38 http://www.earthislandjournal.org
on environmental issues inside the
camps. They founded KESAN in 2001.
Initially, their work focused on illegal
logging and deforestation in Karen
territory, recording whatever evidence
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cameras,” recalls Mabu. The exposés
they produced brought some much-
needed attention to the environmental
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changed.
So they began working directly with
communities. They mapped ancestral
boundaries, undertook wildlife surveys,
and established local committees
to monitor forest incursions. In a
remote forest area, next to a village of
displaced Karen, they built a training
center. They set up demonstration plots
for agroforestry development, created
a seed bank to conserve traditional
Karen rice varieties, and trained locals
in GPS use and GIS mapping.
Still, they dreamed of something
bigger. A place where Karen land
rights would be recognized and tradi-
tional livelihoods could be practiced
without the threat of encroachment.
“Given that the Tatmadaw continued
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wanted to build something proactively
showing our true vision for peace,” says
Paul. But it needed to be big, so that it
would be “hard for the decision makers
to ignore.” The idea for the Salween
Peace Park was born.
The vision had its detractors. Parks
have not been kind to ethnic groups in
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to strengthen nature conservation
in the country — many led by big
international NGOs like the Wildlife
Conservation Society and Flora &
Fauna International — have been
accused of aiding and abetting central
government agendas of violence and
forced displacement. As a result, “park”
and “reserve” are dirty words to many
Indigenous rights activists.
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kind of protected area, KESAN under-
took consultations with communities
within the proposed park boundary,
which initially covered around 300,000
hectares. Over a period of four years,
they discussed the idea of a Karen-
operated reserve, one that would
respect local land rights and recognize
age-old natural resource management.
Support was so overwhelming that the
proposed park size nearly doubled as
word traveled about the initiative.
Key to gaining community support
was the message that the park’s main
aim was to recognize the Indigenous
Karen land governance system known
as kaw. Maintained for generations in
\PM NIKM WN KWVÆQK\kaw is a physical
space as well as a social system,
integrating ecological knowledge,wildlife management, forestry, swidden
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mechanisms. More than 170 kaw occur
within the park — typically forested
common properties shared by up to 20
communities.
“Part of what we are doing here
is demonstrating to the national
government and others how greater
autonomy in Indigenous territories can
function,” says Paul. “We know that if
we wait for a political settlement, there
might not be anything left.”
“The Myanmar government has
promised to lead the country toward
a devolved, federal democracy,” adds
Mabu. “We Karen are not waiting idly
for this. The Salween Peace Park shows
what we believe a federal democracy
should look like. It is Indigenous
self-determination and community
protection of natural and cultural
heritage in action.”
In December 2018, the Salween
Peace Park was formally launched
at a ceremony in Mutraw District, a
border region that is the heartland
of Indigenous Karen territory. Over
three days, communities came together
to launch the park charter, a formal
document painstakingly developed
through grassroots engagement with
communities throughout the park
area. The charter lays out the goals,
objectives, and governance systemThere are more than 350 communities within the peace park that adhere to the Indigenous Karen land governance system known as kaw.
PHOTO^ COURTESY^ OF^ KESAN