<div> <div>A public prosecutor has halted an attempt by the authorities to prosecute a villager who peacefully protested against a potash mining project in Sakon Nakhon, part of a long history of suppressing opposition to mining projects in rural Thailand.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 21 December 2017, a public prosecutor at Sawang Daen Din Provincial Court decided not to indict Achittaphon Khukasang, a member of Wanon Niwat Environmental Conservation Group, for violating the Public Assembly Act.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to <a> </a></div></div>

<div> <div>More than 500 villagers in northeastern Thailand have gathered to oppose a potash mine, saying the mine operator bypassed the Environmental Impact Assessment process. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 25 September 2016, over 500 villagers from Wanon Niwat District, Sakon Nakhon Province, gathered at the District Office to oppose a local potash mining project. </div></div>

<p>The military have visited the home of a community rights activist in the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon after she campaigned for the right of rubber farmers whose rubber trees were cut down by the military under the policy to evict farmers from protected areas.&nbsp;</p>

<p>SAKON NAKHON – The ongoing clash between the government’s forest reclamation policy and community land rights in the Northeast came to a head on October 21st. Standing before the provincial court in Sakon Nakhon Province, nine villagers from Jatrabiab village — each convicted with encroaching on protected forests — listened as the judge handed down their sentences.</p>

<p>The Provincial Court of the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon has sent two villagers to prison for encroaching into national forest reserves while six others received suspended jail terms. &nbsp;</p>

<p dir="ltr">The court in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, tried a rubber farmer accused of growing rubber trees in national park’s land plots. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to Chai Thongdeenok, a member of Thai Ban Phuraisit Sakon Nakhon, a local group which promotes land rights for the locals in the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon, the court on Wednesday held a witness examination hearing of Sin Ngoenpakdee, a villager of Chad-Rabeab Village of Phu Phan District in the province.</p>

<p>The Thai authorities in Isan, Thailand’s Northeast, have announced a plan to reforest extensive areas amid concerns from the poor, who fear that the policy might affect their livelihoods. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Boonsong Techamanisatit, Governor of the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon, on Tuesday morning announced a new policy to reclaim about 15,700 rai (25.12 sq.km) of land in an attempt to reforest areas in Phu Phan National Park, Phu Pha Lek National Park, and other protected forests in the province.</p>