What we do
PRCF Thailand builds local capacity for community-based conservation in and around the Ob Luang National Park, specifically to protect the endangered Lar Carpenteri Gibbon, which is gradually disappearing from the landscape due to habitat disturbance and encroachment.
We prioritise on community-based conservation initiatives by Thai-Karen people, which have their foundation on cultural affinities with their environment, and therefore we encourage the rehabilitation and maintenance of traditional cultural conservation practices. Learn more
What we protect
PRCF Thailand works towards protecting the endangered Lar Carpenteri Gibbon and its habitat through community-based conservation efforts that are defined by the local Thai-Karen communities themselves.
In an effort to support traditional and cultural links between Karen people and their environment, we also protect cultural resource conservation values by documenting oral traditions regarding relationships between people and their surrounding environment. Learn more
Threats we address
Our initial research in the landscape of Ob Luang National Park showed the a major threat to the Lar Carpenteri Gibbon is agricultural expansion and forest habitat destruction.
Traditionally, Karen communities do not hunt gibbon, as the species is considered kin to people, but as village communities grow, as a general rule expansion is towards available and unprotected forest lands. Learn more
Current Initiatives
At present we focus on protecting the Lar Carpenteri Gibbon and its habitat, and on the preservation of local cultural values towards conservation of natural resources with the Karen community in the Chiang Mai region of Thailand. Together, the two initiatives are helping to create greater awareness of gibbon and their conservation need and possibilities. Learn more
Past Initiatives
In the past, we have worked on conservation awareness and on community-based Lar Carpenteri Gibbon research to map gibbon sightings in the landscape of Ob Luang National Park, which helped establish a working foundation for our current conservation initiatives with the local Karen villagers. Learn more
Upcoming Initiatives
In the next few years, we hope to engage in further conservation of the Lar Carpenteri Gibbon in the broader landscape, including further work on enrichment planning in forest connectivity gaps and on forest restoration through assisted natural regeneration in order to re-connect forest habitats that are critical to gibbon. Learn more
