PARITTA WANGKIATPhetchaburi—Two years of no longer self-sufficient in living makes a 70s-year-old Karen Joa Kher feel vulnerable.He used to be independent, produced more than 1.5 tons of rice and vegetable from shifting cultivation land plots at his birthplace in Bangkloybon village before the 1981-declaration of Kaeng Krachan National Park over his home.“Once in a while, we bought only salt from town,” he said. “We didn’t kill big wild animals. If we killed them, forest would not be mercy to us. It’s Karen’s belief.”Sometimes wild guar would come to look for food in the space under villagers’ houses.But in 1996, park official demanded Bangkloybon villagers to move to Bangkloylang, five-day walk distance.Park official promised to distribute 8-rai land plot to every family and three-year of food aid programme.Fifty seven villagers decided to move out. But they found promise was null and void when they arrived at the new settlement. Many of them returned back to where they from.Park official continually pushed them out and archived in 2011 by an operation, led by park chief Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, that burned home of 20 Karen families and forced them to abandon Bangkloybon village.Mr Joa Kher’s house was burnt. His diet is depending on his children and relatives since then. He has tried to grow rice but fairly fail with very low productivity of the field.“It’s very different here and Bangkloybon,” he said. “Many people have came to help us. But still, we can’t return to our birthplace,” he said.Park official also forbid Karen to collect firewood and plant in forest, making Mr Joa Kher’s wife could not find herb to cure her stomach pain. The nearest hospital is 3 hours driven away.Bangkloylang sit on the hill above water source resulting villagers to face water shortage in dry season.When Bangkloybon villagers moved to Bangkloylang in 2011, they do not have land plots as the new settlement has long occupied by some other existing villagers so Bangkloybon villagers either borrow land plots from others or give up from agriculture.Some said abandoned agriculture because of low productivity by water shortage and fair hard soil.Young and middle-age villagers have gone down to towns to find jobs in factory instead. They receive about 180-280 bath a day, lower than standard 300-baht minimum wage.Some women have made weaving and embroider at the village supplement occupation centre in exchange with 100-baht daily wage.The missing Karen human rights activist Porlajee, "Billy", Rakchongcharoen who has been missing for nearly two months has been called for the better livelihood of villagers.He filed a complaint in Administrative Court’s case against the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) and the Natural Resources and Environmental Ministry, asking 9.5 million baht compensation and the right to return to Bangkloybon.In 2012, Pid Thong Lang Phra Foundation, or known as Pid Thong, a local community development project under royal initiative to provide fundamental aid to locals began to operated six-year terraced rice development projects in Bangkloylang and its adjacent village Pong Luek to help villagers to be able to depend on themselves.Terraced rice field is a new experience for the villagers as they applied shifting cultivation method for generations.According to Pid Thong’s survey, total of 38 from 107 households in Bangkloylang are having access to 356 rai of land plots for growing terraced rice in raining season and substitute plants such as green bean, cow pea and chili in dry season.The whole villagers can produce only about 1.8 tons of rice in 2013.Pid Thong believes soil would be more moisture and abundant within a couple of years. It has targeted to increase productivity rate to 0.5 ton per rai or total of 182.5 tones by next year, and also, to complete the installation of solar cell to generate power for water pump.“It’s ironically that my family members have to work in factory to earn money to buy rice despite we have rice field,” said Doi Muyoa, 45, a villager of Bangkloybon forced to live in Bangkloylang.“We can produce rice 90 kilogram a year. Rice runs out within 60 days.”On Thursday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chaired by Niran Pitakwatchara visited Bangkloylang village to find out the solution for the villagers’ livelihood.NHRC will coordinate with state official to ask them for the setting up of joint committee between relevant government agencies and villagers to solve livelihood problems.Saratcha Suriyakul Na Ayudhaya, director of the DNP’s Protected Area Regional Office 3 in Phetchaburi, joined the NHRC and agreed to order park official to survey for the expansion of land plots for villagers.Three locations near the village are targeted such as Pong Luek creek area (100 rai), Pid Thong’s farming model (70 rai) and Wang Kha (30rai).But still many villagers still express their desire return to Bangkloybon.“It’s not wrong for people to live with forest. They can depend on themselves. They don’t take benefit from others,” said Mr Porlajee’s grandfather 103-year-old Kor-ey Meemi.“This’s the way we live.”