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Subcommittee reports, plenary discussion, and recommendations

Report by the subcommittee on documentation, training, and personnel
Report by the subcommittee on mapping and cover-type data requirements
Report by the subcommittee on climate, soil. and soil erosion data requirements
Report by the subcommittee on socio-cultural, demographic, and economic aspects
Plenary session
Recommendations

Report by the subcommittee on documentation, training, and personnel

These three topics of documentation, training, and personnel, while somewhat different among themselves, are linked here because they represent a special type of immediate research support system for the central research project. As the research project itself becomes more clearly defined and progresses to the actual field-work stage, the recommendations herein will require progressive modification.

Documentation

The subcommittee recommends the establishment of a reference collection of documents immediately related to research problems and methods in the Northern Thai highlands and lowlands, and of documents of a more general nature. Such materials should be in the possession of Chiang Mai University but housed at the Huai Thung Choa field station. Documents should include topographic and thematic maps of various scales. air photographs and satellite imagery. and copies of reports and scientific papers, as well as selected standard textbooks, reference works, and laboratory and field manuals. It would be best to begin with preparation of an annotated bibliography. An effort should be made to provide for translation into the Thai language. Close collaboration should be developed with the National Research Council, the Tribal Research Centre, Chiang Mai, and similar resource centres to avoid unnecessary duplication. However, emphasis is placed on the need to upgrade the research effectiveness of the Huai Thung Choa field station itself.

To begin this process, participants of this workshop are requested to make available copies of their own research reports and associated publications. Exchanges with similar UNU and other projects need to be developed and maintained.

Visiting scientists who work on the project should be required to ensure that early preliminary reports of their work, plus copies of all their field data, be deposited with the project co-ordinator before they leave the Chiang Mai region.

Efforts should be made to ensure dissemination of results and related information at various levels: scientific publications. UNU newsletter, and lay-orientated articles in popular magazines.

Training

Training needs are seen to fall into several categories: (1 ) training of younger scholars (bachelor-master level), (2) specialized training of graduates and research fellows to ensure higher technical and interdisciplinary input, and (3) Inservice training of government employees. especially those of the Royal Forestry Department. The degree-earning approach should be de-emphasized although the overall project is perceived as being eminently suitable for attainment of higher degrees by graduate student project participants. Chiang Mai University faculty with heavy pre-existing commitments could be assisted by provision of teaching assistants, or could be encouraged to direct project graduate students.

The project could also benefit considerably by arrangements being made to encourage participation of graduate students and senior scientists from countries with similar problems, for example. Burma, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and others. This could be achieved by provision of UNU fellowships, but also other agency and national funding could also be acquired.

A fourth type of training and educational development, of course, relates to the associated highland people themselves. Success in ensuring adoption of any alternative land-use approaches and agro-forestry techniques and innovations will depend heavily upon dissemination of information and example amongst the highland peoples themselves.

Personnel

A project co-ordinator should be formally appointed and granted partial UNU salary support. He should have a parttime assistant co-ordinator who would also preferably be included in the project as a research officer. Senior research fellows, both Thai and visitors, need to be identified to ensure that the many facets of this interdisciplinary project are properly staffed. Graduate research students must be identified and consideration given to acquisition of technical/clerical support staff as required.

The foregoing recommendations presuppose that a sustained effort be made by the Project Co-ordinator and the UN University to ensure participation of faculty and graduate students from the various relevant components of Chiang Mai University. and liason developed with other appropriate research projects being undertaken in Northern Thailand.

To ensure adequate review and evaluation of progress the UN University. in consultation with Chiang Mai University. should appoint an advisory committee consisting of two senior Thai research administrators and two outside experts. together with a UNU staff officer. This committee should hold its first meeting in November 1979 in conjunction with the already planned agro forestry workshop so as to reduce expenses to a minimum. A proposed structure for the research organization is shown in Fig. 1.

FIG. 1. Suggested Organization of Huai Thung Choa Research Project

Report by the subcommittee on mapping and cover-type data requirements

Cartography is a necessary part of the proposed Huai Thung Choa project, and maps should be made at two scales: the immediate field area at 1 :20,000/1 :25,000; and the wider area of the Mae Ping watershed north of Chiang Mai together with the Salween River watershed at the same latitude as far as the Burmese border at a scale of 1:100.000/1 :250,000.

Existing Data, and Data to Be Obtained

There are good topographic maps at 1 :500,000 and 1 :250,000 and air photographic coverage from 1954 and 1970 at 1 :50,000. More recent (1972) air photography at 1 :20,000 is available for some areas. principally the lowlands. Geological maps are available at scales of 1:1.000.000 and 1 :250,000, but will be of limited value for this project. Forest type maps are available at 1 :50,000 and 1:1,000,000. A landuse map at a scale of 1:1,000,000 from LANDSAT imagery is available from the Land Development Department. Professor Nualsiri Wongtangsawat has produced an excellent geomorphological map of the Chiang Mai area at a scale of 1 :250,000. It would be most useful if a comparable sheet, immediately to the north, could be compiled for the project. Additional maps are available as follows.

Landscape dynamics by Dr. Michel Bruneau transect Mae Taeng-Pai at 1:50,000. This includes a part of the Huai Thung Choa area.

General information ARSCT Northern Region Atlas (1 :1,000,000) .

Settlement map Tribal Research Centre (1 :500,000).

Environmental information trail study by Professor Phunphon for ARSCT (1 :50.000).

Larger scale maps, 1 :50,000, and the 1 :25,000 base from which they are derived, may be available from the military if security clearance can be obtained.

Cartographic Research Required for the Project

It is recommended that the following maps be compiled within three years at a scale of 1 :250,000:

A set of thematic maps including: hypsometry. hydrography (with watershed delineation). climatic maps with charts, geomorphology, soils. Iandscape dynamics, including vegetation and land-use changes since 1954. as well as settlements and population

It is further recommended that the following maps at 1 :20,000/1 :25,000 be prepared, also within three years after the initiation of the project:

Slopes, soils. geomorphology and erosion forms, vegetation and land-use types and their dynamics since 1954, settlements. population, and ethnic groups, Iand capability, and research on LANDSAT digital data processing using 1973-1978 imagery from the beginning and end of the dry season.

These recommendations imply a considerable amount of new field survey and cartography. The landscape dynamic maps should be done at the two scales in parallel with the soils and geomorphic maps during the first two years. The Chiang Mai University Geography Department has the capability of undertaking this work if adequate research funds can be acquired. Supervisors of the work should be Professors Nualsiri Wongtangsawat and Phunphon; with at least two students trained abroad in the fields of remote sensing and vegetation mapping.

The aim of the cartographic work would be to provide vital background date for all other aspects of the project and to provide a research tool in itself, particularly the landscape dynamic maps. Thus a link could be established between the natural and human sciences studies and human environmental impacts could be graphically demonstrated.

Report by the subcommittee on climate, soil. and soil erosion data requirements

Very important aspects for a study of highland-lowland interactions in Northern Thailand are climate, soils. and soil erosion, in association with mapping of cover types and land-use patterns. For climatic conditions, rainfall characteristics are particularly important; soil properties must be detailed; and soil erosion and sediment transport must be determined.

Available Data-Climate

Climatic observations have been carried out at the following stations that are located in the vicinity of the Huai Thung Choa field area: (a) the station itself (alt. 1,200 m); (b) Huai Kok Ma (1,100 m); (c) Doi Chiang Dao (above 1,000 m); (d) Royal Ang Kang Research Station (1.400 m): (e) Chiang Mai University Geography Department and Multi-cropping Project, Department of Agriculture. and Weather Station at Chiang Mai Airport (354 m). (f) Mae Sa Watershed Project (about 800 m); and (9) Chang Kien Station (200 m). Some of these localities have climatic data over a period of more than 10 years.

Available Data-Soils

A very general soil survey may be available from the Land Development Department, Ministry of Agriculture. Geological maps at 1:1,000,000 and 1250,000 should be available. but these will be of limited value.

Available Data-Soil Erosion

There are very few studies concerning soil erosion. Run-off amounts. together with transported materials are observed at several stations but there is nothing available for the immediate research area (cf. Kunstadter et al. eds., 1978, chaps. 7 and 8).

Research Needs-Climate

Daily values for rainfall as well as humidity must be collected for as long a period as possible. Also there is critical need for detailed knowledge of distribution of rainfall intensities and standard climatological observations throughout the Huai Thung Choa field area as a basis for establishment of an applied topoclimatology. This should lead to statistical analysis of occurrences. frequencies, return periods, lapse rates, and secular changes. A minimum of 10 rainfall recorders and thermographs should be distributed throughout the field area, and a full topoclimatological unit should be established at the station itself.

Research Needs-Soils

Investigation of soil types. chemical and physical characteristics should be undertaken as a basis for soils mapping and soil erosion studies. This will also provide data for vegetation regeneration studies and productivity.

Research Needs-Soil Erosion

A series of observations on actual soil erosion processes must be made through a range of slopes, aspects, and soil and vegetation cover types. Water discharge, erosion rates, and sediment transport must be observed for the local watershed. Differentiation between natural and man-made, or man-augmented, processes should be attempted.

Training

Two to three months are required for training observers in each of the three categories-climate. soils, and soil erosion. It will probably be necessary to make provision for adding two scientist-consultants to the project for a period of two or three months.

Financial Implications

The cost of climatological instrumentation may be supported by certain Japanese foundations. A minimum of one year is required for the topoclimatologicai study and it should begin during 1979. The soil mapping may need three years. Soil erosion studies should be carried on for three to five years and preferably on a permanent basis. After establishment through the central UNU project this could possibly be taken over by the Royal Forestry Department. We expect that support can be obtained through collaboration with local (Chiang Mai and Government) agencies and institutions. Much of the effectiveness of these proposals, through the opportunity for their wider applications, will depend upon provision of a good topographic and thematic map base (see the report on mapping and cover type data requirements).

Report by the subcommittee on socio-cultural, demographic, and economic aspects

The Situation at Huai Thung Choa

Compared with the location of most highland populations. Huai Thung Choa is at a relatively high altitude. appears to have far more extensive replacement of forest by grassland, is less densely settled. and is far better served by heavy investments in roads and other infrastructural services (schools, health stations, agricultural advice. marketing assistance. and overall administration and guidance).' The project area population. in addition to Thai project personnel, includes four ethnic groups: Karen, Lisu. Hmong, and Northern Thai Although their settlements are separate, the amount of inter-ethnic contact is much greater than in most highland areas. In contrast with most people in the highlands most of the people in the project area have abandoned subsistence cultivation in favour of wage work or cash cropping, and are rapidly being persuaded to stop swiddening in favour of permanent upland field cultivation and use of irrigated or rain-fed terraces. Some former opium growers have apparently replaced opium with a variety of other cash crops yielding at least as much income.

Although the site is not representative of most highland areas or the socio-economic situation of most highland populations. it may illustrate some future trends, and information from the site will be valuable in planning development elsewhere in the highlands

Research Needs at Huai Thung Choa and Elsewhere

Research at the project site should be conducted in the following areas.

1. Economic costs, benefits. and risks should be documented, including costs of capital improvements, costs of maintenance of infrastructural services. flows of money into and out of the project area associated with the project, and effects of market related. seasonal, and other fluctuations on the availability of income and subsistence goods and services.

2. Household economic patterns in the area should be described for each ethnic group to allow comparison between those accepting project innovations and those not accepting. as well as attempting to reconstruct and compare economic patterns before and after acceptance of innovations. Description should include seasonal variations in employment and work patterns. amounts of land used in the total system (including that used for watershed protection, for firewood production, for roads, etc.). and expenditures and consumption habits.

3. Local perception of the project objectives and methods should be described. with special attention to the ethnic differences in response to innovations. as associated with traditional land-use and land-ownership systems. current access to land, participation in the wage labour market, and so on.

4 Inter-ethnic relations in the project area should be noted, and an attempt should be made to describe the effects of the project on the culture of the groups involved. especially as regards family system, village leadership and social control. religion, creation of a split between generations. amongst other topics

5 Social and economic effects of road building in the area should be examined in terms of increased contacts between highlanders and with outsiders (including project personnel, official and unofficial tourists). Effects of the exposure of villagers to display of different standards of material well-being should be noted. The distribution of the increased values associated with the project (e.g.. in land and saleable commodities) should be noted as regards benefits received by project area residents versus outsiders.

6. Implications of this project and other types of agroforestry development for ownership and traditional patterns of access to. use of. and management of land should be studied.

7. Using available series of air photographs and interviews, the history of settlement patterns, population size. and land use should be described for the project area. This should go back as far as the 1954 55 air photographs will allow. Attention should be paid to amounts of land cleared. and patterns of vegetational succession.

Research outside the project area should be conducted to increase the generalizability and applicability of the project results, so as to allow planning under the widely varying characteristics of people and environment in the highlands. Such research is also needed to assess social. economic, and demographic changes and trends independent of the effects of the project.

1. Of particular importance is a study of marketing and trading patterns within the highlands, and those involving highland-lowland interactions, and the role of different transportation methods in these.

2. A marketing survey should be made of the potential demand for highland crops. and the effects on prices of increasing the supplies of these crops.

3. A map should be prepared showing the current location and type of roads in the highlands, and studies of the effects of roads on marketing, production. and changing patterns of land values should be made in sample areas.

4. Systematic studies of sample areas should be made to assess population size; age structure; birth and death rate; the volume, direction. and circumstances of migration of highlanders, including their participation in the lowland labour market: the economic conditions of migrants before and after the moves; population pressure: and access to land in the highlands. This information is essential for predicting the growth and distribution of highland population.

5. An inventory should be made of wage work opportunities in the highlands, along with a study of labour recruiting networks. Participation of various ethnic groups in wage work should be noted.

6. Maps showing the distribution of highland socioeconomic systems should be drawn to show their relevance for economic development. Data to be mapped should include subsistence shortage and surplus areas, zones of rapid population growth, labour supplies and employment opportunities. and types of land tenure. Baseline data should be assembled to allow the setting of targets for key socioeconomic indicators (e.g., adequacy of food supply, village water supplies, health facilities, educational levels. child death rates). and these data combined with the map of socio-economic systems should be used as the basis for selecting areas of highest urgency and greatest opportunity for development of various sorts.

7. A survey of the career patterns of highlander highschool graduates should be made as a guide to modification of curriculum and job placement programmes, especially as related to highland village development plans.

Documentation, Training, and Personnel

Some of the data required for these tasks already exist, for example in the files of the Tribal Research Centre and the Social Science Research Centre at Chiang Mai University. Valuable information on research already done in the highlands is present in the files of the National Research Council and should be collated in the form of a guide to personnel and research results.

Work on the project may be done by Chiang Mai University research units, including those in the faculties of Agriculture, Business Administration, Medicine, and Social Sciences, and by the Tribal Research Centre. Because some of these units may already be over-committed to research tasks, it may be appropriate to release some young Chiang Mai University faculty members from teaching and assign them full time to various portions of the project for one or two semesters. Data processing facilities and research library holdings will have to be strengthened in order to complete some of these tasks (e.g., through addition of storage capacity to the Social Science Research Centre computer to facilitate rapid processing of large surveys).

Funding

Funding required for the research tasks outlined above is far beyond the scope of the UN University-Chiang Mai University agreement. Costs will include salaries of the researchers and supplementary staff and consultants. Iocal travel and per diem while engaged in the field research, data processing, secretarial assistance, and supplies.

TABLE 1. Proposed Proiect Schedule

*Timing of field-work will depend on seasonal access to data

Requests for financial assistance for the subprojects, cc ordinated by the project directorate ale should be addressed to the appropriate national, bilateral and international agencies National agencies might include the Department of Public Welfare which has administrative responsibilities in highland areas; the National Statistical Office, which has responsibility for conducting national population and agricultural censuses. Other agencies might include Agency for International Development, IDE C, Ford Foundation, Population Council, US Department of Agriculture US and UN narcotics agencies, Unesco. and UNDP

Schedule

The proposed schedule is diagrammed in Table 1.

Plenary session

Introduction

The objectives of the plenary session, held on 16 November 1978, were: first, to respond to the reports of the four subcommittees (which were generally accepted in the form presented above); second, to permit a general expression of viewpoints; and third, to formulate a group of major recommendations Dr Terry Grandstaff undertook the arduous task of rapporteur and prepared extensive notes, upon which this section is primarily based,

Discussion

There was general expression of a primary concern that the three to five-year time frame of the proposed UN UniversityChiang Mai University agreement for research be kept in perspective Use of the pre existing Huai Thung Choa highland project as a basis for the grafting on of additional UNU-funded research was considered sound and had a number of important advantages. However, the opportunity clearly existed for accomplishing far more than this. The project is conceived in a necessarily narrow manner because of obvious financial constraints, Furthermore, one apparently serious disadvantage, the lack of strong representativeness of the Huai Thung Choa field area itself as compared with the Northern Thai highlands at large, needs to be overcome (this is discussed in more detail in the subcommittee report on socio-cultural. demographic, and economic aspects, pp. 9799). Thus a response to the first comment relating to financial constraints, is that a sustained effort be made to use the Huai Thung Choa project itself as a kind of core research operation that could be greatly enlarged through identification of an outer perimeter of research projects that may be funded through other agencies and institutions. This approach. in turn, through the enforced broadening of the core research operation. could be advanced in such a way as to ensure that the problem of lack of representativeness of the field area be overcome.

It was also pointed out that we face the need to tackle problems in both the natural and socio economic realms and to ensure that adequate linkages be developed. Thus in the natural sciences forest problems. development of Imperata grasslands, and soil erosion can be cited as related to land use and land-use adjustments. In the socioeconomic realm. for instance, analysis must be made of agricultural systems that relate not only to marketing problems but also to preservation of the different ethnic traditions, maintenance of soil fertility. and forest fallow difficulties. Thus it will be necessary to determine how the villages are organized and be aware that introduction of cash crops may induce sudden and possibly detrimental changes in cultural characteristics It was recommended that while development of a larger cash sector to the local economies will be necessary, this should be attempted in small steps, year by year This would recognize that the present life styles of the different ethnic groups are founded on their traditional subsistence systems and that as much as possible of the advantageous aspects of this foundation must be preserved. Thus an equilibrium must be achieved between land used for subsistence, land used for cash cropping, and energy expended for wage labour, both at the individual and village levels. Achievement of such an equilibrium will require definition of minimum standards of individual and group subsistence requirements and changing life style perceptions.

The dangers of becoming preoccupied with lists of crops, small projects, and so on, were stressed, especially since, in the past. this approach has led to unnecessary antagonisms between natural and human scientists. It would be more profitable if more natural scientists would investigate indigenous systems to obtain a broader data base. Thus studies should be made of soil types, vegetation successions over different periods of time and on slopes and old fields of varying steepness and aspect. Furthermore, we should work towards bringing forestry and shifting cultivation together. To achieve this it would be necessary to work within the traditional systems. It would also be important to do everything possible to ensure that results obtained from the Huai Thung Choa field area be applicable to regional planning for Northern Thailand as a whole.

Environmental change must be studied especially on the basis of micro-scale investigations. Thus a network of study plots would be required over a long time-period. Integration of Chiang Mai University students and junior faculty into such studies would benefit both the research effort and help fulfil the teaching and training role of the university. But this should be expanded beyond Chiang Mai University and involve visiting students and scholars from elsewhere in Thailand and from abroad Nevertheless, these ambitions must not obscure the need for precisely defined core project objectives and time scale.

It was emphasized by several participants that many aspects of existing swidden rotational systems may be ecologically sound and these must be identified and preserved; thus the caution against abrupt change was reemphasized. Present income from opium production is quite high; therefore cash alternatives must be competitive and associated marketing systems sustainable and dependable, Thus the rapidly developing concepts of agroforestry must be exploited to the full while simplistic reforestation and associated projects, and especially the taungya system, are probably very counterproductive in certain situations. One of the major challenges will be how to bring about improvement without sudden changes and preserve native cultural characteristics while at the same time achieving ethnic integration into the mainstream of Thai society. Primary schooling systems will comprise a major focus for this challenge, with the general aim of educating the next generation

Another major point of concern also focused around the representativeness, or lack of it. of the Huai Thung Choa field area Thus, if an experimental approach to the design of highland lowland interactive aspects of the project is to be used, a non-project''control''area must be utilized This should reduce the danger of projecting results of crop trials, for instance, but more especially of socio economic findings, to other areas. The basic differences that exist in highland land-use patterns must be recognized. The Lua'/Karen type involves a settled, community territory, managed largely on a community basis. This contrasts markedly with the cash croppers who lack community orientation towards maintenance and control of land. The implications here for managed agro-forestry and forest products are profound. The Lisu frequently follow the latter system, but even the Karen of the Huai Thung Choa field area, having recently moved in, are atypical in that they appear to lack community control.

Since a regular highway system as a means of access to markets is basic to introduction of cash crops, road maintenance will prove a problem, especially with erosion during periods of intensive rainfall. Foreign aid is not applicable in such instances. Another implication for the possible development of extensive monocropping is pest control. Permanent fields may induce much greater problems with insects and rodents, for instance, than in recurring relocation of fields. This also leads to vectorborne disease problems associated with environmental changes Development of permanent fields, furthermore will bring into ever sharper focus problems of social relationships with the land. Thus as land becomes a marketable commodity, it becomes much more subject to misuse and destruction. Central to many of the socioeconomic and cultural problems will be the land-tenure system

Concern was expressed that the discussion was leading to envisioning of research on a progressively grander scale, while the means available were modest Also, careful attention must be paid to the fact that the Huai Thung Choa Project was principally a forestry project within which Dr. Pisit had been given the opportunity of doing some very interesting horticultural and land-use work. Thus, if our intent is to look for alternative land use systems, what will be the attitude of the Royal Forestry Department? The prospects of achieving an integration of agriculture and forestry for the benefit of the hill peoples raise questions of defining implications and limitations in terms of current land management and control. The great challenge will be to incorporate the Forestry Department; if it can extend its work into agroforestry, then important policy changes can be anticipated, In this sense Dr Pisit's project could be truly seminal.

The experiences associated with extensive road-building in Nepal were described. This led to the important question that the need for road extension and decision on road location must be answered carefully. Road extension could become an especially dangerous form of highlandlowland interaction, both from the point of view of soil erosion, and also from that of opening up wider areas for unorganized movement of people and the attendant environmental impacts. This is another area where exchange of scholars could prove beneficial. It was pointed out that in Nepal when students obtain advanced degrees they are required to work in the villages for several semesters to assist with village development problems.

Dr Sanga Sabhasci concluded the foregoing discussion by explaining that he thought many of the proposed objectives and concerns could be accommodated within the limits of the Huai Thung Choa Project. He also thought that results deriving from it should be applicable to wide areas of Thailand, and that while Chiang Mai University personnel appeared very cautious he was convinced that they had the resources and expertise to accept the challenge, The Thai national policy for reforestation can be typified by the statement that ''the top of the country should be forested.'' The aim is to increase forest cover from its present estimated 30 per cent of total land area to 50 per cent. He thought, therefore, that agro-forestry should be concentrated in the lower hills, while hill crest areas should be reserved for forest cover development and maintenance, but cash components were still needed even in the highest areas Planning on a 10- to 20-year integrated time scale will be required. It would, therefore, be extremely valuable to examine the environmental changes that have occurred over the past 10 to 20 years.

In terms of agro-forestry business firewood and fuelwood production must be planned on a three-to five year cycle: post, pole, and fruit tree aspects, for instance, will involve a 10-year cycle; while lumber for construction may require 60 years. Integrated into this will be subsistence agriculture and year-to-year marketing of cash crops of many types.

Recommendations

General Recommendations

1. Work towards wider applicability beyond the specific project

Attainment of this goal will involve concern with regional planning; wider problems in the traditional sector. environmental monitoring on a network of points; use of the Huai Thung Choa project as a base; monitoring of other areas as controls; marketing of cash crops rather than productivity; stressing practical education of indigenous (ethnic) peoples so that they would become ''extension agents'' of the project

It will also involve dissemination of information to beyond Northern Thailand, with its attendant need for generation of knowledge, documentation, training, and education, through both the traditional university approach and onthe-job involvement of staff of various relevant ministries and overseas visitors.

2. Transitions in development must not be abrupt

Ideally this could be conceived of as progressive introductions of cash crops into the highlands and strengthening of rice production in the lowlands: such should be coupled with retention of the culture of hill peoples while encouraging more complete identification with Thailand as a national concept

In terms of practical research problems, this calls for an interdisciplinary team approach with a strong socioeconomic component. The immediate objective is to bring together the concepts of swiddening and forestry in a stable human welfare and environmental setting: thus-conservational development

3. Substantive issues must be defined

Emphasize agro-forestry as a new way of looking at forestry and swiddening measures in terms of achieving a balance between human welfare and environmental preservation. In practice this will require tackling the Imperata problem and provision of a good data base through studies of soil erosion. rainfall intensity and runoff. soil nutritional status. geomorphic and cover type maps, as well as analysis and application of terracing techniques and resolution of medical and pest problems arising with permanent field usage

4. Identify and develop appropriate methods

Emphasize training over research with a view to widerscale applicability. Develop the project as an applied research model: begin with a survey of subsistence and cash needs and then determine an ideal land management system to achieve these needs. Survey existing systems, map land capability and work towards optimization. revising goals in light of growing awareness of environmental and socio economic constraints.

5. Seek to reduce population pressures on the land

This is really a summation of all other goals. It should involve limitations on actual population growth rates and movements of people. increased productivity balanced with environmental preservation In particular, care should be taken to ensure introduced cash crops are not labour intensive to the point that they induce an increase in population Intelligent progress in resolution of this complex of problems will be facilitated by the great increase in knowledge and understanding This should result from the proposed holistic approach to research and should be achieved from within the traditions of existing ethnic groups and their ways of life It will not be achieved through attempts to impose upon the indigenous peoples solutions throught out by scientists and bureaucrats.

Specific Recommendations

1. That United Nations University should adopt the pre existing Huai Thung Choa Highland Project and through a three to five-year research grant. broaden it to facilitate development of an interdisciplinary research project in agro forestry and highland lowland interactive systems

2 That specific components of the developing research design be identified as candidates for additional funding beyond the existing UN University Chiang Mai University-Royal Forestry Department financial constraints.

3 That an additional educational and training component be facilitated through award of UNU fellowships to Thai students and faculty This will involve utilization of different forms of training and educational programmes at CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica; and at the University of Colorado Mountain Research Station. USA; and other institutions as appropriate.

4. That Dr. Pisit Voraural be appointed UNU Resident Coordinator of the project and that an evaluation and advisory committee be established to facilitate all aspects of the project.

5. That all efforts be made to achieve collaboration with comparable and complementary projects in Northern Thailand and that all pre-existing information and expertise be utilized to the fullest possible extent.

6 That material support be provided for the Huai Thung Choa field station to increase its effectiveness as a research base.

7. That an association be sought with the newly proposed UNDP colour-air photography and soil-mapping project. This should be arranged in such a way that detailed studies in the Huai Thung Choa field area be used for provision of ground truth to facilitate more accurate air photography interpretation. Conversely the UNDP project could be an important means of extending work at the field station to a much wider area.

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