Buddhist Ecology and Concepts Value and Strengthening the Community Forest Conservation KhonKaen Province

Abstract

The research paper “Buddhist Ecology and Concepts Value and Strengthening the Community Forest Conservation in KhonKaen Province” had three main purposes: 1) to study the concepts and value of Buddhist Ecology 2) to study the community forest conservation process in KhonKaen Province and 3) to propose a model to strengthening the community forest conservation by way Buddhist ecology in KhonKaen province.The research paper “Buddhist Ecology and Concepts Value and Strengthening the Community Forest Conservation in KhonKaen Province” had three main purposes: 1) to study the concepts and value of Buddhist Ecology 2) to study the community forest conservation process in KhonKaen Province and 3) to propose a model to strengthening the community forest conservation by way Buddhist ecology in KhonKaen province.
The result of research found that: The concept and value of Buddhist ecology found that Buddhism and ecology are related to each other that do not divide between life and nature. Ecology will teach humans how to preserve nature and the environment, Buddhism will focus on teaching human beings to be kind to nature and to teat nature as part of their lives. Natural destruction is like self-destruction, because the common point of man and nature is dependence on each other, that is, destroying one thing will have a continuous effect on the existence of other things, such as forest destruction will cause damage, such as floods, landslides, and shortages of natural water etc. Applying Buddhist concepts to forest resource conservation is preserving the ecology of the forest to remain completely and sustainably. 
Community forest conservation process in KhonKaen province found that there are communityforests are managed as a community forest as a process. These are community forests are managed by villagers in the community with the government officials, by starting from filling a request for create a community forest project, inspection of the area according to the request for permission to create a community forest project, proposal of the proposal through relevant agencies, and approval to be established as a community forest from the royal forest department. These community forests has been managed by the community, there is a committee appointed for community forestry in each duties, such as, maintenance duties, community forest restoration duties, and the duty to take care of the utilization of community forests etc. The results of the implementation of the three community forest areas have been maintained and quitea complete forest close to the original natural forest and able to create productivity back to the community.
The model to strengthening the community forest conservation by way Buddhist ecology in KhonKaen provincefound thatall three community forests have four model of reinforcement : step 1, creating knowledge, understanding and mutual awareness in the utilization of community forests to achieve sustainability, step 2, development of activities in the conservation of community forests in various ways, step 3, controlling activities to increase the capacity for community forest conservation to achieve sustainability, and step 4, Applying Buddhist principles to forest conservation, such as gratitude, kindness, fear, modesty, and solitude, Buddhist principles have helped to foster the spirit of villagers to be generous, and more importantly, then, making the conservation of community forests sustainable and continues to the next generation to preserve.