People Participation in Watershed Conservation under the Extension and Development Project of Community Participation in Conservation Forest at Huai Samran Watershed Management Unit, Surin and Si Sa Ket Provinces

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to determine the socio-economic characteristics, participation level and factors affecting people's participation in watershed conservation.  The data were collected from interviewing 269 samples using the designed questionnaire.  The statistical analysis methods used were frequency, percentage, mean, minimum, maximum, t-test and F-test with the given significance level of 0.05.

The results of the study revealed that most respondents were female with an average age of 45.57 years.  The ethnicity of most respondents was Thai-Cambodian.  Primary school was the highest educational level achieved by most and agriculture was their main occupation.  Most respondents were social group members and had no social position in the community.  The average size of land holding was 12.35 rai. Their average annual household income and expenditure was 96,377.23 and 75,432.90 baht, respectively.  Most respondents received information about natural resource conservation, had a good knowledge and understanding of natural resource conservation and they also had a high level of participation in natural resource conservation.  The activity having the highest participation level was benefit sharing.  Furthermore, factors affecting people participation in watershed conservation were ethnicity, social position, household income from dependency on forest resources, the duration of employing the rules and regulations for control of forest resource conservation and the performance of the operations for increasing the efficiency of forest protection under the Project According to His Majesty the King^, s Royal Initiative, and preparing the community data base.

Keywords: participation, conservation, watershed, development