The Strengthening of Participatory Network in Watershed Forest Management Through Integrated Buddhism of the Community in Sop Peng Subdistrict, Mae Tang District, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

The research article has the following objectives: 1) To study the management of the community's watershed forests 2) To develop activities in managing watershed forests according to the Buddhist principles of the community 3) To strengthen the community's participation network in the integrated management of Buddhist watershed forests. The study is qualitative research by interviewing and discussing important informants. 30 people carried out activities with the community and summarized lessons learned to return information to the community. To analyze the data, content analysis is used.

The results showed that:

1. Watershed Forest Management was managed through religious rituals, management through local wisdom. Management through the integration of natural resource conservation groups. Management through activities from government, private agencies and community allocation.
2. Development of watershed forest management activities based on community Buddhist principles are: 1) The upstream process by organizing a community forum to brainstorm ideas on the guidelines for creating activities. 2) The middle stream process has implemented Buddhist activities that integrate with the community's watershed forest management by organizing watershed forest restoration activities. Creating awareness of watershed forest conservation for the community Providing knowledge on watershed forest conservation guidelines and 3) The downstream processes, by summarizing and evaluating the results and returning information to the community.

3. Strengthening the network of participation in the integrated management of Buddhist watershed forests support by temples, monks, government agencies, private agencies, Royal Projects Initiative and educational Institutions. The findings from the research show that the model of strengthening the participation network in the management of Buddhist watershed forests is caused by the integration of Buddhist principles, integrated Buddhism activities in the conservation and restoration of watershed forests, and the participation of communities and networks.