A Thai Community Treasures — and Defends — Its Woodlands

“We and the Woods,” the Second Runner-Up in the 2022 Yale Environment 360 Film Contest, tells the story of an ascetic community in western Thailand whose residents have a deep connection to the forest and have banded together to protect their woodlands from logging, tourism projects, and other development.

Near the border of Thailand and Myanmar, the 100-person village of Ban Hmong Kua is an ascetic community whose residents — members of the ethnic Karen people — have a deep connection to the surrounding tropical forest and its crystal clear streams. In “We and the Woods,” filmmaker Weeraphan Thavorn speaks with the ascetics, who express growing concern over the impacts of climate change and the intensifying logging and development in their region.

Read the full article and watch the film here.