15 June 2012: A new UN Development Programme (UNDP) documentary titled “Building Social Cohesion: The Case of Mae Hong Son,” highlights an innovative approach to community security and social cohesion that leads to more resilient communities in Northern Thailand.

The film highlights a UNDP project in Mae Hong Son, Thailand’s poorest province, with the country’s lowest score on UNDP’s Human Development Index. The poor economic conditions in the province caused social tensions between the local population and the provincial government, as well as resentment towards the displaced people receiving support from the international community in nearby temporary shelters. Since isolated rural villages make their livelihoods from Mae Hong Son’s forests and traditional farming, the needs of the communities came into conflict with the desire to protect the remaining forests.

Through an innovative approach developed by UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), including a participatory rural appraisal (PRA), and a 3D mapping model (P3DM), UNDP, the provincial government and villagers jointly identified a number of issues, including inadequate water for agriculture, the lack of skills for protecting natural resources, and the extinction of banana from the village forest areas. This process also allowed communities to identify forest fires as a problem, and suggest wildfire control for conservation of natural resources and prevention of drought.

UNDP worked with a local NGO to lead a series of wildfire and flash flood prevention forums to increase awareness in the general public, as well as among provincial and local government officers. Meanwhile, villagers came together to identify problems and solutions for community natural resource management. As a result, Namtok Mae Surin Wildfire Prevention Network, a group of eight rural communities, was established. The network allowed stakeholders to identify the root causes of insecurity and develop coordinated community responses. [UNDP Press Release]