People from Thailand’s indigenous Karen and Thai Lana community, Yuam River and its connected canals are concerned about the projects that change or change the direction and create the dam, which is a matter of reversing careful care for years.
On the occasion of publishing the disaster risk report of 2021, both communities interact with the UN university team, who found out how to disaster, how to be connected to each other and even with human behavior.
Members of the community say how they are protecting their lifestyle, which gives land and waterways more important than economic power.
Defense of nature
One Thai Lana Fisherman Sincoarn Ruinham said, “I am basically dependent on the river for my business…. I’m going to fish there. It can be done or not, we will try to protect nature.
He said, “When I go to the river water I feel happy it I think I have reached my house i
Ruenham said, “Local rural people give more importance to nature than wealth. Money can be obtained quickly and then it goes quickly, but nature lives with us all his life.
He explained, “Now the villagers are registering fish species in the Nagao river. According to them, about 70 to 80 percent of the species found in the Nagao river is not found anywhere else.”
“In my opinion it has a value that cannot be measured. It is our culture, to respect it. It is a crab and fish that once used to be our friend, and the trees we saw was disappearing.”
There is no life without rivers and forests…
“We are dependent on the forest and the river for our living and livelihoods, if there is no river, we cannot survive our memories since birth,” said Freshek Mupoy, an indigenous Karen activist.
He also said, “Whatever we have today is enough and plenty. We do not want any direction, do not want to change the water flow or direction of the river Our life was always the same We We live along the river We want to be a river that can flow without interruption.”
“The forests and rivers we live with are given us a lot of resources, they give us food and life almost all year, so we need to take care of the forest and the river and all the lives related to them and give them food.”
He said, “My voice is the voice of rural people and nature, because rural people and nature live together, they are both part of each other. If a person or community wants to change something with nature, it should be thoughtfully thought and whether it is correct to destroy nature.”
“If nature is damaged, it will disappear forever.