The Spatial Analysis and Land Tenure with Geographic Information System Tool by Participatory Process with People in Moo.6 Ban Don Sak, Chainat Province

Abstract

The objective of this research was to conduct a spatial analysis of the land conditions and ownership by employing the community participatory process in Ban Don Sak,Huaingu Subdistrict, Hankha District and Chainat Province. This research also used the Geographic Information System as a tool for storing, managing, analyzing and displaying land ownership in form a thematic map. These data provided concrete evidence of the community participatory process and promote application of the technology for decision making regarding the preservation of land in the future. The result of this study revealed that the majority of existing landscape is considered lowland area consisting of the Chin river and total area of approximately 4,048 rai (6.477 square kilometers). In this particular area, agricultural land accounted for 92.63% of the whole area and the habitat land and others accounted for 7.37%. Moreover, the village was located moderately 2-16 meter above sea level, slope was 0-20%. After using spatial analysis to study the landscape conditions along with SWOT and villagers’ input, it is clear that the most urgent problem in this area is water management. The villagers discussed about the solutions together based on data obtained from spatial analysis and came up with a local solution. Land ownership in Ban Don Sak revealed that most land owners were from other villages (71.52%).  Only 28.48% of the land owners are from Ban Don Sak village (out of this group of land owner 41.67% were real owner while 58.33% were land renter). As a result of this research, the local community has realized the history and the unique cultural condition of the area for future integration. Additionally, the consciousness of local villager can be used to achieve local security by becoming self-reliant.