Potash Policies: Community Inclusion and Extractive Governance in Isaan, Thailand

Simon Kaack, University of Bath (Germany/United Kingdom)
Jirajade Wisetdonwail, Rainbow Journey Publishing House (Thailand)

This paper examines how Thailand’s potash policy in the Isaan region shapes its industrial approach to the green transition while reproducing tensions between extractive development and community inclusion. Promoted as essential for renewable technologies and battery production, potash mining projects have accelerated across the Northeast and raise concerns over land rights, environmental degradation, and local participation. Communities affected by exploration and extraction report limited access to decision-making and legal recourse, as state–corporate alliances prioritise economic growth and energy security over social equity. Based on an extensive policy review and qualitative fieldwork, our paper analyses how local resistance and civic engagement challenge top-down mining governance frameworks. It argues that a just energy transition in Thailand depends on inclusive mechanisms that recognise community agency, environmental rights, and transparent resource governance, rather than sustainability goals which deepen social conflict and further marginalisation of resource-rich but relatively unwealthy communites.