On 14 January 2026, a policy forum hosted by Chiang Mai University (CMU) at Suan Anya in Chiang Mai challenged the traditional "top-down" approach to environmental conservation in Thailand. The event, titled "Transforming Research into Policy: Ethnic Environmental Heritage and Survival from the Climate Crisis," served as a platform for academics, activists, and politicians to demand a seat at the table for the country’s ethnic "forest guardians."

The Thai parliament approved last week the Ethnic Way of Life bill in its second and third readings, despite opposition from civil society, which withdrew support for the bill following several omissions and changes to core sections, including the use of the term “indigenous” and the exemption of conservation laws in Ethnic Way of Life Protection Areas.

The Thai parliament has voted during the second reading of the Ethnic Way of Life bill not to include indigenous peoples in its definition of ethnic groups despite calls for the bill to ensure the protection of indigenous cultures.

The Pwo Karen community of Ban Mae San have practiced their traditional agricultural practices for generations, while also caring for a community forest. Their community predates the government's designation of the area as Tham Pha Thai National Park in 1991. However, government measures are now putting their way of life at risk, while indigenous peoples are blamed as a cause of air pollution. Community leaders now call for legal protection under an indigenous protection law.

Members of the Bang Kloi community and civil society organizations gathered on 17 April to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of indigenous rights activist Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, while the community continues to face land right issues.

On Monday (4 September), members of indigenous communities in Lampang marched to the Ngao District Office in Lampang to protest the declaration of a new national park in the area due to the concerns that their lands would be taken over by the park.

<p>The Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community continues to face ongoing land rights and food security issues despite an MOU signed with government officials in early 2021.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Thailand&rsquo;s nomination of the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex for World Heritage status should once again be deferred due to concerns about violations of the rights of local indigenous communities, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).</p>

<p>MPs from the Move Forward Party (MFP) have proposed a new bill to protect indigenous rights and cultures.</p>

<p>The Save Bang Kloi Coalition held a candlelight vigil last night (16 March), the 10th day of their protest at Government House, to call for justice for the indigenous Karen community at Bang Kloi, in remembrance of Lahu indigenous rights activist Chaiyaphum Pasae, who was killed at a checkpoint by military officers in 2017. &nbsp;</p>

<p>22 members of the Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community who were <a href="https://prachatai.com/english/node/9104">detained</a> on Friday (5 March) were granted temporarily release by the Phetchaburi Provincial Court on Sunday (7 March).</p>

<p>87 members of the Bang Kloi indigenous Karen community, who travelled back to the location of their former village in the Kaeng Krachan forest, have been forcibly taken out of the forest and arrested by park officials, police, and military officers.</p>