Karen Environmental and Social Action Network.
Empowering communities, securing peace, protecting environment, land and livelihood
KESAN is a community-based, non-governmental, non-profit organization that works to improve livelihood security and to gain respect for indigenous people’s knowledge and rights in Karen State of Burma, where the violence and inequities of more than 60 years of civil war have created one of the most impoverished regions in the world.
Our programs
Latest publications
Latest news
Press Release: Sixth General Assembly of the Salween Peace Park
Date: December 22, 2025 On December 17-19, 2025, as the Myanmar junta continued bombing and murdering civilians across Burma in ferocious attempts to retake liberated territory from resistance groups and impose its fake “election,” a very different exercise in grassroots democracy was taking place deep in…
Continue Reading Press Release: Sixth General Assembly of the Salween Peace Park
Building Federal Democratic Governance Through the Will of Communities in Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park
Date: 16, December 2025 While the ruling military junta continue to push for their illegitimate election, scheduled from late December 2025 to January 2026, we, the Indigenous people of the Thawthi Taw-Oo Indigenous Park (TTIP) in Kawthoolei under the administration of the Karen National Union, have…
Honoring our protectors – Salween Peace Park
On July 5, 2025, a special ceremony was held in the Salween Peace Park to honor both the Kawthoolei Armed Forces and the Trees—two protectors of the land and people. The Karen National Union (KNU) and local communities came together to plant trees not just for…
Continue Reading Honoring our protectors – Salween Peace Park
We don’t raise bees, bees raise us instead
For generations, in Karen lands referred as Kawthoolei, particularly, in the Salween Peace Park, harvesting honey from tall trees has been a way for the Karen people to generate income. However, local villagers cannot sell their honey at reasonable prices because the quality still can be…
Declaration of commitment of the Indigenous Karen People to preserve the wildlife in the Salween River Basin (Way Boo Hta Declaration)
Date : April 30, 2025Place : Salween Peace Park, Mutraw District/ Brigade # 5 The Salween River Basin is endowed with diverse ecosystems, ranging from mixed deciduous, dry dipterocarps, pine, montane to hill evergreen forests. These ecosystems host many globally significant wildlife species. Iconic wildlife species…
Incorporating wildlife protection and ecotourism
27 March 2027 – From 17th to 18th March 2025, community members of the Kheshorter Community Forest in northern Salween Peace Park held an annual meeting in Paw Law Pu, Luthaw Township, Mutraw District, Kawthoolei. Around 70 people attended, including community members from 15 villages, leaders…
Continue Reading Incorporating wildlife protection and ecotourism
Latest Video
Learn about us
The 20th Anniversary: A Pathway to Social and Environmental Justice
Feature documentary
Annual Report
Empowering Communities to Protect the Environment, while Securing their Lands, Livelihoods and Peace
