<p>A Karen network is urging the authorities to continue a project to restore Karen culture in the educational system after five years without progress.</p> <p>On Wednesday, 23 March 2016, Surapong Kongchantuk, Chairman of the Lawyers Council of Thailand's Human Rights Subcommittee on Ethnic Minorities, reported that 9 leaders of the Karen Network for Culture and the Environment visited the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education to ask for progress in the project to restore the Karen way of life.</p>

<p>The Karen tribes living in protected areas and national parks of western Thailand are worried about losing their livelihoods and being sidelined when the areas are declared a UNESCO natural world heritage site.</p>