discussion3.1. Land use decision-making: hierarchical and horizontalprocessesThe hierarchy of legislation in Thailand is rather clear and simple(Lasimbang and Luithui, 2007). The Constitution is the supreme lawof the land from which the authority of other laws emanates. Actsare passed by the Parliament under the Constitution. The Ministriesthen make regulations and notifications to clarify and implementthe acts. This is regarded as central-level decision-making, whichin turn affects operational decision-making. To clarify farmers’decision-making on land use at the operational level, we classifiedthe operational level into multi-level action arenas. The operationallevels are divided into district level, village level, and householdlevel. The timeline analysis was divided into three periods: (i)1950–1960, (ii) 1961–1996, and (iii) 1997–present. These periodswere based on political changes and the enforcement of the ThaiNEDP, which was first implemented in 1961.Table 2 shows how decision-making at different levels haschanged in accordance with policy changes over the three periods.Decisions by policymakers on forestland management were mainlyguided by considerations of national security in the first period,and by considerations of land conservation in the second period.The third period was characterized by collaborative approaches todecision-making. At the operational level, decisions were initiallymade within households and communities following informal rulesand later were made increasingly in accordance with formal rulesand in consultation with other stakeholders.