Chaem Hanyek, a resolute 47-year-old housewife-turned-activist, stands in front of tall, old trees in a mangrove forest in Ban Thung Tase in the southern province of Trang. She raises her right hand and spreads out the five fingers.
"I can't use only my index finger to point out where our 300-year-old trees are in this 2,000 rai of our community forest, because there are too many, and they are everywhere. I have to use all five fingers to point them," she says with a laugh.
All those old trees have been saved from logging concessions due to the protests of the villagers led by Chaem, a loud-spoken woman and a mother of four. Her story, which is also her community's story, is yet another example of an ongoing conflict between villagers, private companies and the environmental agenda to balance trees and progress.
About 22 years ago, Chaem was a typical housewife. She raised her children and supported her husband's earnings by working in rubber plantations and catching fish or crab along the mangrove coastal area.
"In the past, we all heard the buzz of chainsaws all night long. Many villagers thought that our 5,000 rai forest was plenty and would never be destroyed by logging concessions," she recalls. "However, some of us thought differently. We saw them cutting the trees for charcoal for a decade so we knew if we didn't do anything, we would not have had a chance to save our mangroves, the source of our food."
Chaem joined the fight. The villagers and their headman Nom Hanyek, Chaem 's father-in-law, gathered together in a school to brainstorm. They recalled that when their ancestors founded the village, they had 2,000 rai reserved as a community forest, but the villagers needed legal evidence to prove it to the logging concession companies.
The first two attempts to acquire state evidence did not succeed.
They were denied by local forest offices so they submitted their request at the provincial level and received a letter confirming 1,500 rai was reserved as community forest.
"At that time, logging concessionaires paid only 10 baht a rai for operating the charcoal business. We put together our savings to buy back 500 rai to make a total of 2,000 rai to cover the total coastal area of our village," she says.
Getting back their community forest was one thing, preserving it was a different story.
"It was very difficult when we started the preservation process more than two decades ago. Many villagers did not understand why we needed to do this. I joined every activity of all groups in our village in order to convinced them to support us," she says.
The village committee was set up a year later, in 1993, to manage the community forest. They also worked with the Yad Fon Foundation, a conservation group in Trang, for research, guidelines and legal consultancy.
The committee segmented the forest into four zones, about 500 rai each. First is a strictly reserved area where old trees have grown and no tree must be cut. Next is a herbal zone, the nipa palm zone and the community usage zone.
"The committee allows a villager to cut trees only if it is reasonable. He or she must plant five trees as compensation for one tree and must take care of them for at least five years to make sure they survive," she said. However, soon four committee members, including Chaem, were accused of destroying 800 rai of forest.
"We didn't realise that there were a series of news reports stating that we cut large trees for logging because most of the time we spent constructing a 600m walkway in the mangrove forest. Our aim was to show our visitors that our forest is healthy with abundant old and large trees, as well as rich in biodiversity," she says.
A large group of policemen showed up with an arrest warrant, despite the village head stating that they were framed.
Chaem recalled that when they were led to a meeting room in the police station, there were a group of high-ranking officers, including representatives of the Trang governor.
Chaem remembers asking the police for evidence that they destroyed 800 rai of the forest. "Where were those stumps? Show us the pictures. Did any of you survey the land yet?" she demanded.
Silence filled in the room. The officers looked at one another. Finally, they had to release the villagers.
Next day, helicopters flew over the mangrove forest, with another team searching the ground for one-and-a-half-months. They looked for evidence. Nothing was found except for an old fallen tree.
Finally, the governor paid them a visit. His team decided to submit the forest preservation work of Ban Thung Tase to compete for the royal award of HM the Queen called Phithak Pa Pheu Raksa Cheewit (Protect The Forest To Save Lives) project. In the year 2000, the village won the award and received the royal elephant flag as a token of the Queen's appreciation and recognition.
Later the same year, the village also won an award from the Green World Foundation for their efforts to preserve 2,000 rai of the mangrove forest. The harvest of joy didn't last for long, however. Ban Thung Tase faced another problem. This time it was illegal fishing from a 100 motorised push-net fishing boats. The problem still exists today.
"The boats were operated like tractors scarring farmland. They pulled up and harvested everything from large to small marine animals along mangrove creeks and shorelines," Chaem says.
While looking for a solution, a group of illegal fishermen, most of them were from another district and backed by local politicians, paid her a visit. They pointed at her face and threatened her life if she stood in their way. They also came back a few days later to destroy all containers she used for collecting sap in the rubber plantation that she worked for. They left her a threatening note ordering her to leave them alone.
"I thought long and hard about hard what I should do, especially when I collected sap," she recalls.
She decided to organise a protest in front of City Hall, which she had done several times before. First, she asked various local networks in the South for support. Within two hours, about 500 people showed up at Thub Thiang Market in the town of Trang. She grabbed a microphone and spoke about the problem of illegal fishing and the impact it had on people in the South, who may have to eat frozen seafood instead of fresh.
They also camped outside City Hall for two days until they handed their demand to the governor. They asked the authorities to stop illegal fishing in 15 days.
"The governor's solution was absurd. The group of illegal fishermen, who burnt down the Kan Tang district office in protest, got 30,000 baht compensation for each boat. The governor said that the money would help them move to other areas," she says. However, the illegal fishing never stopped. Some of the boats still operate along the coastline.
"After the big two problems were solved, I felt like I could handle any issue," she said.
Chaem also had thrilling experiences that she was very proud of. She convinced Plodprasop Suraswadi, who was the forestry department chief about 12 years ago, to permanently ban the charcoal concession license in Trang . "The order came within 14 days after his visit. All charcoal businesses were stopped. I was very glad that it happened," she says.
About a decade ago, Chaem had a chance to report about the mangrove forest to HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn when she paid a royal visit to the village. From a brief report, it turned out to be a two-hour conversation. In 2011, Chaem received the "Environmental Caring Mom Award" from Mahidol University for her years-long effort to fight for the environment. At present, the mangroves of Ban Thung Tase are green and home to various types of small fish, shrimp, crab, clams and more than 70 plant species.
"Our nationwide forests have never expanded and I don't want to see them contract. We protect our forests because we live here and we know we can't live without them," she says. "What we need today is to have the a Community Forest Act so that we can have legal rights to manage the forest.
"It is not only the duty of the Forestry Department to take care of our forests, but everyone's. We just want the legal rights to manage our forest. We still have hope although it's very faint."
Mangrove tress in Ban Thung Tase.
Various types of plants found along the coastal area.
