Interviews of resource persons: 18 September 2020, at Sustainable Agriculture Foundation Thailand
“In the definition or the meaning of the ‘commons’, from the work experiences of the City Farm Project and sustainable agriculture, the commons will be based on the principle of sharing in multiple aspects. Property can be owned by an individual or by a group /community. The group agreement must be developed by the group members in a participatory way. The interaction and collaboration of the group members are based on regular common activities therefore we speak of ‘commoning’,” (Supa Yaimuang, 2020)
Supa Yaimuang exemplified the city farm project cases involving commons initiatives in Thailand such as Burapha 7 Community Garden, Thung Song Haung Community, and On Nut Community- 14 Rai. From Supa’s view, commons were based mainly on rural areas and fostered by culture to create sharing and mutual ownership. On the contrary, urban areas rarely find common properties for people. She started to work on the land-sharing project for private owners who want to create mutual utilization by farming or change their wasteland to be valuable land to lessen land taxes. In that case, the city farm project is more popular and leads to collaboration between the community and stakeholders to use public space, interact more among groups, and share knowledge in the city.
About Supa Yaimuang
Director, Sustainable Agriculture Foundation, Thailand
