ABSTRACT
The Karen are the largest of the 12 ethnic minority groups, or “hilltribes,” inhabiting Thailand. They make up 60% of the country’s total tribal population of about 600,000, and are thought to have been the first of the tribal groups to settle in Thailand. Most Karen communities are located in forest lands in the north and west of the country, near Thailand’s border with Myanmar. They are swidden cultivators who usually clear fields from secondary forest, or fallow, to cultivate upland rice and other food crops for subsistence. They cultivate the land for two to three years, and then, when weeds proliferate and soil fertility declines, they move on to reopen other fallows.
