Rights Beautiful Collection of Professor Saneh Chamarik
to all sorts of exploitations, abuses, and marginalization, as we all are
witnessing today. And right now with the economic globalization and
biotechnological advancement intensifying during the past two decades,
genetic resources become the main target for gaining the decisive power
over the world economy under the mere motive force for profit maximization
and economic growth. All this is the obvious threat to the earth’s fragile
ecosystems, and for that matter, to the people living in them. In short, the
threat to the people’s basic right to life.
Under the circumstances, then, the issues of bio-diversity and
indigenous knowledge needs somehow to be conceived of in perspective
of a regional whole, not just so routinely in parts: i.e., in qualitatively
holistic rather than quantitatively reductionist terms. Implicit in all this
is a keen sense of geographical unity as well as a kind of people-to-people
inter-relatedness. Nowadays there are so much talks about and action
programmes for strengthening and empowering the local people and
communities. But without a sufficient awareness of and positive steps
taken towards the goal of commonality and solidarity, all these talks and
efforts will come to naught, however earnest and enthusiastic they might be.
And exactly this is one most difficult part of the whole task, as far
as the speaker’s own experience can tell. Nonetheless, it is absolutely a
prerequisite that must come before all else. For this very reason, three
shared and interrelated perceptions are to be taken note of here for the
benefit of further dialogue.
(i) Bio-diversity to be understood and acted upon as constituting
one unifying tropical resource base, and thus commonality
and consolidation transcending the existing inter/ intranational boundaries and divisions among local communities;
(ii) Inter-relatedness between the mountain, lowland, and
maritime areas and peoples to form one unifying network
of resource-based local communities collectively marginalized
in the face of the common threat of globalization and alienated
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OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF THAILAND