Human Security in New Frontier of Environmental Sociology: EIA, Community Participation and Community Right in Petroleum Exploration and Production Project in Thailand

This study is seeks to highlight the community participation and community right in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and the petroleum exploration and production project impacts human security. The qualitative methods were used in four rural agriculture communities, Ban Komyai, Ban Kompai, Ban Nalao and Ban Namon in Northeastern of Thailand. This paper provides a brief background to community participation and community right versus EIA in Thailand and reports on the human insecurity in health, economic and environment from petroleum project. EIA is a tool for integrated environmental management of complex and potentially high impact activities such as health and environment impact.  Although, public participation is being considered as an integral part of the assessment procedure, but EIA process is extremely limited in community level, knowledge, right, access and appeal. In petroleum project not only lack of community participation but also transgress community right.  Understanding and accepting in multi-right concept, claim right, legal right, and culture right, in development process can relieve the hostility between petroleum stakeholders.  While petroleum project is running, health risk, low income and biodiversity reducing rise in community as human insecurity. This paper argues that standard EIA is a tool of community participation to extricate human insecurity situations and the application of complexity of right concept will stabilize the human security.