Participation

Abstract

Problem statement: At present Pabang Patham “Flood Plains” have been fading away from new generations’ memories because they have known only community forest or “Pa Chum Chon” many kinds of plants, herbs, aquatic animals, wild animals and insects are reduced. Furthermore, some kinds of them are become extinct in the future if no conservation. Approach: A qualitative research was used for the study of conservation, renewability and development of cultural landscapes of Pabung Patham “Flood Plains” in the Chi river basin by community participation. The sample was three groups consisted of 30 key informants, 159 casual informants and 42 general informants. Three research areas were Khon Kaen, Mahasarakham and Yasothon. Results: The result of the study were as follows: (1) at present Pabung Patham have been fading away from new generation memories because they have known only community forest or “Pa Chum Chon” many kinds of plants, herbs, aquatic animals, wild animals and Insects are reduced. Furthermore some kinds of them are become extent in the future if no conservation. (2) Conservation by community participation according to AIC process was operated as follows: A: Appreciation, it was a process of constructing an appreciation. I: Influence, it was a process of constructing an influence on the ways to develop. C: Control, it was a process of constructing the ways to control the project. For this research the controlled factor was planting three kinds of tree and gaining four uses according to the feature of cultural landscapes of flood plains that consisted of planting trees for construction, trees for fruit and trees for fuel. Forest enhanced ecological balance in these ways: (1) enhancing oxygen for human beings (2) enhancing water for human beings (3) enhancing the fertility of soil land (4) enhancing the diversities of culture in case of the forest that Located in different ecology. Four cultural uses that we gained from forest classified into: (1) food was gained from plants, insects, wild animals, aquatic animals. (2) Herbal medicine (3) fuel was gained from trees (4) construction parts were gained from trees. Conclusion/Recommendations: Planting three kinds of tree and gaining four uses enhanced a lot of usefulness for community and reduced effectively the awful situation of global warming, drought storm and flood.