
How to stay hopeful 36 years into a fight with a dam
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.

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.

Shaped by her refugee roots, she became a fierce advocate for Myanmar migrants toiling in Phuket’s fishing and construction industries. Her nonprofit provides a rare lifeline in an opaque labour landscape.
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.
Shaped by her refugee roots, she became a fierce advocate for Myanmar migrants toiling in Phuket’s fishing and construction industries. Her nonprofit provides a rare lifeline in an opaque labour landscape.
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