The Pak Mun Dam promised water and energy security for northeastern Thailand. Villagers say it took their river’s fish instead. As the World Bank that helped finance it returns to Bangkok, those who kept the record want its leaders to remember.
Built on promises that were never kept, the Pak Mun Dam devastated a riverside community. More than three decades later, one woman refuses to let Thailand forget.
He’s the calm strategist. She’s the one who takes the front line. For twenty years, Ornuch and Pramote Phonpinyo have split the work of running one of the country’s most enduring land rights networks.
Six years after a landmark pesticide ban, Thailand’s farming system is still built around chemical dependency. Campaigners say the country solved a scandal, not the system behind it.
Cheap methamphetamine from Myanmar is flooding Thailand’s Lahu communities, where poverty and decades of neglect have left young people with few alternatives. But some are fighting back – with ancient rituals, a shoestring charity and, for the first time, the law on their side.
Thailand’s national parks have a complication the maps didn’t show: people. Thousands of families have settled on forest land, only to find themselves declared encroachers when officials later drew park boundaries around their homes. After decades of evictions, one village has found a solution.
The Maniq have inhabited Thailand’s southern forests since before they were declared protected areas. As wildlife disappears and legal restrictions tighten, their children are the first generation to attend school – and may be the last to remember the old ways.
When China banned waste imports in 2017, Thailand became a dumping ground for toxic materials. Meet the ice cream vendor turned environmental defender who teaches communities to take on corporate polluters.
For the struggling town of Ranong, the 29 billion USD mega-project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But not everyone is convinced.
The Pak Mun Dam promised water and energy security for northeastern Thailand. Villagers say it took their river’s fish instead. As the World Bank that helped finance it returns to Bangkok, those who kept the record want its leaders to remember.
Built on promises that were never kept, the Pak Mun Dam devastated a riverside community. More than three decades later, one woman refuses to let Thailand forget.
He’s the calm strategist. She’s the one who takes the front line. For twenty years, Ornuch and Pramote Phonpinyo have split the work of running one of the country’s most enduring land rights networks.
Six years after a landmark pesticide ban, Thailand’s farming system is still built around chemical dependency. Campaigners say the country solved a scandal, not the system behind it.
Cheap methamphetamine from Myanmar is flooding Thailand’s Lahu communities, where poverty and decades of neglect have left young people with few alternatives. But some are fighting back – with ancient rituals, a shoestring charity and, for the first time, the law on their side.
Thailand’s national parks have a complication the maps didn’t show: people. Thousands of families have settled on forest land, only to find themselves declared encroachers when officials later drew park boundaries around their homes. After decades of evictions, one village has found a solution.
The Maniq have inhabited Thailand’s southern forests since before they were declared protected areas. As wildlife disappears and legal restrictions tighten, their children are the first generation to attend school – and may be the last to remember the old ways.
When China banned waste imports in 2017, Thailand became a dumping ground for toxic materials. Meet the ice cream vendor turned environmental defender who teaches communities to take on corporate polluters.
For the struggling town of Ranong, the 29 billion USD mega-project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But not everyone is convinced.
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