02 May 2002

ENVIRONMENT / LEAD MINE

The Songkram River Conservation and Recovery Group has won a top environment award from the Thailand Environment Institute for its work to conserve the river which is the lifeline of people in upper Isan.

The group also helped preserve an endemic wetland forest, known as paa bung paa time.

The group, consisting of local people from five villages in the northeastern provinces of Nakhon Phanom and Sakon Nakhon, had fought against a dam project initiated in 1992 by the Energy Development and Promotion.

It also struggled against concessionaires who had cleared a 4,627-rai forest for charcoal production, and later against a eucalyptus plantation.

It is the second local group to have won the prestigious award, established under the Dhira Pantumwanich Memorial Fund. The previous winner was the renowned Hak Muang Nan group in the North.

``In keeping the Songkram river and paa bung paa time, the group achieves also in keeping its way of life and culture,'' environmental campaigner Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich said in an excerpt.

The Songkram river, a major breeding ground for fish from the Mae Khong river, is known for its rich biodiversity resources. With an abundance of fish species, it is a prime source of plaa daek (Isan-styled fermented fish) which is the foundation of the so-called ``plaa daek culture''.

The group's long, peaceful struggle paid off when the government finally agreed to shelve the dam project in January for fear of its huge ecological impact.

A few years earlier, the group's opposition led to the revocation of the forest concessions. Reafforestation followed and about 60% of the forest has already recovered.

Kamalachet Thanan, the group's vice-chairman, said he was glad his fellow villagers had managed to fight off power and money. ``It had been a difficult time for us,'' he said.

Suriya Kotama, the group's secretary-general, said the river and the forest were vital for the people who tried to be self-reliant.

``The award attested to the unity of local communities in saving our natural resources and ways of life,'' he said.