Nan Province is located in northern Thailand, with its northern and eastern borders adjoining Laos. More than half of the province is covered by forests, and it is home to seven national parks. Beyond its rich forest landscapes, the province is the source of the Nan River, one of Thailand's major waterways. The river is a key tributary of the Chao Phraya River, which flows through central Thailand and supports water security for millions of people in the lowlands. Remarkably, around 40% of the Chao Phraya River’s water originates from the Nan River. 

Forests cover around 30% of Thailand as a whole, while the northern region has the country’s largest forested area, with forests covering approximately 63% of the landscape. In Nan Province, forest cover remains relatively high at 61%. However, this represents a significant decline from the 1960s and 1970s, when official records indicate that forest cover stood at around 85%.  

Despite its vital role in conserving forests, biodiversity, and watershed ecosystems, Nan remains one of Thailand’s less economically prosperous provinces. Its gross provincial product (GPP) per capita stands at THB 86,057 (approximately USD 2,615), ranking 63rd out of Thailand’s 77 provinces. Limited economic opportunities and persistent livelihood challenges continue to place pressure on natural resources, as many local communities rely heavily on land and forest-based activities to sustain their incomes. 

Recognizing Nan Province’s significance for forests, biodiversity, and the headwaters of some of Thailand’s most important rivers, the Wyss Academy’s Hub Southeast Asia began its co-design process in late 2025 to understand systems dynamics between people and nature in this region. From the outset, we committed to approaching the work with a new mindset: to better understand the systems at play and identify gaps where our support could add value and respond to the needs of local communities and partners. 

Our journey began by bringing together local partners from government agencies, the private sector, and civil society organizations—many of whom have been working in the area for decades. Rather than introducing predefined solutions, we started by listening. We posed a simple but important question: What challenges remain unaddressed, and where are the gaps that, if filled, could help drive lasting systemic change? 

The complexity of the co-design process was well understood by the Hub Southeast Asia team. Co-design is more than consultation. It is a deliberate and collaborative process of engaging with local partners to identify the areas, stakeholders, and communities where collective action can create meaningful impact. Through this process, we sought to identify opportunities with the potential to serve as models for learning, adaptation, and scaling, generating insights that could inform broader systemic change both within and beyond Nan Province. 

In February 2026, the first co-design workshop was held, bringing together more than sixty participants from across sectors in Nan Province. They explored the challenges and system dynamics shaping the relationship between people and forests, and identified potential areas where the Wyss Academy for Nature could contribute, guided by its four Impact Dimensions: biodiversity, land use and production systems, human well-being, and governance and social organization. 

Building on the priorities identified during the workshop, the Hub Southeast Asia team conducted a series of field visits in the following month alongside local partners and stakeholders. These visits provided an opportunity to deepen the team’s understanding of the proposed focus areas, gather local perspectives, and generate insights to inform decision-making for the next phase of the co-design process. 

Based on this deliberative and participatory process, Phu Kha Subdistrict was selected as our new real-world lab. The decision reflected both the area's ecological significance and its potential to serve as a landscape where innovative, locally driven solutions can be tested, refined, and scaled to address interconnected challenges related to forests, livelihoods, and sustainable development. 

The name Phu Kha derives from the northern Thai words phu (mountain) and kha (a local plant species). It is also associated with the Phu Kha royal lineage that ruled Nan from the late thirteenth to the mid-fifteenth century. 

Covering approximately 291 square kilometers, Phu Kha Subdistrict lies entirely within the boundaries of Doi Phu Kha National Park and the National Reserved Forest. Indigenous communities have lived in these mountains for generations, long before the establishment of the protected areas, and have played an important role in stewarding the surrounding forests. Yet despite their deep connection to the landscape, many continue to face limited access to secure land and resource rights. 

Over the past few decades, economic pressures have driven many households to shift from traditional livelihoods to cash-crop cultivation, particularly maize, cassava, and rubber. While these crops provide income, they have also contributed to soil erosion and land degradation. At the same time, limited water and road infrastructure, coupled with insecure land tenure, constrain opportunities for more sustainable and profitable land-use practices. Uncertainty over future land and harvesting rights often discourages farmers from investing in perennial crops and long-term landscape restoration, reinforcing a cycle of environmental degradation and economic vulnerability. 

Addressing systemic challenges is a long and complex journey. Yet even in the early stages of the co-design process, an emerging coalition for change has begun to take shape, demonstrating the value of breaking silos and fostering collaboration across sectors. 

Between May and June 2026, two additional co-design workshops were held, accompanied by further site visits to Phu Kha Subdistrict. These activities brought together stakeholders from provincial and local government agencies, civil society organizations, and local communities. Through shared dialogue and field-based learning, actors who would not normally interact closely had the opportunity to build relationships, exchange perspectives, and develop a more holistic understanding of the challenges facing the area. 

Already, encouraging signs of change are beginning to emerge. Local government agencies have started coordinating more closely to clarify their respective roles and identify opportunities to improve infrastructure in underserved communities. Provincial officials have also engaged directly with local residents to explore ways of supporting farmer capacity development, including in settlements that have historically faced barriers to accessing government assistance due to their administrative status. 

These shifts, though still emerging, matter: they are changing how people and institutions connect, collaborate, and respond to shared challenges. They also highlight the potential of the co-design process to create the trust, relationships, and collective action needed to drive systemic transformation over the long term. 

Text: Chertalay Suwanpanich