Forest Guardians

Fighting PM2.5 and Wildfires: The Need for Forest Guardians

The crisis of PM2.5 toxic haze and wildfires is constantly escalating, causing loss of life and injuries to people and wildlife. Over 3 million rai of forest are burned every year across Thailand, with $65\%$ of nationwide burn areas originating from wildfires—a major source of the PM2.5 that severely damages public health, leading to lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

The Challenge and the Solution (Payment for Ecosystem Services - PES)

With a total of 102 million rai of forest nationwide, government capacity alone is insufficient. Local upstream communities have voluntarily worked alongside officials to protect, prevent, extinguish fires, and reforest annually, often with little external support. Despite this, their actions directly benefit the quality of life for downstream urban populations.

This led to the creation of the Forest Guardian Community Project, aimed at providing these communities with the resources and tools necessary to manage the hundreds or thousands of rai of forest surrounding their villages.

Success Stories and Project Expansion

There are numerous examples of villages successfully becoming forest guardians. In 2024, support for communities like Ban Mae Sa Noi and Ban Pong Khrai (who manage thousands of rai of vital watershed forest in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park) led to tangible results. The communities formed intergenerational teams to build tens of kilometers of firebreaks, conducted three months of fire surveillance, and jointly tackled fires with officials, ultimately reducing the burned area by over $70\%$. They established local fire management rules, planted fire-resistant native trees for natural firebreaks and biodiversity, and developed forest-care-based economic activities to reduce reliance on external funding.

Building on this success, the project is expanding to support dozens more communities in 2025 to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season (March through the rainy season). This proactive approach aims to mitigate the risk of severe fires, like the unprecedented blazes seen in California, which are fueled by the global climate crisis.

Addressing Conflict and Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods

The challenge is compounded by the fact that many forest communities lack legal rights to manage their ancestral lands, often predating the declaration of forest and park boundaries. This sense of injustice can lead to conflicts, which sometimes result in deliberately set fires.

To address this, the project partners with a Chiang Mai University research team to resolve land conflicts and manage land tenure rights under new laws (e.g., Community Forest Law and National Park Act Section 19 and 65). This creates a permanent incentive for communities to generate income while protecting the forest through sustainable agriculture and eco-restoration tourism. This new income replaces fire-dependent farming, reduces hunting and foraging using fire, and ultimately makes the community self-sufficient in managing their forests without needing external funding. These economic development activities are supported after the fire season to ensure sustainable solutions.

Project Management and Partners

The project is a collaborative effort managed by ChangeFusion Institute under the Thai Rural Reconstruction Foundation and includes the following partners: Chiang Mai Breath Council Foundation, Northern Sustainable Development Foundation, Hug Muang Nan Foundation, Taejai, CMU PM2.5 Forestry Research Project, Thailand Institute of Justice, The Next Forest, FORRU, the Government Open Sub-Committee (under the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission), and The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue ($\text{HD}$).