In this series, we highlight real-world stories of how participants in our Local Engagement, Action, and Dialogue (LEAD) training program use community-based research tools to support communities in defending their human rights and managing their natural resources.
When Sohabudin’s house was raided by police in 2024, he knew his work had crossed an invisible line. As the coordinator of the Pattani River Protection Network, Sohabudin had been mobilizing his community against the proposed Krong Pinang dam in Yala Province, Thailand. The Thai government has justified the dam as necessary for flood prevention, but it is relying on data nearly 60 years out of date. The proposed dam project would devastate the 214-kilometer Pattani River ecosystem and ignore the important role that it plays in the livelihoods, social fabric, and culture of communities living near its banks.
Sohabudin’s organizing efforts unfold in one of Thailand’s most militarized regions. The four provinces of Thailand’s deep south operate under emergency decree due to the presence of separatist groups, including the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN). The BRN, founded in 1963, seeks to establish an independent Islamic state in the historically Malay-Muslim provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and parts of Songkhla. Violence intensified dramatically in 2004, and since then the conflict has claimed over 7,600 lives. The emergency decree allows authorities to detain suspects for up to 37 days without charge or judicial oversight.
In this security-controlled environment, opposition to state projects can quickly be reframed as opposition to the state itself. As a consequence of his work, authorities have labeled Sohabudin as a suspected member of the BRN. Such a designation can mean house raids, surveillance, or worse. For Sohabudin, defending a river against a state-backed dam project means defending not just an ecosystem, but his own freedom.
Sohabudin during the 2025 LEAD Training of Trainers. Photo by EarthRights International
Yet despite the risks, Sohabudin continues his work, coordinating community-based research across three communities threatened by the Krong Pinang Water Gate. This is his story.
Building a Community Research Network
Together with the Green South Network, Sohabudin decided to start mapping the community’s natural resources. The Green South Network aims to empower local communities that are resisting large-scale industrial projects that threaten community livelihoods and the environment. The Network provided Sohabudin and his organization with advice on what data to collect. Sohabudin used that advice to establish a research framework focused on a 10-kilometer stretch of river, five kilometres upstream and five downstream from the proposed dam site.
Youth came together to create posters and map resources to protect the Pattani River. Photo by Sohabudin/Pattani River Protection Network
The research aims to collect data on different aspects of community life. Some of the mapping results include:
River Resource Mapping: Identifying 9 sand beaches used for cultural activities and children’s play areas, 13 deep pools (‘Wang Nam’) where villagers find fish, as well as mapping aquaculture sites along the river.
Agricultural Assessment: Documenting crops planted on riverbank lands, such as durian, oil palm, rubber, coconut, banana, and mixed plantations, along with annual yields and income generated.
Fisheries Data: Recording fish species caught throughout the year and estimating catch volumes to calculate the economic value of subsistence fishing. The research identified over 30 fish species when the river was free flowing, with an estimated 14 species being lost since the construction of the Bang Lang dam.
To collect this data, Sohabudin built a network of local focal points throughout the three different communities, with approximately 10 community members and 10 youth representatives in each village. As Sohabudin puts it, “the villagers are knowledgeable about fish catch, about the tides, plantation, and resources already. I’m just putting it into a system. Making the data more systematic and reachable.”
Data collection was done through local focal points. Photo by Sohabudin/Pattani River Protection Network
The data collection can take multiple days in each community, coordinating schedules with focal points, and returning for follow-up. For fish catch data, an entire year of monitoring is necessary to capture seasonal variations.
Two other communities that may be impacted by the dam are not involved. Their leaders support the dam, and Sohabudin fears that continued outreach might put residents at risk of intimidation.
The Power of Community Knowledge
Despite the risks of environmental activism in this tense area, the community-based research has had a remarkable impact. The first public campaign brought together approximately 1,000 people for the inaugural community forum on the Krong Pinang Dam project.
Public forum on the future of the Krong Pinang Dam project. Photo by Sohabudin/Pattani River Protection Network
When Sohabudin and Pattani River Protection Network held the inaugural forum to submit an official petition opposing the Krong Pinang Dam project, they received over 1,000 signatures. The response surprised even him. “The media feel that this is the power of the community, especially when compared to the government data,” he explains. “When the community collects data themselves and demonstrates the economic value of their livelihoods, the media really pay attention.”
The research revealed the hidden economic value of the river ecosystem. Fish that families caught and consumed directly, never entering the market, represented substantial household savings when systematically documented. “The fish catch contributes to the economy; there’s a huge amount of money not in the system but in daily life.”
The findings challenge the government’s economic calculus for the dam. If the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) ignores or undervalues subsistence fishing because it doesn’t generate market transactions, then the cost-benefit analysis is fundamentally flawed.
The Security Cost of Speaking Out
The response to Sohabudin’s organizing was swift. Local authorities began suggesting to villagers that those opposing the dam were involved with the BRN separatist movement. The government deployed what Sohabudin calls “IO,” Information Operations, to label him and other activists as threats to national security.
“Special laws give the military the right to investigate anything deemed a security concern without needing a court order or warrant,” Sohabudin explained. They use the law to silence his activism on the ground.
The implications are personal. Sohabudin now travels carefully, avoiding nighttime journeys when possible, never travelling alone. He’s aware of increased security checks along his routes.
He continues to emphasize that his work is non-violent and that he “is a human rights defender who fights for the right to a clean and healthy environment. This is the mission I am designed for; I don’t belong to any armed group.”
Pattani River Protection Network and riverside communities submitting the letter of opposition to the Secretary General of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC). Photo by Sohabudin/Pattani River Protection Network
An Ongoing Struggle
The research continues. Data collection that began in mid-2025 and should be complete by 2026. The goal isn’t just documentation but rather the delay and ultimately cancellation of the dam project.
When asked what advice he would give other communities considering community-based research, Sohabudin was empathetic: “Just do it.” The process of collecting data transforms communities from passive subjects into active knowledge holders.
“Everyone has the right to defend themselves. Everyone should speak about the issues concerning them because everyone is a human rights defender.” In his view, defending community rights is a fundamental human duty. Even “if the action goes against the government, don’t give up. This is your right, and this is your duty as human rights defenders.”
Reading the statement rejecting the public hearing on the Krong Pinang Dam project. Photo by Sohabudin/Pattani River Protection Network
Knowledge as Resistance
Sohabudin’s work on the Pattani River shows both the power and the risk of community-led research. The systematic documentation of fish populations, crop yields, and cultural practices becomes more than a research methodology. It is a form of resistance and a way of asserting that communities have the right to determine their own futures.
The risks are real, and the political context is dangerous. Yet the research continues because it offers a pathway for communities to defend their rivers, their livelihoods, and their rights. Even when doing so means being labeled an enemy of the state.
As the Pattani River flows on, its future remains uncertain. But through Sohabudin’s work and the community research network he has built, the communities along its banks now have something powerful: their own evidence, their own voice, and their own claim to the river that sustains them.
Photo by Sam Hofman/EarthRights International
