NEWS: CSDS presented with “Center of Excellence (CE) with Outstanding Performance” Award from Chulalongkorn University

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Today the Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development of the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science received the “Center of Excellence (CE) with Outstanding Performance” award from Chulalongkorn University. This annual award is presented to recognize the research achievements of the researchers within the center and their research over the previous year.

Download our brochure here.

Download our brochure here.

CSDS was established as a Research Unit within the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University in 1985. It was established to undertake interdisciplinary research linking across the various fields of political science within the Faculty (government, public administration, international relations, and sociology and anthropology) and more broadly in the social sciences, and to provide support in education, research, and teaching. Starting from 2006, CSDS supported the launch of the MA in International Development Studies (MAIDS) program.

Since January 2018, CSDS launched the Chulalongkorn University Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development with the goal of undertaking interdisciplinary research for the purpose of understanding and seeking resolution to contested resource politics in Asia and supporting social development. The Center of Excellence focuses on five inter-related research sub-themes:

Starting this year, CSDS also announced a new theme on (Forced) Displacement and Development.

Our team are honored to receive this award and its recognition of our ongoing work. We will continue to work with our research partners in Thailand and the wider region towards equitable and just solutions on the region’s resource politics and in support of social development.

To get updated on our publications and events, please subscribe to our updates and newsletter here.

UPCOMING EVENT: Virtual Conference on Sustainable Development and the Future of the Mekong [Online, 27 October 2020]

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13.30-15.30, Tuesday, 27th October 2020 via Zoom

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

The Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP) is going to organize a virtual conference on "Sustainable Development and the Future of the Mekong". For those participants who wish to attend in this virtual event, please complete the reply form in link here: http://bit.ly/FutureMekong

Panel IV: Human Security Issues in the Mekong Context: Agriculture, Energy, Water and Environment

The topics of rising energy demand, food and water security as well as environment have become increasingly salient in recent years and interact directly both at present and in future with the sustainability of the Mekong. Panelists from the Lower Mekong states, drawing on their particular areas of expertise, will address one or more of these human security issues and examine what policy frameworks can be developed in order to avoid humanitarian and development crises in the subregion.

Panelists:

Instigator: H.E. Amb. Pou Sothirak, CICP Executive Director

  • Dr. Mak Sithirith, Water Governance Specialist and Senior Research Fellow at CICP

  • Mr. Lê Trung Kiên, Senior Researcher, Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategic Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam

  • Dr. Han Phoumin, Senior Energy Economist, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia, Jakarta

  • Ms. Solinn Lim, Country Director, Oxfam Cambodia

  • Dr. Carl Middleton, Deputy Director, Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Carl’s presentation will be on ”Water data democratization in the Mekong-Lancang basin”. For more information about this event, please visit the organizer’s webpage here.


UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAPER: Demarcating the public and private in hydropower in the Mekong Region

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Virtual conference: The third biennial conference of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN) - Contested Natures: Power, Possibility, Prefiguration

22-25 September 2020 , Virtual Conference at https://event.pollen2020.exordo.com/

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Abstract for: Demarcating the public and private in hydropower in the Mekong Region

By Carl Middleton*

In this paper, I critically analyze the generation of plural demarcations of 'public' and 'private' through large hydropower projects in the Mekong region. Different conceptual and material meanings of public are considered, including the public sphere, the public interest, public goods, public knowledge, and various 'publics' as group identity, and in each instance how they relate to – or merge with – notions of private. I show that the meaning of public and private is contextual, relational, and often hybrid rather than distinct, for example regarding: the corporatization of state-owned enterprises; the construction and operation of large dams as various types of public-private partnerships; the merging of public and private sources of finance; and in the definition and legitimation of resource and property rights. These plural meanings of public and private hold consequences for water governance that requires critical problematization, including in relation to: the configurations of state and non-state actors and their power relations that shape how collective and individual interests are defined and acted upon; the types of knowledge that are generated, by who, and for what purpose; the spaces/ places within which projects, plans and policies are discussed, contested and governed; and how benefits, costs and risks are ultimately distributed amongst different groups within society. The paper will present case studies from large hydropower projects within the Lancang-Mekong basin, analyzed in the context of partially-fulfilled plans for economic regionalization and cross-border electricity trade.

* Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

This paper will be presented as a pre-recorded presentation. View more details on the conference here: https://pollen2020.wordpress.com/.

UPCOMING EVENT: The 2nd CU SDGs Platform Forum “จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัยกับการร่วมขับเคลื่อนความยั่งยืน: อนาคตโลกหลัง COVID-19” [Bangkok, 26 August 2020]

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09.00-16.00, Wednesday, 26th August 2020 at Meeting Room 801 (Floor 8th), Chaloem Rajakumari 60 Building (Chamchuri 10), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Strategic management, Chief Transformation and Strategic Office (CTS) is inviting Chula staff to join the 2nd CU SDGs Platform Forum on “Chulalongkorn University in partnership of driving sustainability: the future of the Post-COVID-19” with the aim to develop CU SDGs Platform, an open mechanism for building a network of people working on Sustainable Develo0pment Goals (SDGs), which is the starting point for further collaboration in the future of the Chulalongkorn community.

Carl will present on “The Political Ecology of Public Resources and Competition : The Future Challenges".

For those who interested please register online within 24th August 2020 via QR Code or https://qrgo.page.link/7o9FV

For further information, please contact Strategic management, Chief Transformation and Strategic Office (CTS). Tel: 02-218-0461

For the full schedule, please see below:

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UPCOMING ONLINE EVENT: Low Flows, Drought, Data and Geopolitics on the Mekong-Lancang [Online, 6 August 2020]

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14.00-16.00, Thursday, 6th August 2020 at Institute of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University Facebook Page

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Institute of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University, invites everyone to listen to a talk via online media (Facebook Live) to keep an eye on the movement of the situation of East Asia and Southeast Asia on the issue.

Speaker:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton
Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Moderator:
Asst. Prof. Dr. Soimart Rungmanee from Puey Ungpakorn Institute of Development Studies, Thammasat University

For more information about this event, please visit the event page here.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: New Research on COVID 19 and its Consequences: People, Planet and Inclusive Society

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Public Session organized for the International Conference on New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption

Institute of Asian Studies and Center of Excellence in Resource Politics for Social Development, Chulalongkorn University

Thursday 30 July 2020, start from 09:00-10:45 GMT+7/Thailand Time

Speakers:

Moderator: Naruemon Thabchumpon, Institute of Asian Studies and Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University

THIS PANEL WILL BE HOSTED ON ZOOM

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and you can join by clicking on the link below:

ZOOM MEETING LINK

You can also join using the details below:

  • Meeting ID: 916 1843 6974

  • Password: 166390

For any inquiries about this event, please contact Anisa Widyasari at communications.csds@gmail.com.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Haze and Social (In)Justice in Southeast Asia: Past Experience and What Next?

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Public Session organized for the International Conference on New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption

Organized by the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) as part of the Political Ecology in Asia Seminar Series.

Wednesday 29 July 2020, start from 13:00-14:30 GMT+7/Thailand Time

Over the past couple of decades, various sources of air pollution have become major issues of public concern in Southeast Asia and risen to the highest levels of public policy and politics. For example, annual forest fires were especially severe in Northern Thailand this year and raised tensions between vocal urban residents and rural ethnic communities who are regularly blamed due to their use of fire in agricultural practices. Yet, the latter have tried to demonstrate that they themselves are some of the most severely affected and, far from being to blame, are actually at the front line of trying to manage the wildfires risking their lives in the process.  Meanwhile, transboundary haze linked to burning peatlands in palm oil plantations in Indonesia causes harm – and frustration - in Singapore and Malaysia, also stoking inter-governmental tensions and blame games even as at least part of the responsibility links back to transnational companies based in Singapore and Malaysia. Also significant across the region is air pollution in expanding major and secondary urban areas produced by vehicles and other economic activities within them, including in Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Vientiane, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Whilst it is commonly narrated that urban air pollution affects all residents, in practice there is a strong social justice dimension as those who work outdoors– such as motorcycle taxi riders or street vendors – are significantly more exposed and with less resources to protect their health. The recent pandemic, and resultant lockdowns, resulted in some respite for the typically harmful pollution even as it is only temporary, and at great cost to livelihoods in general. Within these heated public discussions, many types of knowledge are produced and circulated influencing contesting discourses – including scientific studies, monitoring apps, media analysis, and community knowledge. Whilst a range of divergent solutions are regularly proposed by government agencies, politicians, academics, civil society, and community leaders, year after year air pollution continues to remain a challenge.

In this our first Political Ecology in Asia Seminar, coinciding with the International Conference on New Research in International Development, Human Rights, and International Relations at a Time of Disruption, we focus on the issue of social justice and air pollution. The discussion will examine how various economic, social and political inequalities intersect in relation to air pollution in terms of its creation and exposure, and the consequences for individuals, families and society as-a-whole. We situate the seminar in relation to the past experiences of air pollution and the heated debates that have ensued, but also look to the future given that the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting and has the possibility to transform many aspects of future society-environment relations.

Speakers:

  • Daniel Hayward, Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University

  • Dr. Helena Varkkey, Department of Strategic and International Studies, University of Malaya

  • Benjamin Tay, PM Haze

  • Tara Buakamsri, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Chair: Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

THIS PANEL WILL BE HOSTED ON ZOOM

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and you can join by clicking on the link below:

ZOOM MEETING LINK

You can also join using the details below:

  • Meeting ID: 988 1750 8760

  • Password: 418715

For any inquiries about this event, please contact Anisa Widyasari at communications.csds@gmail.com.

UPCOMING PANEL DISCUSSION: The Mekong runs dry? Governance in transition: A close look at current rules and geopolitics at play

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17.00 - 19.30, Wednesday, 29th july 2020 at the SEA-Junction, 4th Floor, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Development in the Mekong region, especially development trends and projects on the mainstream Mekong River itself, has long been a critical challenge and complicated issue for concerned parties and the public at large, and needs much understanding so that people can help one another find the way to share resources and live together in harmony. The attempt was first challenged since China started to develop the upper part of the river by building a cascade of dams on the river in early 1990s.

The challenge has become far critical especially in regard to the aspect concerning transboundary impacts as the Mekong countries become ambitious too and wish to build a cascade of dams, 11 so far, on the lower part of the river. At this point, they have been more than half way, as the sixth dam project, Sanakham, is subject to the regional prior consultation process, The question is; in times when development of the river has accelerated and posed a more serious threat, whether existing mechanisms to regulate water uses and mitigate impacts are efficient enough and catch up with such the speeding trend, and more critically, whether geopolitics in the region is still much at play and influences decisions made in regard to development in the region.

List of expert panelists: 

  • Dr.Somkiat Prajamwong, Chairperson of the MRC Joint Committee for 2020 and Secretary General of the Office of National Water Resources

  • Dr. Carl Middleton, Director of the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

  • Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Campaign Coordinator, International Rivers

  • Premrudee Daoroung, Coordinator, Lao Dam Investment Monitor (LDIM)

  • Orapin Lilitvisitwong, Editor, Thai PBS’s website, Decode

THE SESSIONS WILL BE PRESENTED IN THAI

In accordance with the COVID-19 regulation, please confirm your participation ahead of the event (limited seats available). You can confirm your participation through Bangkok Tribune News FB Messenger here.

You can also watch the event live at FB Live: Bangkok Tribune News FB Page.

For more information, please visit the event’s website here.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Confronting the Triple Trap in the Mekong Region: The Pandemic, Economic Downturn, and Climate Crisis

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This panel is convened by the Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University for the Seventh South-South Forum on Sustainability (SSFS7) hosted by Lingnan University, Hong Kong.

Thursday 16 July 2020, start from 14:00-16:00 GMT+7/Thailand Time

In this session, we will discuss how the ‘triple trap’ - the pandemic, economic downturn, and climate crisis – have affected communities across the Mekong region, and how these challenges have been responded to by them, as well as by civil society and state. We also examine the long-term implications of the triple trap, asking what transformations have already occurred and what could happen in the future.

Speakers:

  • "The Implications of Covid 19's Disruption of Global Supply Chains for Southeast Asia" by Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South

  • "Inequality, migration and Covid 19 in Thailand and the Mekong Region" by Naruemon Thabchumpon, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

  • "The pandemic in Northeast Thailand and implications for communities and (post)development” by Kanokwan Manorom, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University

  • "The impact of Covid 19 in rural Myanmar: Community, civil society, and state responses" by Nwet Kay Khine, Paung Ku, Myanmar

Discussant: Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers, Thailand

Moderator: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and is a public session of the SSFS7 conference. Registration is required on the link below:

ZOOM WEBINAR REGISTRATION

On the registration page, please choose 'No Registration Fee Required' and 'Invited Participant' and choose the ’16 July: Workshops on Venezuela, Mexico and Mekong Region‘ to receive the Zoom link for this session.

For more information about this conference, please visit the conference website here.

NEWS: Free access for 7 days for CSDS' book at Routledge: Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Migration and Environmental Change

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Routledge is currently having promotion - which allows seven days of free access between now and the 14th of June to monograph eBooks. After the trial, those who have signed up for the free access can choose to purchase the eBook at the special price of £10 / $15.

One of CSDS’ books, Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Migration and Environmental Change, is part of this promotion. This book contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between migration, vulnerability, resilience and social justice associated with flooding across diverse environmental, social and policy contexts in Southeast Asia. It challenges simple analyses of flooding as a singular driver of migration, and instead considers the ways in which floods figure in migration-based livelihoods and amongst already mobile populations.

You can access the book in this link here.

ANNOUNCEMENT: MAIDS-International virtual conference on “New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption"

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Our affiliate taught program, MA in International Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (MAIDS-Chula), is organizing an international virtual conference on “New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption” , which will be held on 27 July 2020.

The challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has brought widespread harm across societies in Asia and globally. Amidst acts of solidarity, the pandemic has placed into intense focus the consequences of inequality, the resilience of social welfare systems, and the responsibilities of governments as well as society at large. It has also led to a critical scrutiny of the current economic system together with the relationship between people and nature. Thus, this ‘time of disruption’ has intersected with existing issues in international development, human rights and international relations.

For more information, please visit the conference webpage here.

IN THE NEWS: Book Review 'Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River' from Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography

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By Coleen Fox [Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography]

In the last chapter of Knowing the Salween River, Nang Shining, a Shan woman living and working near the site of a proposed dam in Myanmar, writes of the frustration that communities feel when they are not consulted about projects affecting their lives and livelihoods. She discusses her efforts to create networks of young people across borders and basins, which is part of an effort to bring more voices to the decision-making process in the pursuit of social justice and sustainable development. Nang Shining’s story captures well the tensions that characterize resource politics in the Salween—while powerful national and regional actors push development and exclude local communities from meaningful participation, those same communities, supported by academics and civil society, work tirelessly to have their concerns acknowledged.

Knowing the Salween River sheds light on exactly these sorts of dynamics, revealing the multiple ways that institutions, academics, communities, and civil society organizations research and understand the river basin.

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Read the full review here.

Carl Middleton of CSDS is co-editor and co-author of this book (see here)

Get the book: Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River (Springer Open, 2019)

NEWS: Submission of the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement to the UN High Level Panel on Internal Displacement

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In 2017, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law initiated a regional thematic study on internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change across Asia and the Pacific as part of its wider programme on human rights and environment. Focusing on law, policy and practice in ten countries, and collaborating with academic partners from China, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the study adopted an expressly human rightsbased approach grounded in the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Academics involved in the regional thematic study have formed the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement, in whose name this submission is made. The following submission is based on insights gained from the study, including through consultations with international, regional and national actors. Some of the insights highlighted in this submission were also presented in various regional and national fora to validate them and gather feedback.

Center for Social Development Studies is part of the "Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement" and is a co-signatory of this submission. To read the Academic Submission, please visit the link here.

You can also visit the research project related to this submission, “Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response in Hat Yai”.

IN THE NEWS: Rethinking Climate Change Adaptation for the Mekong River

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A new article by Carl Middleton from CSDS is published by iD4D (Ideas for Development) on their website. The article is titled “Rethinking Climate Change Adaptation for the Mekong River”.

The Mekong Region is facing a serious drought that places at risk ecosystems, fishing and farming livelihoods, wider food security, and even drinking water supply. The extent to which climate change is acting upon the basin is an increasingly debated question, and subject to a growing number of studies. It has also been vigorously debated whether large dam infrastructure has exacerbated the impact of drought or could have been operated differently to better mitigate its impacts. As the impacts of climate change deepen, severe drought threatens to become the new normal. The challenge of equitably ensuring water, food and energy security in the context of climate change underscores the importance of improving transboundary water governance and considering the most appropriate approaches to adaptation.

For the full article, please click the link here.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Building Power from Within: Rural and Indigenous Community Organizing

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The 2020 Rotary Peace Fellows’ Working Group and the Center for Social Development Studies at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University present an interactive dialogue with community leaders from Lower-Mekong countries on participatory processes to decrease power disparities and foster meaningful social change.

Tuesday 31 March 2020, start from 14:00 GMT+7/Thailand Time (the panel will be for 90 minutes)

Due to the current public health measures, this event will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom. You can join the event via the link provided here. The meeting room will be open before 14:00 so please be prepared to be online and join the meeting room beforehand so you can be ready to join the discussion on time. Following brief presentations by the panelists, participants can engage in a group discussion.

Topics:

  • Rural people's issues in the greater Salween River basin near the Thai-Myanmar border with Shan State

  • The growth of community organizations and networks within and between ethnic communities in Northern Thailand's three Mekong border districts

Speakers:

  • Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers Thailand Campaign Coordinator

  • Kru Tee Niwat Roykaew, Chair of Chiang Khong Conservation Group and Director of Mekong School - Institute Of Local Knowledge (in Thai with consecutive translation to English)

  • Nang Shining, Founder and Director Mong Pan Youth Association

Moderator: Andrew Stone, 2020 Rotary Peace Fellows' Working Group

Concluding Remarks: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies

The Panel will be in English.

For inquiries about this event, please contact communications.csds@gmail.com.

IN THE NEWS: Vietnam puts Mekong's fate on ASEAN's agenda

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by Marwaan Macan-Markar [NIkkei Asian Review]

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In a nod to green diplomacy, Vietnam is raising the geopolitical stakes over the Mekong River, Southeast Asia's largest body of water, which has dropped to record lows due to a severe drought and construction of large dams.

Hanoi has signaled its intent to raise the issue this year as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. By putting the Mekong, which is shared by five riparian countries in the river's basin and China, on the 10-nation regional bloc's agenda, Vietnam has transformed the waterway from a subregional issue to one of greater international concern.

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But development analysts question China's hydro-diplomacy. Although China argues that "one of the benefits of the LMC is it can mitigate droughts by operating dams, it is clear that infrastructure solutions alone are not the answer," said Carl Middleton, deputy director for international research at the Center for Social Development Studies at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "The drought should force a rethink since it lays bare the river as more than an economic enterprise."

For the full article, please click the link here.

UPCOMING PANEL DISCUSSION: Saving the Mekong [Bangkok, 19 February 2020]

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19.00 - 21.00, Wednesday, 19th February 2020 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT), Penthouse, Maneeya Center, 518/5 Ploenchit Road, Patumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

Carl Middleton from CSDS will be presenting on this event.

Will the “mighty Mekong” be the first of the planet’s great rivers to be destroyed by development?

Dramatic changes to the Mekong’s water flow, caused by dozens of dams built over the past 30 years on its upstream reaches in China, Laos and Cambodia, are threatening an ecosystem of unrivalled diversity outside the Amazon basin. More dam projects are underway or in planning stages, even as fish stocks are falling sharply. In late 2019 the lack of sediment, held back by the dams, turned the river from its usual brown to a startling blue colour, a worrying indication of further environmental degradation. China insists it manages the flow from its dams responsibly, but Chinese companies continue to fund and/or build new dams in Laos and Cambodia, with agreement from regional governments.

Leading environmental experts believe the true economic impact of over-development on the river and its resources has not been properly calculated. A recent decision by the Thai government to scrap approval for a Chinese proposal to blast and dredge a 90km kilometre stretch of the river to enable access for larger vessels is a rare victory for civil society groups opposing destructive development, but may point to greater resistance by affected communities in the future.
 
List of expert panelists: 

  • Brian Eyler, author of Last Days of the Mekong and director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia program, who traveled along the river from China’s Yunnan province to its delta in southern Vietnam to explore its modern evolution. (via Skype)

  • Pianporn Deetes, Thailand Campaigner for International Rivers, which led the campaign against blasting rock shoals in the Mekong.

  • Pou Sothirak, Executive director of Phnom Penh-based CICP, a think tank focusing on regional issues, and a former Cambodian ambassador to Japan.

  • Carl Middleton, lecturer in International Development Studies and deputy director for international research in the Center for Social Development Studies at Chulalongkorn University, where he focuses on environmental issues in Southeast Asia.

For more information, please visit FCCT’s website here.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PAPER: International Conference on Creative Tourism and Development

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International Conference on Creative Tourism and Development

Creativity & Connectivity & Sustainability in ASEAN

6-7 February 2020, Chaloem Rajakumari 60, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

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Session 1, Panel 1: Creative Tourism for Sustainable Development in the Thai-Myanmar Andaman Sea

Thursday, 6 February 2020, 11:00-12:30, 7th Floor

Chair: Naruemon Thabchumpon

Discussant: Albert Salamanca International Conference Agenda

  • Contestation and Coproduction of Local Knowledges: Transdisciplinary Research for Creative Tourism Development in Thai-Myanmar Andaman Sea by Naruemon Thabchumpon

  • The Boom of Cross-Border Tourism in Ranong-Kaw Thaung: A Concern on Mass Tourism and Potential for Creative Tourism Development by Wipawadee Panyangnoi

  • Potentials of Agro-tourism Development in Rural Area of Thailand and Lesson-Learnt for Border Connectivity: Community Leaderships’ Perspectives by Aungkana Kamonpetch

  • An authentic artisanal fishing experience? : A case of community-based fishing tourism in Prachuap Khiri Khan by Nithis Thammasaengadipha

  • Creative Tourism Destination Management: A case of Sustainable Community-based Tourism Plan in Ranong Province by Orapan Pratomlek

Abstract for  Creative Tourism Destination Management: A case of sustainable Community-based Tourism Plan in Ranong Province

by Orapan Pratomlek*

Tourism management under the vision of “Stability, Prosperity and Sustainable” it’s a significant challenge for the community in effort to truly create sustainable creative tourism. The community have been intensifying to develop tourism activity by using community identity, local livelihood and culture with the aims to add value of existing resources but at the same time having to consider the stability in the quality of life as well as raise up the potential that generate income for community members. The Community Department Office, Ministry of Interior attempts to introduce “OTOP Inno-Life Tourism-Based Community” to promote tourism and encourage community to adopt tourism framework set into their plans. Ranong has applied the tourism framework proposed into action by trying to comply with existing community-based tourism plan. A raise of question is how it can be led to sustainable and creative tourism. Does it have a strong cooperation between government agency and community to involve in tourism activities plan or is simply that tourists are interested in coming to experience from their own travel? This paper aims to study the community tourism strategic planning by implementing OTOP Inno-life Tourism-Based Community proposed by government agency. 

Key Words: OTOP Inno-life Tourism-Based Community, Creative tourism, Community tourism and activity plan

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development Studies, Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Chulalongkorn University (csds.chulalongkorn@gmail..com)