People Opinions toward Monk’s Role as Leader of Forest Resource Conservation of Tha Tian Village, Sai Yok District, Kanchanaburi Province

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the socio-economic conditions, participation level and factors affecting people’s opinions on monk’s leadership role in forest resource conservation at Tha Tian village, Sai Yok district, Kanchanaburi province.  The data were collected by employing the designed questionnaire to interview 130 respondents in the sampled households.  A statistical software package was employed to test the setting hypothesis with the t-test and F-test applied at a significance level of 0.05. 

The results of this study indicated that most of the respondents were male with an average age of 42 years.  Their educational level was at primary school.  Their main occupation was farming with an average size of land holding of 14.81 rai and the average annual household income was 141,907 baht.  They were not social group members. They participated in temple activities once a year and attended forest resource conservation activities held by the temple 9 times a year.  People’s belief in the role of Buddhist monk in forest resource conservation was at a high level.  Their opinion of making use of the forest resources was also at a high level, with an average score of 3.80.  In addition, factors affecting people’s opinions toward Buddhist monk’s role as the leader in forest resource conservation in the studied area included their occupation, their household income, their size of land holding, their participation in a temple of forest resource conservation, their knowledge and comprehension about forest resource conservation, and their belief in Buddhist monk’s leadership in terms of forest resource conservation.

Keywords: Opinion, Role, Monk, Forest resource conservation