In the past, the Karen were forest dwellers, self-dependent and authorized to manage their natural resources and to conduct their own rituals and administer themselves. Their leaders were the elderly in their communities. Nowadays, the ethnic group is threatened with relocation away from the forests. As a consequence, the Karen at Khun Win Village have created their distinct identity by defining, negotiating and responding to the needs of the forests. It is an endeavor to co-exist with the forest. Defining the forest through the mechanisms of private development officers and academics has enable their identity and their actions to be connected to the forest, e.g., defining food, funerals as well as forest-related agencies.
    
Khun Win villagers have compromisingly negotiated with everyone related to the forest. Negotiating with other ethnic groups is driven by trade-orientation. Negotiating with lowlanders is a means to negotiate with the state. The villagers raise their forest management activities in an attempt to co-exist with the forest. The negotiations have led to mutual learning and the sharing of knowledge with all parties involved and have been of optimal benefit to the villagers who want to dwell in the forest as well as to personify the forest. The constitutional rights of the villagers have lessened the threats from concerned state agencies at a certain level. In response, the villagers work with their allies and use their simple and peace-loving identity as a negotiation tool to manage the forest. They also use historical relationships between Chiang Mai and its aggressive stance against their elderly in the past. The revitalization of their beliefs in connection with the national and religious institutions is also used as a powerful response, making their ethnic identity a part of the nation. The concept of man in co-existence with forest is used through mechanisms of Khun Win and Mae Wang intellectuals, resistance against external threats, and the creation of a network with their allies.