# Report of the expert workshop: Pathways to reviewing elements of governance and legislation for upstream prevention. ASAMCO Laos and Thailand (PREACTS, Afd, IRD)

Claire Lajaunie, Soawapak Hinjoy, Somchai Peerapakorn, Serge Morand

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## To cite this version:

Claire Lajaunie, Soawapak Hinjoy, Somchai Peerapakorn, Serge Morand. Report of the expert workshop: Pathways to reviewing elements of governance and legislation for upstream prevention. ASAMCO Laos and Thailand (PREACTS, Afd, IRD). Inserm. 2025. hal-05497473

HAL Id: hal-05497473

https://hal.science/hal-05497473v1

Submitted on 6 Feb 2026

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PREZODE in action
in the global South

Report of the expert workshop:

*Pathways to reviewing elements of
governance and legislation for upstream
prevention*

June 2025
Bangkok, Thailand

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**Citation:**

Lajaunie C, Hinjoy S, Peerapakorn S, Morand S. 2025. *Report of the Expert workshop: Pathways to Reviewing Elements of Governance and Legislation for Upstream Prevention.*

ASAMCO Laos and Thailand (PREACTS, Afd, IRD). Bangkok, Thailand.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15817089
Report of the Expert Workshop

Pathways to reviewing elements of governance and legislation for
upstream prevention

(project PREZODE – PREACTS - ASAMCO LaoThai, Afd, IRD)

Date: 9th June 2025

Claire Lajaunie<fnref n="1" />, Soawapak Hinjoy<fnref n="2" />, Somchai Peerapakorn<fnref n="3" />, Serge Morand<fnref n="4" />,<fnref n="5" />

with the support of Areeya Kriengudom, Inpreeya Choknakhawaro, Piyapoom Chongchimpee, Apiladee Soonngam

# 1. Background: ASAMCO

The PREZODE (PREventing Zoonotic Diseases Emergence) initiative, which the ASAMCO project is tied to, aimed to build resilient socio-ecological systems in order to prevent zoonotic disease emergence while preserving biodiversity and combating poverty, social injustice and food insecurity. The ASAMCO project is the second phase of the PREACTS (PREzode in Action in the global South) project, led by IRD and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD), as the first operational component of the PREZODE initiative.

ASAMCO Laos & Thailand will implement the activities at the border provinces, which will help to prevent zoonotic transboundary diseases, aiming to:

1. Analyze wildlife interfaces: Identify wildlife interaction points and analyze gaps in zoonotic disease prevention, focusing on ecosystems, land use changes, livestock proximity to protected areas, urbanization, and economic activities.

2. Synthesize existing knowledge: Map past and ongoing projects to understand their objectives, methods, outcomes, and geographic focus.

3. Strengthen policies and legislation: Highlight policy and legislative gaps related to wildlife and zoonotic disease management.

4. Develop a comprehensive framework: Create a Theory of Change (ToC) to address zoonotic risks at the ecosystem level with clear targets, strategies, and indicators.

<footnote n="1">¹INSERM, LPED IRD, University Aix-Marseille, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³Department of Disease Control Foundation (DDCF), Thailand</footnote>

<footnote n="4">⁴IRL HealthDEEP CNRS – Kasetsart University – Mahidol University</footnote>

<footnote n="5">⁵IRD Thailand</footnote>
5 Foster local innovation: Implement innovative, site-specific actions to prevent, mitigate, and monitor zoonotic diseases in collaboration with local communities and administrations.

To effectively prevent the emergence of infectious diseases with high epidemic potential, a holistic approach in terms of prevention needs to be adopted, using the 'One Health' approach (defined by OHHLEP) and the definition of upstream prevention (also defined by OHHLEP).

**2. Aims of the workshop**

By gathering experts, the workshop contributed to synthesize existing knowledge in evaluating mechanisms, tools and legislations to combine - or on the contrary identify the policy and legislative gaps - to improve the prevention of zoonotic diseases at the source (ecosystem and wildlife interface).

**3. Main outputs of the workshop**

**3.1. Challenges in law compliance and implementation**

The experts present at the workshop highlighted several challenges related to their areas of expertise and experience.

1. Local government has been created as dependent from the central authority. When there is a conflict between two laws (such as the amount of the fee on waste management which is different in Health Law and provisions on waste management coming from the Ministry of Interior), local government waits for a clear command from the central authority. It is afraid to be sued by the central government if its decision is not appropriate.

2. Legislative complexity: if we take the example of wildlife trade in Chatuchak Market, law compliance and implementation is difficult. For instance, laws differ depending on whether animals are wild or domestic, native or exotic, and imported or exported. DNP and DLD operate under species-based mandates with not well coordinated licensing systems, creating inefficiencies and non-compliance at the ground level.

3. Determining the applicable law often depends on accurate species identification. However, field assessments revealed that many government officials lack sufficient taxonomic knowledge, leading to inconsistent advice and improper licensing. This gap increases the risk of unregulated trade and zoonotic spillover.

4. While Thailand has robust joint training programs for health and veterinary staff, mostly organized by the well-established, MOPH-based Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), there is a lack of integration between these training programs and the
broader regulatory governance of wildlife and animal health. Many facilities operate without understanding the relevance of disease surveillance or reporting protocols, especially for non-listed species. This brings to the question that how does it connect with governance?

5. Issue of chronic diseases: non-communicable diseases are mainly prioritized by local primary care facilities due to the high workload for health service.

6. Ecological corridors, ecological integrity and protection of wildlife: issues regarding surveillance and wildlife health. No authority in charge beyond national parks and wildlife sanctuaries (Department of National Parks) or forest conservation (Department of Royal Forestry).

7. The animal trade—especially in exotic and non-listed species like civets and bamboo rats—is governed by conflicting or non-existent regulations. activities and legislations regarding illegal or legal animal trades are complex.

8. Communication of public policies: Many wildlife facility owners are unaware of relevant laws or see little value in licensing because it offers no tangible support (e.g., veterinary services, outbreak alerts). Most facilities only seek licenses when prompted by a crisis or to avoid penalties, not as a proactive compliance measure.

**3.2. Identification of pathways**

1. Collaboration is key and should encourage engagement with non-traditional stakeholders such as private companies, associations of exotic animals, private animal hospitals, etc. Encourage joint training and public awareness campaigns to improve policy communication and risk perception at the ground level.

2. Research can be developed outside the Academic institutions. For example, DNP can develop research. Encourage DNP, DLD, and local governments to lead applied research efforts and develop operational guidelines for licensing, quarantine, and farm standards.

3. Conduct a comprehensive review of wildlife, livestock, health, and trade laws to identify contradictions (e.g., licensing thresholds, species definitions). One important source of difficulties is the existence of contradictions between different sets of laws. Identifying these contradictions is relevant to preventing zoonotic disease risk.

4. Better identification of wildlife farming and their regulation: wildlife farming for food (under the Department of Livestock Development Authority); wildlife farming for exotic animals (exotic pets, e-trade). Establish a centralized registration platform (e-trade, no “one-stop” service) for all types of wildlife farms, including online traders, with clearly assigned lead agencies.

5. Approached by the province is promising to identify and analyse case studies. Utilize the Smart Patrol approach to expand into wildlife health surveillance and zoonotic risk detection in buffer zones and unregulated wildlife farms for conservation, prevention of fire risk, and wildlife health surveillance.
### 3.3. Way forward

1. Perform a legal mapping to describe who is doing what at the different scales of decision-making. Map "who does what" at national, provincial, and local levels to inform the design of an integrated legal action package for wildlife management, exotic animal trade, and public health regulation.

2. Develop studies at the local level to describe the community's "way of life": what are the main environmental and health concerns of the communities? How to define well-being, a good life, and a healthy environment?

3. Develop guidelines to help interventions based on laws and governance in the case of zoonotic emergence and any health issues.

4. Landscape and territory-based approach. Implementing local intervention in preventing zoonotic diseases should be done at the landscape/territory level using a social-ecological framework (transborder areas between Thailand and Laos). Tailor One Health strategies to ecological zones and cross-border territories.

5. Describe the actual community-based surveillance to go beyond public health surveillance to integrate environmental health.

6. Use the ecological connectivity (or ecological corridors) as a case study to overcome legal contradictions to prevent zoonotic diseases at the ecosystem and wildlife interface.

7. Describe the health management and legislation of livestock trade and animal disease prevention (quarantine, disease screening, vaccination, etc.) at the border provinces of Thailand and Laos.

### 4. Definitions and useful links

**Subsidiarity principle:** Subsidiarity is the principle that decisions should be taken at the territorial level where they can be most effectively implemented.

Examples:

**Article 72§2 of the French Constitution** (in Title XII - Of Territorial Communities) "Territorial communities may take decisions in all matters arising under powers that can best be exercised at their level".

https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/en/constitution-of-4-october-1958

**Article 5.3 of the Treaty on European Union:** "Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Union shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level".
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12016M005

*Way of life*: various usages (border, water, forest, wildlife)/law

*Field Epidemiology Training Program*: The Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) is a major residency training program in preventive medicine and epidemiology. In 1980, the Ministry of Public Health Thailand, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) jointly established the two-year field epidemiology program under the Division of Epidemiology to build a global workforce of field epidemiologists.

https://www.tephinet.org/training-programs/thailand-field-epidemiology-training-program

*Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP)*: agency of the
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation

*Smart Patrols*: In Thailand, it aims to equip park rangers and managers with information and technology to better protect areas, boost their morale, and instill a sense of pride in their duty. They have access to a patrol database called “SMART” (Spatial Monitoring And Reporting Tool).

https://thailand.wcs.org/en-us/Initiatives/Smart-Patrol-System.aspx
List of participants

<table><thead><tr><td>Name</td><td>Organisation</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Soawapak Hinjoy</td><td>Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health</td></tr><tr><td>Claire Lajaunie</td><td>Inserm, Associate researcher at IRL-HealthDEEP</td></tr><tr><td>Klairoong Poonpon</td><td>Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation</td></tr><tr><td>Wansane Toanan</td><td>Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation</td></tr><tr><td>Somchai Peerapakorn</td><td>Department of Disease Control Foundation-DDCF</td></tr><tr><td>Ariya Bunngamchairat</td><td>Department of Disease Control Foundation-DDCF</td></tr><tr><td>Sudarat</td><td>Advisor to the Office of International Cooperation, Department of Disease Control, and the Regional Public Health Laboratory Network, Department of Medical Sciences</td></tr><tr><td>Damrongwatanapokin</td><td>Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health</td></tr><tr><td>Apiladee Soonngam</td><td>Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health</td></tr><tr><td>Janjao Rodchangphuen</td><td>Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health</td></tr><tr><td>Natdanai Nachan</td><td>Department of Public Law, School of Law, Mae Fah Luang University.</td></tr><tr><td>Jinwara Punwong</td><td>Department of Public Law, School of Law, Mae Fah Luang University.</td></tr><tr><td>Areerop</td><td>RECOFTC (Resilient communities, sustainable and equitable forest landscapes)</td></tr><tr><td>Janita Gurung</td><td>RECOFTC (Resilient communities, sustainable and equitable forest landscapes)</td></tr><tr><td>Bussara Tirakalyanapa</td><td>RECOFTC (Resilient communities, sustainable and equitable forest landscapes)</td></tr><tr><td>Anamika Kritiyakan</td><td>Faculty of Veterinary Technology, Kasetsart University</td></tr><tr><td>Serge Morand</td><td>HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr><tr><td>Areeya Kriengudom</td><td>TICA, HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr><tr><td>Inpreeya Choknakhawaro</td><td>IRD, HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr><tr><td>Piyapoom</td><td>IRD, HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr><tr><td>Chongchimpree</td><td>HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr><tr><td>Chayanan Arahmkong</td><td>HealthDEEP, CNRS - Kasetsart University- Mahidol University</td></tr></tbody></table>