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Heed Queen's call for action on environment - BKK Post
KANCHANABURI / FOREST RESERVES, MILITARY LAND
Forest fires double in number
Yelling 'Fire" on a crowed hillside
The sorry state of our forests
One sanctuary opens to relieve tourist congestion in another
3000 forest fires in four months
Village role urged in forest protection
'1.5 rai decrease' in forest cover in 4 years
Forest fire department on alert
Plodprasop acquitted
Kingdom cleared to increase trade in three protected trees
300,000 rai of forest reserves to be declared national parks
China: Genetically Modified Madness
Road project a threat to lush forests in Tak
Villagers demanding justice for slain leader
Fear drives Tak protesters underground
Outcry over planned road
Monkeys Begging for Food
PM Promises Reforestation
Blame
Pinned on Government Policy
Large
Forest Tracts Torched by Farmers
Forest
Encroachers Blamed for Fires
5,000
Deployed to Catch Poachers
Japanese
Donates B28m for Reforestation
More
than 70,000 rai up in smoke
Surprise
visit by Queen
Status
bid made for eastern forest complex
Park
officials accused of illegal log felling
Satellites
to help in monitoring forests
SmartWood
suspends FSC certification of two plantations
Khao Sod editorial _ Her Majesty the Queen has voiced concern about serious environmental problems in the country. We hope her voice will spur the government and the public to take serious action to protect our threatened forests, rivers and other natural resources.
In a speech marking her 75th birthday on Aug 12, the Queen said Thailand might face a shortage of fresh water in 20 years if no action is taken to protect water sources.
The Queen said she had called for the preservation of forests since her early years as queen but her calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
She blamed greedy people for the illegal logging which had led to mudslides that killed innocent people and destroyed their homes.
The Queen also stressed the need to protect mangrove forests which serve as nurseries for baby fish and prawns. Official statistics show that more than half of the country's mangrove forests have been destroyed during the past 15 years.
We must find a balance between economic development and natural resource protection.
Economic development must not be obtained at the expense of the environment.
Industrial parks, shrimp farms and other harmful projects must not be located near waterways, coastal areas or national forests.
As a member of the world community, Thailand must contribute to sustainable development.
His Majesty the King has shown the way by introducing the concept of the sufficiency economy.
There are clear directions to protect our natural resources.
We must translate these directions into real action for sustainable development.
KANCHANABURI / FOREST RESERVES, MILITARY LAND
Big addition to national parks
PIYARACH CHONGCHAROEN
Kanchanaburi _ Almost 400,000 rai of forest reserves and forested restricted military areas in Kanchanaburi province will be annexed into national parks to prevent widespread encroachment in those areas.
Kanchanaburi Governor Amnart Pakarat said a provincial working group on prevention of forest encroachment had resolved to annex Wangyai and Maenam Noi forest reserves as well as forested areas designated by the 1938 royal decree for military use in Muang, Sai Yok and Dan Makhamtei districts into the Sai Yok national park.
These areas cover some 250,730 rai of land and 18 villages in the three districts.
Another 118,980 rai in four other forest reserves and forest areas restricted to military use Si Sawat and Nong Prue districts covering 16 villages would be added to the neighbouring Chalermrattanakosin national park.
Mr Amnart said those forest areas, if left alone, would be at risk of encroachment and illegal logging.
Putting them under national parks would help save the forests as the national parks are governed by laws which impose harsh punishments against encroachers.
The working group was appointed by the government to solve the forest encroachment in the province.
Its findings will be forwarded to the Natural Resource and Environment Ministry, while the governor can follow up on and implement its decisions.
Mr Amnart conceded that local leaders and residents living near the forest reserves had strongly opposed the annexation. He said they wrongly believed they would be banned from forests once they were declared part of a national parks.
He said locals people were still allowed to collect wild fruits and other products in the national parks for their own consumption, but not for commercial purposes.
He said forest areas where trespassers started farms remained part of the forest reserve. The panel was considering giving some villagers occupying forest land the right to make a living on it.
However, those who lived in watershed forests had to move out, said the governor.
ANCHALEE KONGRUT
From October 2006 to April this year, a total of 7,575 forest fires were reported, ravaging 115,261 rai of forest land, compared to only 4,711 blazes in the previous season, when some 54,000 rai were scorched.
The Thailand Development Research Institute, which conducted the study, has also urged the state to take a closer look at the water quality in the inner Gulf of Thailand as the survey also found that discharge of wastewater from factories in Samut Prakan province was directly responsible for the contamination of sea water in the area.
But there is some good news as well.
The report also shows that the overall river and surface water quality across the country has improved.
The only exceptions were the Tha Chin and Lam Ta Khong rivers, in the central and northeastern regions, where dissolved oxygen, a major water quality measuring index, was low.
The country's air quality has also improved, except in big cities and industrial zones in Samut Prakan, Saraburi, Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Lampang. Residents in these provinces are at risk of respiratory ailments caused by long-term inhalation of small dust particles.
Copies of the report will be handed to all state agencies, including the National Environmental Board (NEB), which is in charge of considering the environmental impact assessment of mega-projects, hoping the NEB will use the report as a basis for its decisions on whether to approve the projects.
Yelling 'Fire' on a crowded hillside
By Erika Fry BKK Post 15th April 2007
Forest fires around Doi Tung are not uncommon during the dry season, but in recent years they are more and more often being set intentionally. Who might be behind them?
At 10 a.m., two Sundays ago, Doi Tung's 105th fire of the season (fire season starts in December) began like many that preceded it-at the base of a hillside. Blown by wind and hastened by dryness, the flames fanned out and up, hurrying up the hill towards the headquarters of the royal development project and within 100 metres of the Royal Villa.
To complicate matters, Doi Tung's fire crews and five trucks were already further up the hillside at the time, fighting the 104th fire of the season, which had been set in three separate spots, not long before the 105th began.
By the time it was all over, it was Monday; acres of reforested land had been lost, and 700 village volunteers, some of whom mounted gazebo roofs with garden hoses to keep flames at bay, had been needed to spare the Villa and the project's facilities.
Forest fires in Northern Thailand are far from uncommon. The Forest Fire Control Division recorded 3,129 forest fires for Oct 2005-September 2006, while the tally for this year, starting in October 2006, is already at 3,957.
Many link the fires to this year's haze disaster, which since March has blanketed Thailand's northern region with smog, jeopardised tourism, cancelled flights, and has in Chiang Rai alone sent more than 20,000 citizens suffering from respiratory problems and stinging eyes to seek medical care.
Highland villagers, who are often faulted for mismanagement of waste burning activities and slash and burn agriculture practices, and Burma, which is often faulted for unchecked fires that spread over the Thai border, have so far shouldered much of the blame. Meanwhile, the year's extreme dryness and late-coming rains have made the nation's forest areas all the more combustible.
Yet of the 110 fires that have started since last December at Doi Tung, a 150 square kilometre area in hills of Chiang Rai province, very few of them have been due to sloppy agricultural burning.
The majority have been arsons-increasingly frequent and brazenly-set blazes that are being interpreted as an intensifying effort to terrorise the Doi Tung project and community.
Doi Tung is a 30-year development project that was founded in 1988 by the late Princess Mother in an effort to improve the lives of the region's rural poor and alleviate the problems - drugs, human trafficking, trans-national crime - that plague them.
The Princess Mother likened the region, for topographical reasons, to Switzerland, and the highland villagers likened her to "Mae Fah Luang" (Mother from the Sky), which became the name of the foundation.
At the time, the area, which includes 23 kilometres of Thai-Burmese border, was deforested land that served as the heart of Thailand's opium and arms trades. In an effort to encourage alternative livelihoods to opium cultivation, the project began aggressive reforestation, and later agro-forestry efforts that compensated villagers for their work.
In the years since, the community of 26 villages and 11,000 mostly hill tribe people has been transformed. 80% of the area has been reforested for sustainable economic use and the production of crops like coffee and macadamian nuts. Villagers, many of whom are employed in Doi Tung's agriculture or handicraft enterprises, have seen their annual income increase from 3,000 to 32,000 baht and now spend a measurable portion of earnings on "luxury goods" that include TVs, motorbikes, and gas stoves (there are, according to the 2548 census, more TVs than households in Doi Tung).
Meanwhile, through a smart branding campaign, Doi Tung has developed a franchise of coffee shops, and opened several gift shops that sell textiles, ceramics, and even a high-end fashion line created "from the hands of the hills." Its strategy to develop alternative livelihoods has been by acknowledged by the UN's Office of Drugs and Crime, and is currently being studied and adopted by groups in Myanmar, Aceh, Indonesia and Afghanistan.
The history and new-found prosperity of the area has instilled in the community a collective sense of pride, ownership, and the great respect for the forest that makes the recent string of intentionally-set fires all the more puzzling to villagers and project leadership.
"The original community looks on the forest as their heart and soul. They worked hard to bring it about. They have great respect for the forest and preservation efforts," says Prakrong Saijan, head of Doi Tung Social Development Department's Environmental Management.
Who Would Want to?
A man from one of Doi Tung's Akha villages who did not wish to be identified found it unthinkable that someone within the community would start fires in the forest. "We live like an extended family. No one would want to hurt the community or each other. Villagers wouldn't dare violate the land."
He adds that fires are a burden and a worry for everyone, and starting them "is risky because one might suffer if the flames jump fields. It's pointless. Who would want to?"
Khunying Puangroi Diskul na Ayudhya, chairman and CEO of the Handicrafts Home Industries Training Centre of Doi Tung Development Project, says fires have taken place every year within the project, but it wasn't until four or five years ago that they began to see them deliberately set in the Doi Tung forest.
Since then, the efforts have intensified. There have been nearly twice as many fires this season as in the year previous (110 vs. 59), at least 62 of which she believes have been cases of arson.
Most of them, including the one that threatened the Royal Villa two weeks ago, were set on a hillside, using a crude bomb or fire-starting device fashioned from everyday flammable materials like a bundle of matches and mosquito coil.
Over time the efforts have also grown more sophisticated and boldly-staged. The fires which used to begin only at night, are now more often (and almost daily since mid-March) set in broad daylight, sometimes simultaneously and sometimes brazenly placed under watchtowers and in increasing proximity to Doi Tung's facilities, and the Royal Villa.
Khunying Puangroi and a number of others investigating the fires believe the sophistication and widespread nature of the fire-starting efforts demonstrate a familiarity with the land that only community members could possess.
Even so, the cohesion and values of the community make it hard for many, including Khunying Puangroi, to believe the fires are being started by "hands from the hills."
While the fires have never touched the villager's private agricultural land, 1,900 rai of reforested land, which Khunying Puangroi values as a 2 billion baht investment, have been lost.
"We've considered many theories," she says. "It just doesn't make sense it is very frustrating. We're chasing a phantom." she says, shaking her head.
When I visited the Tuesday following the fire, investigators were fresh from all-day emergency meeting and theories did indeed run the gamut.
Third Army officials based at Doi Tung think the fires may be the latest strategies of drug traffickers (they have evidence in two cases)-diversionary tactics to send authorities scrambling while they bring heroin and amphetamines over the border or bury them along the region's main transport routes.
Others believe the blazes are being set by the region's newly educated, uniquely brash breed of hill tribe teens (besides tendencies to drink, smoke, and ride around on motorbikes, some are said to abuse their parents) on a rebellious streak.
Other speculate it's profit-hungry businessman on the outside paying villagers to conduct burn-offs and grow crops on the inside. Some villagers had even suggested that it is the fire fighters themselves, who despite having not been paid since last October, are starting them as a means of job security (Puangroi found this one particularly absurd).
The theory which seems to be the most often circulated, but also the most vaguely discussed, is that a group of individuals has a conflict with some authority, official policy, or other force that they have no means to fight other than by setting fires. A number of figures interviewed acknowledged that various authorities will unfairly harass hill tribe villagers, simply because they have the power to do so.
Too Many Fires
The 106th fire got going around noon that Tuesday , a winding 10 minute drive away from Doi Tung headquarters (#107 and 108 would follow later that afternoon). As we drove towards the smoke, we passed members of a nearby Lahu village, who geared up with rakes and rubber boots, were making the slow climb towards the scene.
Other villagers, strapped with water tanks and wielding shovels were already there helping the fire crews hose out the fires. A few wore masks. None, including the professional fire fighters, wore gear more protective than this.
"There are not enough people to fight fires. We need more human resources and materials. We use very basic tools and carry water tanks on our backs," says Phaopan Thammabandidt, deputy head of Subdistrict Administration, who is not a fire fighter himself, but had like many others shown up when the forest near the Royal Villa reignited (fire #109, not an arson) on Wednesday.
The force has 120 firefighters, none of whom have been paid officially since last October (Doi Tung has supplemented their income in the meantime). There is not the budget for protective gear or uniforms beyond a red cap. The foresters, which come from each village in Doi Tung, work with a helicopter and 5 trucks-two large ones that are used to ferry water and three smaller ones that have capacity for 1500 litres of water, a 3 minute supply when hoses are going full blast. The force detects fires using three roving patrols and around-the-clock watch from Doi Tung's 11 watchtowers.
Forest Fire Control also holds annual public meetings in each village to educate on fire protection and prevention, and to set regulations and policy for agricultural burning.
Agricultural burning is legal on one's personal land in Doi Tung, but the process is strictly regulated and in an effort to prevent mismanagement, limited to fires that are pre-arranged through a Doi Tung call centre, supervised by an official, and conducted within the permitted 4-6 pm window.
Villagers that violate these rules are fined, as are those that, for whatever reason, cause fire within a forest area; meanwhile, families are paid 1000 baht per year for their service in following rules and protecting against fire in Doi Tung's forest.
Perhaps because of this incentive or simply their respect for the forest and the community, the public, which regularly and willingly mobilises to assist in community fire fighting and fire prevention efforts may be the fire department's greatest resource.
Sure enough, Thursday morning, a crowd of 500 villagers had gathered outside Doi Tung's headquarters. They had come with shovels, machetes, and in some cases, barefooted toddlers, to take part in the day's effort to fireproof the Doi Tung facilities through the creation of an all-encompassing fire protection line (a process that involves clearing kindling materials from a 15-meter wide line in the forest that will theoretically break the fire).
Fire protection lines, along with prescribed burning (which Prakrong calls a last resort, and is basically a pre-emptive technique that uses fire to break fire) are among Doi Tung's main strategies for mitigating forest fire damage. Prakrong adds that Doi Tung is working with Mahidol University in an effort to raise the effectiveness of fire protection lines, maximise the use of natural fire-stopping materials and to reduce the forest's combustibility through plant diversification.
The project has also developed a new fire prevention strategy that has grown out of the observation that none of the fires have started on agricultural or livelihood land, and which aims to deepen the relationship of the people with their environment.
Based on the idea that those who live harmoniously with the forest, are the best suited to protect it, Prakrong is working with others to integrate agricultural products into the forest, as well as to raise awareness of the forest's existing value.
He has begun to incorporate coffee crops which grow well in the shade of the forest canopy, and is piloting the production of vanilla and olive trees in select forest locations. The project has also begun tapping pine trees to collect resin for the production of turpentine.
Khunying Puangroi notes that encouraging the use of forest for livelihood is in accordance with the ideas of the Princess Mother, who "initiated the concept of coexistence of man and nature."
"We want to reach that balance where people sustain the forest, and the forest sustains the people" said Mr Narong Apichai, operations field director of Doi Tung's Centre for Social Entreprenuership.
All hope there will be few more fires to put out to reach that point.
Wannajan Jittinan, head of Doi Tung's Development Project, commented, "We've lost all that we have invested. The forest is like the supermarket of the village. It provides medicine, work, food - all has been destroyed."
On that Thursday, while the hundreds of hill tribe villagers were out clearing fire protection lines, the 110th fire - the 7th in 3 days - started 8 kilometres away from the headquarters.
I ask her if she thinks all this loss will ever become too discouraging or exhausting for villagers to keep turning up.
She says she doesn't thinks so. "They have worked closely together for a long time."
I am not sure whether she is speaking of the villagers and forest, or just villagers, but either way, her words provided a rare bright spot on this smoke-filled day.
The sorry state of our forests
Bangkok Post, 07 May 2005
Tak provincial governor Suwat Tanprawat admitted on Tuesday that more than 30,000 rai of forest land in conserved areas of the northern province had been encroached on over the past decade.
This, coupled with log poaching on forest land and damage to watershed wildlife sanctuaries, had, he said, led to massive drought in the province.
What came next was almost as predictable.
Illegal logging by local mafia backed by state officials had been detected on 10,000 rai of forest land and now there is to be a belated anti-deforestation campaign with forestry officials, soldiers, local and border patrol police and volunteers mobilised to patrol forest land, arrest encroachers and seize back watershed areas which have been taken over.
This type of disregard for the environment is not limited to exploiters in Tak. Nor is it anything particularly new. It is part of a countrywide pattern of forest encroachment and illegal logging which has seen Thailand lose more than 1.5 million rai of forest area over the past four years and national forest cover decline to 32.6% of the country's total area, according to the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department's latest survey. Environmentalists have challenged this figure, saying it is unrealistic and the actual figure is more like 30%. None dispute that forest cover loss is most serious in Chiang Mai, Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Nan and, of course, Tak provinces.
The two public holidays this week gave some people a chance to escape the pollution of the capital and take a first-hand look. Sadly, their observations endorsed criticisms made by our own and foreign tourists who lament that huge chunks of our environment are being sacrificed to negligence and greed.
So much more would be accomplished if the agencies responsible for protecting our heritage worked as a team. This especially applies to the Forestry Department and units of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. The biggest problem with the ministry is that it has failed to be the scourge of rapacious businessmen.
One reason is that our legislators left it short of teeth and firepower when it was created, but this doesn't justify such inaction. There are plenty of other laws on the books. For its part, the Forestry Department is usually too distracted by squabbling and scandals to make much of a positive impact. There also seems to be a shortage of enthusiastic and dedicated individuals at these agencies who are able to make a real difference.
Sad to say, their combined efforts have achieved about as much as the optimistic signs in beauty spots asking visitors to clear up before they leave and not leave plastic bags and other litter lying around.
Home-grown pollution continues to foul our parks, beaches, waterfalls and areas of great natural beauty already placed at risk by mass tourism. Although the richness of our country is being squandered, there is no real meeting of minds on how to deal with the environmental degradation we see all around us. Just finger-pointing and rhetoric.
What governmental action is taken is usually pitifully inadequate. It is almost as though one step forward is followed by two steps back and there is a disconcerting lack of genuine public concern which works in favour of the exploiters.
What we need is tough ministerial action to regulate and monitor all developments which concern the environment. We already have laws which can be used to achieve this. Sustained enforcement of these laws and regulations, especially those governing tree-felling, is still the way to go in getting a true, national environmental awareness campaign off the ground.
Tougher and less convoluted legislation is necessary but just as important is the determination to use it, even when this means taking on powerful, wealthy and influential vested-interest groups. And in resisting the inevitable and all-pervasive evils of bribery and corruption which are responsible for the sorry state so much of our country has been left in. [return]
One sanctuary opens to relieve tourist congestion in another
Bangkok Post, 28 February, SUPAMART KASEM
Forest authorities in Tak province plan to open the eastern part of the Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary to relieve visitor congestion and protect the nearby Umphang wildlife sanctuary.
Voravit Chuesuwan, director of Forest Conservation Office 14 in Tak, said the number of visitors to the Thi Lo Su waterfall in the Umphang sanctuary was increasing every year, from a few thousand a decade ago, to 36,400 in 2003 and 61,499 last year.
In 2003 the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department capped visitors at 500 at a time but later bowed to pressure from tour operators, relaxing that to 700 a time and then 1,500 a time.
The latest change was approved last November along with promises to improve services such as toilets, kitchens, tap water and rubbish disposal and wastewater systems.
The ceiling is not always enforced. During the New Year long holiday, Thi Lo Su received almost 2,000 visitors a day. Numbers peaked at 3,051 on Jan 1 this year, twice as much as the ceiling permits.
Conservationaists say that situation cannot continue or nature in Umphang wildlife sanctuary will be permanently damaged. "The impact we can see are physical ones only while damage to the ecological system will not show up immediately. It takes time for ecological damage to surface,'' Mr Voravit said.
Chatchawal Pisdamkham of the Umphang wildlife sanctuary said opening the eastern part of the Thung Yai Naresuan wildlife sanctuary would relieve visitor numbers in Umphang. He is confident the nearby sanctuary can attract visitors for its natural abundance of grass fields, swamps, and evergreen forests.
Preecha Chansiritanont, acting deputy director of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, said opening the wildlife sanctuary could raise public awareness about environmental protection. No detail was given on when the sanctuary will open. [return]
3,000 forest fires in four months
Bangkok Post, 21 February 2005, KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Thailand is under attack by another extreme natural disaster, forest fires, which have flared up almost 3,000 times and damaged more than 65,000 rai of timbered land in the past four months.
The annual blazes are likely to devastate the tropical forest for at least another three months. The wet season was due in June.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti yesterday called on villagers living near forests, people who collect forest products, and campers to refrain from setting fires of any kind in forest areas.
Mr Suvit on Friday made an inspection trip to Huay Kha Kaeng wildlife sanctuary in Uthai Thani province, where a forest fire was burning. The spreading blaze was likely to be under control in a few days, he said.
Forest firefighters have been sent to all hot-spot areas, where the danger was high, including the western forest complex and forests in the North and Northeast.
The Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation last October warned that this year's forest fire season was likely to start earlier than normal and last longer, until June.
Based on reports from the United States Climate Prediction Centre, the department also predicts this year's forest fires would be the most severe since 1998 due to the El Nino weather phenomenon that brings drought to many Asia-Pacific countries.
Accumulation of dry leaves, branches and grass over the years would also worsen the situation.
The Southeast Asia Fire Danger Rating System currently ranks Thailand as "extreme'', which means the risk of fire is high and that when they occur the flames are likely to be fierce and difficult to control. It recommends large fire control breaks and that complete burning restrictions be put in place.
The system also detects disaster-level drought conditions in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and the north Philippines.
The system is part of the Regional Haze Action Plan, started by Southeast Asian environment ministers after extensive forest fires in Indonesia caused widespread haze in the region in 1997 and 1998.
Run by the Malaysian Meteorological Service, the system monitors and issues warnings about forest fires in the region.
In Chiang Mai, a local environmentalist said he was seeing more serious and frequent forest fires than last year.
"The sky is always covered with haze. Most natural streams run dry because the fires have dried up ground water sources in the forest. Water shortage is the most serious problem during the forest fire season,'' said Nikhom Puttha, a leader of a conservation group in Chiang Dao district.
He said the department failed to improve its forest fire control services, which avoided working with local communities.
"The department should work harder in seeking cooperation from the local people in complying with the government's ban on burning activities in the dry season.''
Villagers' burning activities were a major cause of forest fires in the North, said Mr Nikhom. [return]
Village role urged in forest protection
Bangkok Post, 08 February 2005, PIYAPORN WONGRUANG
Villagers should be encouraged to play a larger role in forest protection and conservation in an attempt to increase the country's ever-shrinking forest cover, a senior agriculture official said yesterday.
Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya, permanent secretary of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, said the concept of forest restoration should be revised to better deal with the current situation.
The government should encourage villagers living near old forests to afforest new areas and, once the new forests mature, buy them back, he said.
He believed the plan would accelerate the forest restoration process and make it easier for officials to reclaim forest areas.
The country loses about 370,000 rai of forest land each year, and has also lost up to a million rai in some years, while officials could grow no more than 100,000 rai of new forests annually. Such a huge gap between forest loss and gain needed to be reduced immediately, he said.
The country's forest cover last year stood at only about 32% of the country's total land area or around 104 million rai, down by more than 50%, or about 171 million rai, from 1951.
Mr Petipong said forest policies in the past were so unclear that they needed to be re-clarified in order to cope with the critical problems.
Lasting solutions should be found and included in the ministry's future forest policies that would be proposed to the new government, Mr Petipong said.
Surapon Duangkhae, secretary-general of Wildlife Fund Thailand, was optimistic that Mr Petipong's suggestion would help increase cooperation between the government and civil sector now that villagers' roles in managing forests are receiving greater official acceptance. [return]
'1.5m rai decrease' in forest cover in 4 years
Doubts aired over rosy picture in Northeast
Bangkok Post, 18 December 2004, KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Thailand has lost more than 1.5 million rai of forest area over the past four years, resulting in a decrease in national forest cover from 33% to 32.6% of the country's total area, according to the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department's latest survey.
"Since 2000, forest deterioration has taken place at a rate of 377,968 rai per year, mainly due to forest encroachment by oil palm and tangerine plantation operators,'' the report says.
Forest cover loss is most serious in Chiang Mai, Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Nan and Tak provinces.
However, forest area has increased in Loei, Nakhon Phanom, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Roi Et and Sakon Nakhon.
Mangrove forest cover has increased by 50% over the past four years. The report said mangrove forests had expanded from previous estimates of 1.04 million rai to 1.7 million rai.
The data was taken from the department's interpretation of satellite images acquired from the US Landsat-5 satellite at a scale of 1:50,000. The figure might not be accurate as no ground survey has been conducted to verify the information.
Department officials and independent forestry experts took up the report for discussion yesterday before submitting it to Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng, who will chair a meeting on revision of the country's forestry management policy at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry on Monday.
Forestry experts, however, questioned the accuracy of the report, which is based on forest cover statistics released under the supervision of former forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi in 2000.
According to the 2000 survey, the country's forest area increased from 30% to 33% in just five years, an unprecedented rate of growth.
Head researcher Suvit Ongsomwang, then an analyst of the Forestry Research Office, said the decision to use maps on a scale of 1:50,000 instead of 1:250,000 was the main reason the researchers found more forest area in the new survey.
The success of community forest protection efforts, reforestation projects, and forest fire control efforts had contributed to the increase in forest area, he said.
Prof Niwat Reungpanich, former dean of Kasetsart University's forestry faculty, said the study team had probably misinterpreted the satellite images because they failed to accurately define what is ``forest''.
He said economic forest plantation and reforestation plots could not be counted as natural forest cover.
"It is impossible the forest area has increased in the northeastern provinces, such as Nakhon Phanom and Udon Thani.
"A 500,000-rai expansion of mangrove forests in four years does not make sense either,'' he said.
The departments of land, forestry, and national park, wildlife and plant conservation should conduct a scientific survey of forest cover to come up with a proper national forest management policy and to classify the most threatened forest areas, Prof Niwat said. [return]
Forest fire department on alert
El Nino forecast to bring worst blazes since 1998
Bangkok Post, 26 October 2004, RANJANA WANGVIPULA
Thailand could face the most severe forest fires for six years in the upcoming dry season due to the El Nino weather phenomenon that brings drought to many Asia-Pacific countries.
"In recent years, many have said Thailand will face drier weather due to El Nino, but our department has never confirmed that.
But this year we have scientific evidence corresponding with [actual forest fire] records to prove it,'' said Forest Fire Control Division director Siri Akaakara, a senior official at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
He referred to a forecast by the Climate Prediction Center of the US National Weather Service, which has observed rising temperatures around the equator in the Pacific Ocean since July.
Its report in early October confirmed warming of sea water in the area, which would bring unusual drought situations to Indonesia, northern and north-eastern Australia as well as south-eastern Africa.
Indonesian forest fires are often used to predict how severe the corresponding situation in Thailand will be.
This year, Indonesia has gone through a longer forest fire period than normal, officials at the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution said.
This matches the US forecast of much drier weather in Indonesia due to El Nino, Mr Siri said.
In a memorandum distributed to forestry officials countrywide last Thursday, department chief Somchai Pienstaporn told his subordinates to "urgently prepare'' for forest fires in 2005, which could start as early as next month and be the most severe for six years.
According to the department, in the last forest fires in 1998 when El Nino was reported, up to 7.1 million rai (11,360 sq km) of 81 million rai of forest was destroyed that year compared with 4.1 million rai in 1997 and 1.8 million rai in 1999.
"We will certainly face a more difficult task,'' Mr Siri said. "We have to launch campaigns asking farmers to keep the burning of their fields to a minimum.''
Many farmers usually burn unwanted debris after harvesting and villagers set forests alight before searching for wild vegetables.
Both these activities are major causes of forest fires.
A recent satellite image showed burning activity scattered across the Northeast as farmers have started burning left-over debris near motorways, Mr Siri said. "We can't totally ban all burning because this would affect their way of life and eventually they would not cooperate with us,'' said Saran Chuenuthai, chief of the forest fire operation unit in Region 9, which oversees forestry areas in five northeastern provinces.
The department said El Nino would be more dangerous to Thai forests this year as a study has shown increasing levels of ``fuel'', including dry leaves, branches and grass, accumulating over the years.
This, Mr Saran said, was because there had been fewer forest fires since 1998.
El Nino is a natural cyclic phenomenon that causes ocean warming in the tropical Pacific, bringing drought to many countries and rainfall and flooding to others. [return]
Plodprasop acquitted
Bangkok Post, 21 October 2004
POWER ABUSE CASE:
Former forestry chief Plodprasop Suraswadi yesterday won a legal battle fought over six years against a man he accused of forest encroachment in Kanchanaburi province in 1998.
Mr Plodprasop, while head of the Forestry Department, had taken legal action against Pajari Wessabutr, who had three cottages built on land in the Sri Nakarin national park.
Mr Pajari, who was charged with forest land encroachment, fought back with a lawsuit accusing Mr Plodprasop and five other forestry officials of abuse of authority, malfeasance, filing false charges, and forgery of documentary evidence used in the case against him.
The provincial court of Kanchanaburi yesterday acquitted Mr Plodprasop and his five co-defendants of all the charges. [return]
Kingdom cleared to increase trade in three protected trees
The Nation, 08 October 2004, Sirinart Sirisunthorn
Thailand won approval to free up trade of three protected plant species at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) yesterday in Bangkok.
Three species of tree – the Yoak (Euphorbia lactel) or dragon bone tree, Poaysian (Euphorbia milii) or crown of thorns and Faa Mui (Vanda Coerulea Griff. ex Lindl) or blue vanda are among four plant proposals Thailand has submitted to CITES.
Restricted trade in the trees is already permitted, but Thailand’s proposal to raise the level of trade was approved by the 166 CITES member countries yesterday.
However, a fourth proposal – the most controversial one – which asks the CITES committee to allow unlimited trade of orchid hybrids including the popular Thai orchid Cattleya was yet to be finalised.
Argentinian Victoria Lichstien, who chaired the Standing Committee meeting, said the orchid proposal needed further discussion to clarify how to separate wild species from the hybrids.
A committee examining the proposal should file its report by next Thursday, Lichstien said.
“We are very happy that our proposals were unanimously supported by the member countries,” director of the Thai CITES Office Wicha Thitiprasert said. “It is the result of our staff’s hard work to prepare all the required information and scientific support for the proposals. It will help boost our exports significantly,” he said.
“The trade, especially in the Faa Mui species, will be a lot easier for traders who have faced very strict regulations due to its listing as a protected species in Appendix I,” Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti said.
Approval for the Yoak and Faa Mui proposals was reached within 10 minutes, causing the chairman to ask delegates to express an opinion about their position rather than rubber stamp the proposal.
But, the Poaysian proposal was opposed by delegates from Switzerland, Madagascar, Kenya, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, the US and EU countries, who expressed concern about customs officers being able to separate wild and artificially-bred Poaysians. [return]
300,000 rai of forest reserves to be declared national parks
Bangkok Post, 27 September 2004, PIYARAT CHONGCHAROEN
More than 300,000 rai of forest reserves in western and upper southern provinces will be soon declared national parks under a plan to expand the western forest complex.
A survey began last week of forest reserves in Kanchanaburi's Si Sawat and Sai Yok district, and of forests created by a 1983 royal decree.
Withoon Rermvirat, director of forest reserve management office 5, said the western forest complex, which covers 11.7 million rai of forests in Kanchanaburi, Suphan Buri and Kamphaeng Phet provinces, was still too small.
Fertile forest areas adjacent to the forest complex would be declared national parks and included in it. There were still many fertile forests in Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Chumphon. Some were near the Burmese border, he said.
People with farms adjacent to the western forest complex would be encouraged to grow commercial trees on their land and would receive financial assistance.
The Forestry Department would also seek cooperation from Burmese authorities in conserving forests along the border.
Mr Withoon said the expansion of the western forest complex had already received approval from Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suvit Khunkitti, who had instructed that forest areas in the western and upper south regions be surveyed.
He said the survey team found 123,812 rai of forest in Si Sawat district which belong to the Treasury Department. The area was rich in flora and fauna and a drawcard for naturalists. It was well-suited to become part of the western forest complex. Mr Withoon said about 200,000 rai of forest reserve in Sai Yok districts and 40,000 rai of forests created by the 1938 royal decree were also fertile. [return]
China: Genetically Modified Madness
By Chris Lang. Published in WRM Bulletin 85, August 2004. www.wrm.org.uy
Two years ago, China's State Forestry Administration approved genetically
modified (GM) poplar trees for commercial planting. Well over one million
insect resistant GM poplars have now been planted in China.
Also two years ago, China launched the world's largest tree planting
project. By 2012 the government aims to have covered an area of 44 million
hectares with trees.
Decades of deforestation have left China facing serious environmental problems, including droughts and deadly floods. Sandstorms from the Gobi Desert frequently turn the air in Beijing yellowish brown reducing visibility to a few metres. The desert is creeping relentlessly towards China's capital city.
Although the government describes its tree planting as reforestation, most of the area planted will be monoculture tree plantations, including plantations of GM trees.
"The first step is to raise plantations using fast-growing species such as poplar and larch", wrote Wang Lida, Han Yifan and Hu Jianjun of the Chinese Academy of Forestry in a recently published book ("Molecular Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees" edited by Sandeep Kumar and Matthias Fladung).
However, insect damage in plantations in China is a serious problem. Rather than suggesting planting a mixture of trees which might not be so susceptible to insect damage, the three Chinese forestry scientists suggest a GM tree technical fix. "Recent research on insect-resistant forest tree breeding shows considerable promise," they wrote.
Huoran Wang is a research professor at the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Beijing and is China's representative on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Panel of Experts on Forest Gene Resources. Last year Wang told the FAO Panel that one million insect resistant GM Populus nigra trees had been planted in China. A further 400,000 insect resistant GM hybrid poplar trees have also been planted, Wang added.
Regulation of genetically modified organisms in China is covered by the Biosafety Act for GMOs in Agriculture, adopted by the State Council in May 2001. Before GM trees can be planted an expert panel organised by the State Forestry Administration carries out a technical assessment. The National Committee for Biosafety of GMOs in Agriculture bases its decision whether to approve the GM trees for release on the panel's report.
However, China has no regulations specifically covering GM trees. "Special
regulations are in the pipeline," according to Huoran Wang.
Forestry scientists at the Chinese Academy of Forestry started research into
GM poplar trees in the late 1980s. From 1990 to 1995, they were helped by an
FAO-run project which provided capacity building, technology transfer and
laboratory support. The $1.8 million project was funded by the United
Nations Development Project.
For more than ten years, the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products at Waldsieversdorf in Germany has maintained close contact with Chinese forestry scientists working on GM trees. Hu Jianjun of the Chinese Academy of Forestry is currently based at the Research Centre in Waldsieversdorf.
In May 2004, Dietrich Ewald, a forestry scientist based at Waldsieversdorf, travelled to China to take a look at some of the GM tree plantations. One of his visits was to Huairou, a town about 60 kilometres north of Beijing. Ewald's photographs of the 33 hectare GM poplar plantation at Huairou show row upon row of GM poplar trees. Ewald labelled two of his photographs "No ground vegetation". He's right.
There is absolutely nothing growing except trees. The soil looks hard, dry and barren. A more extreme example to illustrate the difference between plantations and forests is hard to imagine. Another of Ewald's photographs shows a handful of seeds from the GM poplars.
"There is no possibility of these seeds spreading because of the dryness, the grazing (sheep) as well as the adjacent agriculture," reads Ewald's comment on the photograph. Huoran Wang appears to disagree. "Poplar trees are so widely planted in northern China that pollen and seed dispersal can not be prevented," Wang stated in his presentation at the FAO meeting last year. Attempts to prevent genetic pollution by maintaining "isolation distances" between GM and non-GM poplars is "almost impossible", Wang added.
China's forestry scientists, with international complicity, are setting up an uncontrolled, irreversible experiment. No one knows the exact area planted with GM trees in China. "It is very difficult to trace them," Wang commented. Poplar trees can be very easily propagated and GM trees are moved from one nursery to another. A GM poplar tree looks much the same as any other poplar tree.
There isn't even a system in place to monitor the GM plantations that have so far been planted. Wang suggests setting up a system "to monitor the situation of the GM plantations" and their impact on surrounding ecosystems. A better suggestion would be to stop this unscientific, dangerous experiment now.
Sign the petition to ban GM trees: http://www.elonmerkki.net/dyn/appeal Dietrich Ewald's photographs of GM trees in China are available at
http://www.bfh-waldsieversdorf.de/DRChina2004.htm
http://www.chrislang.blogspot.com
Road project a threat to lush forests in Tak
Bangkok Post, 27 August 2004, SUPAMART KASEM
Tak: Pristine forests teeming with rare wildlife will be threatened by the Khlong Lan-Umphang road project, says a group of academics.
Eight academics led by Arnak Patanawiboon, a science faculty lecturer from Mahidol University, recently spent three days and two nights surveying the proposed route _ from Chong Yen in Mae Wong National Park in Kamphaeng Phet's Khlong Lan district at kilometre 93 to Tak's Umphang district.
''The forest is mostly a tropical forest at the height of between 800 to 1,300 metres above sea level. The area is still abundant with wildlife though some parts were encroached by hilltribe people, but recovered after those people left,'' Mr Arnak said.
He said the team came across footprints, excrement and other traces of Bengal tigers and small meat-eating animals in an area near kilometre 107, where Mae Wong National Park officials found hundreds of hornbills eating fruit last October. There were also many traces of Asian tapirs along the route marked for the road project between kilometres 107 to 130.
In Umphang wildlife reserve, he said, the team found great pied hornbills, wreathed hornbills _ a large and rare species _ and rufous-necked hornbills. They heard the calls of about 20 stump-tailed macaques. They also found various grasses, pests and plants like phaya sua khrong near an old concrete road closed for about 17 years. Several concrete bridges, except those at kilometres 102 and 107, were in bad condition.
Mr Arnak said he feared the road project would badly hurt the environment, and allow cabbage-growing hilltribe people from Ban Mae Klong Yai in Umphang to encroach on forest land along the route. He said many mountains along the Mae Ramat-Ban Tak road through Mae Tuen wildlife reserve and several national parks were left bald from forest encroachment by Hmong people.
Mr Arnak predicted many wild animals would be hit and killed by vehicles using the Khlong Lan-Umphang route, saying it would be similar to the road past Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima where vehicles hit and kill at least 10,000 wild animals yearly. [return]
Villagers demanding justice for slain leader
Bangkok Post, 18 August 2004
A group of villagers from Lampang province will come to Bangkok tomorrow to demand justice for Supol Sirichan, a forest conservationist who was shot dead on the night of Aug 11 in Thoen district.
Supol, 58, headman of Ban Den Udom in tambon Mae Mok, Thoen district, was a member of the village's community forest committee and a staunch opponent of forest poachers. He was gunned down in the village by a group of unidentified men last Wednesday night.
Two days before the attack, Supol and other community forest committee members told police in tambon Wiang Mok that forest poachers had cut down trees in Mae Mok forest and were preparing to transport logs out.
Police set up a checkpoint to intercept the poachers. They arrested one suspect and seized three logs.
Supol had long been at odds with local influential figures who had encroached on community forests.
On Monday, about 200 members of the Network of Northern Community Forests paraded a coffin in front of Lampang's city hall and demanded Supol's killers be brought to justice.
Governor Amornthat Niratisayakul and provincial police chief Maj-Gen Thirasak Chukijkhun promised speedy action.
Sisaket Saman, a provincial human rights coordinator, said yesterday that he would lead about 10 villagers from Ban Den Udom to Bangkok tomorrow to ask the Senate committees on public participation and on social development and human security to push authorities handling the Supol murder case to take quick action.
Mr Sisaket said Supol's killing had caused much fear among villagers who played a leading role in forest protection. They had sought police protection but received no response.
Chiang Rai senator Tuanjai Deethes said a team of senators would go to Lampang to look into the alleged forest encroachment. [return]
Fear drives Tak protesters underground
Bangkok Post, 16 August 2004, SUPAMART KASEM
Tak, Local conservationists have opposed the planned construction of a 32-kilometre road linking Khlong Lan district in Kamphaeng Phet and Umphang district in Tak, saying the project would hurt the environment.
However, they dared not openly criticise the 573-million-baht project for fear they would be intimidated by supporters who were mostly local politicians and community leaders.
A member of the group said members chose to stage clandestine acts to wake up local residents about the project's impact.
"We aired our opposition to the project during a public forum to discuss the project in Umphang district, but some tambon Umphang municipal councillors and tambon administration organisation (TAO) leaders said we did not love Umphang despite being natives. We are labelled local influential figures,'' said the opponent who declined to be named.
The group distributed leaflets and letters under the name ``The Youths Who Love Umphang Group'' to local residents and lodged a petition with the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, which subsequently sent a letter to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti asking him to end the project.
Supporters of the project include tambon Umphang mayor Sadetchai Suwanchan, Umphang TAO chairman Veera Yodmuang and TAO council president Sombat Phannarong, said a source.
Mr Veera yesterday said the road project would ease the high cost of goods. The price of fuel in Umphang district was one baht higher than in other districts.
Umphang residents had to buy a bucket of rice for 200 baht while the same amount of rice was sold at only 145 baht in other districts, he said.
Tak Provincial Conservation Forum chairman Paniti Tangpati said the government needed to take into account the environmental impact of the road project before going ahead with it.
The project would facilitate the transport of people, but at a cost to the environment, he said. [return]
Outcry over planned road
Route would `spoil virgin forests, river'
Bangkok Post, 25 July 2004, Tak
A proposal by the Kamphaeng Phet provincial authority to build a 32-kilometre road linking Khlong Lan and Umphang districts has sparked an outcry from Tak residents who are afraid it would harm the eco-system of the western forest complex.
Panithi Tangphati, chairman of Tak's western forest complex conservation forum, said most people in Tak disagreed with the project.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra approved it in principle during his trip to Kamphaeng Phet on July 17.
The road would cost about 600 million baht and link Umphang district of Tak with Khlong Lan of Kamphaeng Phet.
Umphang is home to the famous Thi Lo Su waterfalls in the Umphang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Mr Panithi said the western forest complex, which covers 11.7 million rai, has 11 national parks and six wildlife sanctuaries containing rare animals such as elephants, deer, gaur and boars.
The road, he said, would spoil virgin forests and damage the headwaters of the Mae Klong river in Umphangdistrict.
Mr Panithi said since Highway 1090 from Mae Sot to Phop Phra and Umphang had been improved there was no need to build another route to Umphang.
The money should go into the one-tambon-one-project scheme instead, he said.
Chatchai Soisangwan, Umphang district chief, said public hearings should be held.
Suchart Chanhomhuan, former chairman of the Umphang eco-tourism group and a tour operator, said the Umphang-Khlong Lan road would cause rapid changes to the area.
Apirat Rangsi, former Umphang mayor, said tourists visited Umphang because of its natural attractions and he had never heard them complain that Umphang was too far from Mae Sot.
Niyom Wairatpanich, chairman of the cross-border trade committee of the Board of Trade, said under a strategic plan to be carried out with Burma, a road would be built from Ban Valey in Phop Phra district across part of the Burmese border area to Ban Nong Luang, to meet an existing asphalt road.
This would shorten the travel distance from Phop Phra to Umphang and allow agricultural products to move between the countries.
This road would make the proposed Umphang-Khlong Lan road unnecessary, he said.
A source said objections to the Umphang-Khlong Lan road were raised at a meeting of the Tak development committee on July 19. The Tak Chamber of Commerce will send a message to the prime minister. [return]
Monkeys Begging for Food
Mangrove destruction cause of their plight
Bangkok Post, 01 June 2004, Sutthiwit Chayutworakan - Samut Prakan
Hungry wild monkeys are descending on a beach in Muang district to beg for food every morning and afternoon, because their natural mangrove forest habitat has been encroached on and can no longer feed them.
Boonkeua Jabthanom, 52, who lives near the forest on Ammara beach in tambon Thai Baan, Muang district of Samut Prakan, said 10-20 crab-eating macaques from the mangrove forest beg for food from villagers, who fed them twice a day with rice and fruit. Some of the animals are so hungry they break into houses to steal food if people are not at home.
The monkeys returned to the community early this year after a group of villagers, who used to catch them to cook and eat their meat and brains, had moved away, he said. Villager Samnao Nakyanyong said the wild monkeys numbered more than 50 about 15 years ago when she first arrived at the village, but there were far less of them now.
Most had fled after being hunted or hurt by villagers, she said. About 10 monkeys returned to the village earlier than usual this year and some brought along their offspring to beg for food, she said.
Paiboon Pinthiang, Moo 4 village headman in tambon Thai Baan, said the number of wild monkeys had declined as they had begun migrating to the opposite side of the river bank near Chulachomklao Fort years ago, after villagers encroached on their mangrove forest to set up shrimp farms. However, they had returned to the forest early this year after mussle farms were established near the fort.
Mr Paiboon urged the local community to help protect the monkeys and called for money to be allocated from local bodies to conserve the environment and promote tourism on Ammara beach _ made famous as the location for the movie Thaley Thong (Golden Sea), which starred Ammara Asavanonda, a leading actress of her time. [return]
PM Promises Reforestation
Suthas Calls for Accounting
Bangkok Post, 20 April 2004, Preeyanart Phanayanggoor
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has promised to budget up to 100 billion baht over five years for nationwide forest rehabilitation.
It was second spending plan the prime minister has announced during his 10-day tour of the Northeast which continues until April 27.
On Sunday, as he kicked off the trip, Mr Thaksin promised 250 million baht for development of Thailand's third largest lake, Bung Si Fai in Phichit.
He revealed his backing for large-scale forest rehabilitation after stopping in Phetchabun's Khao Kho district, where he was greeted by treeless hills.
Mr Thaksin also approved Phetchabun governor Direk Thuengfang's request for development of a water retention scheme in the province to help solve both flood and drought problems, and handed out 1,000 baht each to One Tambon One Product representatives in Phetchabun and Khon Kaen.
Khon Kaen governor Jet Thanawat asked for a 700 million baht budget for a lake development scheme in the heart of the town, but Mr Thaksin told him to revise his figures and work out the details.
He did agree to look into the delay in building a cardiac hospital begun in honour of Her Majesty the Queen 12 years ago when she turned 60.
Democrat deputy leader Suthas Ngernmeun ridiculed Mr Thaksin's "down-to-earth'' tour of the Northeast as a pre-election publicity stunt that had been tried before and failed.
The late Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram had tried to paint himself as easy-going during an upcountry tour but was toppled in a coup. Veteran politician Prachuap Chaiyasarn had also spent his nights campaigning in rural areas, and lost.
"Northeastern people know what is right and wrong, real or unreal,'' Mr Suthas said. They also wanted the prime minister to identify the people behind the entrance exam leaks, the theft of army guns, the rigging of lottery results, and destruction of Buddhism, who had become rich through stock market manipulation, who evaded tax and hoarded campaign funds, and who caused the public to plunge into debt.
"The last question is, who is driving the nation into catastrophe?'' he said. [return]
Blame Pinned on Government
Policy
Shortfall result of bid
to boost farm exports
Bangkok Post, 05 April 2004, Kultida
Samabuddhi
Intensive farming and expansion of cropland under the government's policy to promote farm exports has contributed to severe aridity in forests nationwide, leading to current water shortages, forestry and wildlife experts say. "Farms, especially vegetable and fruit plantations on high land, have been drawing a large amount of underground water and water from natural creeks year-round," said Warin Jirasuktaveekul, watershed conservation chief of the Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation. "This is why water released from the forests to major rivers, known as side flow, has dropped sharply in recent years."
Almost every protected forest was encircled by farmland, which was expanding because of the government's emphasis on agricultural exports. "Visiting protected forests in the North these days you will see hundreds of pipes drawing water from natural creeks in the forest to feed farmland," Mr Warin said. "The overuse of water by the agricultural sector, particularly fruit orchards in watershed areas in the North, is apparently a major cause of the current water shortage, not the diminishing forest cover." The Irrigation Department's construction of reservoirs in watershed areas was also a factor because the water flow had been blocked and used by farmers upstream, he said.
Three-year-old Kraiwit Tinkhon collects
water from a pump installed by the Agricultural Land Reform Office at Ban Nakham
in Phitsanulok's Wat Bot
district. The water, however, is too saline and not suitable for consumption
or farm use. Villagers have to fetch potable water from elsewhere as the dry
weather has reached critical point. Mr
Warin was responding to irrigation chief Samart Chokanapitak, who blamed shrinking
forest cover for this year's aridity and the extremely low water level in several
major rivers. He called for a greater emphasis on reforestation. Mr
Warin rejected the criticism, saying stringent protection ensured forest cover
had not decreased in the past few years.
Thailand had about 164,000 square kilometres of forest cover, or 33% of the country's total area. The department's reforestation projects and collaboration with local communities in forest rehabilitation had slightly increased water flow in some rivers, such as the Nan. "This is admirable progress because restoring a forest is a hard job," he said. "The reforested area needs at least 20 years to become fertile enough to absorb and release water to the rivers."
Biologist Mattana Srikrachang, of the
department's wildlife research section, said limiting agricultural land was
crucial to cope with water shortage and drought. "The
government is enjoying revenue from farm exports at the expense of natural resources,
particularly water resources and forest lands," Ms
Mattana said. Buffer zones were
needed between protected forests and cropland to stop farmers drawing water
directly from the forest. She was
also concerned about the effect of the extreme dry season on wildlife, especially
elephants which needed large amounts of water. In
Kui Buri National Park, in Prachuap Khiri Khan, wild elephants were leaving
the park area to drink at man-made reservoirs on farms, she said.
In pristine forests such as Huay Kha
Khaeng wildlife sanctuary elephants would dig in the ground for water. The elephant's
ponds would then become
water sources for other wild animals, she said. However Sompote Srikosamart,
a wildlife expert of Mahidol University's Faculty of Science, said the dry weather
did not pose that serious a threat to wildlife. "There is humidity in the
forests even in the dry season. The sudden change of temperature between day
and night brings about dewdrops," he said. "The animals eventually
find small swamps scattered through the forest."
Hunting and forest fires were the real
threat to wild animals in the dry season. "During this period, the animals
gather at swamps to drink and
bathe. Then they are at risk of being hunted," said Mr Sompote. Sivajark
Chuensunk, acting chief of the Forest Fire Control Office, said the number of
fires had doubled from last year. "This year forest fires started in November,
a month earlier than usual.'' Most
were caused by people collecting produce, hunters and farmers clearing land.
[return]
Large
Forest Tracts Torched by Farmers
National parks and reserves up in smoke
Bangkok Post, 05 April 2004, Supamart Kasem - Tak
A large area of forest land in the North, reserves, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries has been slashed and burned by farmers clearing land for crops, forestry police chief Pol Maj-Gen Sawek Pinsinchai said.
Pol Maj-Gen Sawek was speaking after studying the results of a survey of Mae Tuen national forest reserve in Mae Ramat district. The survey team was led by Pol Maj-Gen Ekarat Meepreecha, deputy chief of the Central Investigation Bureau, and Vachira Muangkaew, director of the Tak-based forest conservation administration.
The team found thousands of rai of forest had been destroyed. Local authorities seized 29.5 metre-long teak logs and about 1,400 teak planks last Thursday. Two 10-wheel trucks and one six-wheel truck found in the area were impounded on suspicion they were being used for delivering timber from the forest. Pol Maj-Gen Sawek said hundreds of thousands of rai of forest land had been cleared. The destruction occurred mostly in Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Tak provinces, particularly along the Mae Sot-Umphang road.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has established a joint operation centre for suppression and prevention of forest destruction. It comprises representatives of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Central Investigation Bureau, Forestry Police Division, Border Patrol Police and the army.
Pol Maj-Gen Sawek called for NGOs to raise awareness of forest conservation among villagers. Mr Vachira said he believed the operation centre would be more effective in halting forest destruction. Tak Provincial Conservation Forum chairman Panithi Tangphati said log poaching during the dry season had been more damaging than in previous years. [return]
Forest Encroachers Blamed
for Fires
Bangkok Post, 02 April 2004, Cheewin Sattha
CHIANG MAI: A crackdown on forest encroachers in the North began yesterday in the wake of an unusual spate of fires. Somchai Peansathaporn, director-general of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation Department, said the operation would go on until the problem abated.
He said the number of forest fires had soared by about 40% over the previous year. From November until March 30 this year, about 24,400 rai of forest in Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Mae Hong Son provinces were destroyed by fires. A total of 2,255 forest fires were reported in Chiang Mai, destroying 5,524 rai, Mr Somchai said.
The fire on Doi Inthanon was finally brought under control yesterday after raging for more than 30 hours and destroying 1,250 rai of forest. [return]
5,000 Deployed to Catch Poachers
Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son badly hit
Bangkok Post, 30 March 2004, Ranjana Wangvipula
About 5,000 forestry officials and police have been deployed in forests to arrest encroachers, following fires that have already destroyed 100,000 rai. Northern provinces, including Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, are the worst hit areas and also a prime target for "blanket arrests'' nationwide. Plodprasop Suraswadi, permanent secretary for natural resources and environment, said this would include tougher action against influential figures believed to active in forest areas in Chumphon.
"We plan to begin our mission on April 1, but really our staff have already started work. There are now up to 5,000 officials based in the forests,'' he said. The rapid assessment of aerial pictures taken over Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Kanchanaburi and Surat Thani last year showed all had problems with forest fires. In Chiang Mai alone, Mr Plodprasop said, more than 10,000 rai out of the four million rai in forestry area was lost to encroachment.
The ministry had acted promptly after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expressed concern over the unusual increase in forest fires in recent weeks in his weekly radio programme aired last Saturday. Mr Thaksin said he did not believe the fires occurred naturally. "I can say that 100% of them were not caused by nature,'' Mr Plodprasop said.
Besides the 100,000 rai of forestry areas occupied by encroachers, another 100,000 rai was believed lost to human activities. Some villagers lit fires in forests just to hunt for wild pigs in mountainous Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai and others used fire to make fire breaks and protect farms from forest fires. Some monks, travelling and living in forests, had accidentally caused fires when protecting themselves from wild animals. Mr Plodprasop said arrests will largely focus on people who burn the forests as a way to convert land to a new use. He admitted it would often be difficult to catch those responsible. At least officials could take back forestry areas, he said. [return]
Japanese Donates B28m
for Reforestation
Bangkok Post, 26 March 2004, Ranjana Wangvipula
A Japanese businessman has donated another 28 million baht to reforestation in Thailand, aiding a project that will ensure Thailand a total of 14,000 rai of economic forests in three years. Noboru Umeda, 85, has since 1992 already donated 35.30 million baht to the Forest Industry Organisation's reforestation work nationwide. He said he decided to continue giving financial help to the FIO after finding its reforestation activities were ''most valuable in terms of social and economic benefits.''
FIO director Chanatt Lauhawatana said trees would be cut for sales in the future and the earnings would be used for further reforestation. Another benefit would be the reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since one tonne of trees could absorb up to 1.7 tonnes of this green-house gas, he added. [return]
More than 70,000 rai
up in smoke
Bangkok Post, 20 March 2004
The National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department has deployed officials and volunteers to curb the spread of fires that have damaged more than 70,000 rai of forest land nationwide, an increase of 50% over last year. Agency deputy director-general Wichai Lamwilai said yesterday 5,090 forest fires since October had destroyed 73,302.55 rai of land.
During the same period last year, 3,260 forest fires damaged 49,775.7 rai of forest land, he said. Mr Wichai said his staff had been sent to help fight forest fires for the first time, a duty that was not included in their job descriptions. He said volunteers had also been recruited to help protect national parks in the North and Central regions, where there were huge deposits of dry leaves.
Mr Wichai blamed the rise in the number of forest fires on insufficient penalties for those found responsible, saying current punishments were not heavy enough. Also yesterday, heavy smoke from forest fires forced Thai Airways yesterday to cancel all flights in and out of Mae Hong Son airport. Mae Hong Son governor Supoj Laowansiri said the province was shrouded in smoke, seriously affecting visibility. [return]
Surprise visit by Queen
Bangkok Post, 09 March 2004, Subin Khuenkaew
Chiang Mai: Her Majesty the Queen surprised and delighted firefighters with a 2am visit as they were battling a fire raging through forest in Pha Dum near a hilltribe village. About 120 firemen were trying to put out a blaze about two kilometres west of Phu Ping Palace, and were lost for words when the Queen appeared unannounced at the scene, said Sakchai Chongkijthaworn, chief of wildfire control in the North.
"It was 2am on March 3 when Her Majesty visited us. The Queen spent about 15 minutes at the site observing our work. She also gave out food, drinks and blankets to the firefighters. The visit was a great morale booster for us all,'' said Mr Sakchai.
The bush fire was caused by hunters who failed to put out a small fire. Mr Sakchai said the North was at high risk from forest fires. It could be the worst season for several years because of the severe dry season in the region already this year. Vulnerable areas included Doi Suthep, Doi Inthanont and Doi Pui in Chiang Mai, Doi Ti in Lamphun, and Mae Sariang and Pang Ma Pha districts in Mae Hong Son. [return]
Status bid made for
eastern forest complex
Bangkok Post, 04 March 2004, Ranjana Wangvipula
WORLD HERITAGE SITE: Thailand wants to designate its eastern forest complex which includes four national parks and a wildlife sanctuary as a Natural World Heritage site. The designation would lead to more conservation activities, including a proposal to link two forests separated by a highway for animal roaming, said Plodprasop Suraswadi, permanent secretary for natural resources and environment.
Drafted by Thai and Australian experts, the plan has been sent to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) for a decision. The forest complex covers 6,155 square kilometres, spanning four national parks _ Khao Yai, Pang Sida, Thap Lan, and Ta Phraya _ and Dong Yai wildlife sanctuary. ''The biggest problem is there is a long highway separating Khao Yai and Thap Lan national parks, blocking large animals from walking across,'' Mr Plodprasop said.
That highway section goes for more than 50 kilometres from Pak Thong Chai in Nakhon Ratchasima province to Kabin Buri in Prachin Buri province. The issue would be at the heart of Unesco's approval, which meant the country would have to choose between building an overpass or underpass to link the two forests and a pathway for animals, Mr Plodprasop said. The construction proposal, worth more than 1,000 million baht, was included in the plan, but was not needed immediately.
''Personally, I prefer building an underground tunnel for cars, which would allow animals to walk across the forests above,'' Mr Plodprasop said. ''However, I don't think this would be economically feasible,'' he said.
Building a corridor or bridge linking the two forests seemed to be more practical. ''The corridor would show how much effort we put into protecting nature,'' said Kasetsart University's forestry expert Surachet Chettamart, who was appointed to draft the plan for the World Heritage nomination." [return]
Park officials accused
of illegal log felling
Chopped trees while probing poaching
Supamart Kasem
Park officials are allegedly involved in the illegal felling of more than 200 teak trees in a national park in Kamphaeng Phet. Conservationists are demanding drastic action against them. Conservationists from six provinces around the Western Forest Complex met Voravit Chuesuwan, director of the Office of the Forest Conservation 6 about the illegal felling of teak trees in Klong Wangchao national park in Kamphaeng Phet.
Mr Voravit is head of a team investigating the felling of trees in the park. Park authorities had received a complaint that local residents had cut trees in the forest and on checking, they found that trees had been illegally felled. Forest Industry Organisation officials were asked to haul the felled timber from the area. Local people said the team sent felled more trees while removing the timber. During the inspection on Jan 26, Mr Voravit's team found 220 stumps of teak trees about 30-50 cm wide and processed logs left in the park.
The team later inspected an FIO wood storage plant in tambon Songtham in Kamphaeng Phet and found 164 teak logs about 8-10 metres long bearing the stamp of the Klong Wangchao national park chief. The illegal logging prompted the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department to order the transfer of Pornchai Suwannaprasop, chief of Klong Wangchao national park, Prakiang Chiangpiew, chief of the park's forest protection unit and seven other forestry officials on Jan 27.
After meeting Mr Voravit, the conservationists from Kanchanaburi, Kamphaeng Phet, Tak, Nakhon Sawan, Suphan Buri and Uthai Thani provinces agreed to issue an open letter to the PM's Office, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, the Senate committee on environment, the Western Forest Complex Ecosystem Project Office and the Sueb Nakhasathian foundation, to protest against the illegal logging. They urged the government and the public to condemn illegal logging and those involved.
Somchai Thiangsathaporn, director of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, said a committee would take disciplinary action against the officials. [return]
Satellites to help in
monitoring forests
Bangkok Post, 02 January 2004, Yuwadee Tunyasiri
The government will use satellite photos to keep a watch on timber poachers and reforestation efforts. Deputy Prime Minister Suvit Khunkitti, who oversees management of natural resources and forests, said an assessment of the state of the country's forests would be made every six months based on analysis of satellite photos.
The pictures would show whether the government's efforts to stop tree poaching were working. They would also help officials gauge the progress of the 1.5-million-rai reforestation project to honour His Majesty the King and the 1.6-million-rai reforestation project being carried out by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.
The Interior Ministry had also been asked to stop tribespeople cutting down trees and would ban transfers of timber, and a strategic plan was being drawn up to rehabilitate at least 500,000 rai of forests, Mr Suvit said. Forests now cover only 20% of the the country. [return]
SmartWood suspends FSC
certification of two plantations
By: Chris Lang, e-mail: chrislang@t-online.de
On 1 December 2003, SmartWood suspended the Forest Stewardship Council certification of two of Forest Industry Organisation's teak plantations. SmartWood is accredited by FSC to assess whether forestry operations conform to FSC's principles for well managed forests or plantations. FIO was established as a state-run logging company in 1947. When the government imposed a logging ban in 1989, many Thai NGOs demanded that FIO be closed down. Since then FIO has tried to reinvent itself as a plantation company. With the FSC certificate suspended, FIO cannot credibly claim that any of its plantations are well managed.
In fact, by logging its teak plantations, FIO is encouraging illegal logging. Veerawat Dheeraprasert, chairperson of the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, a Thai NGO, explains: "If FIO does logging there is an increased chance that there will be illegal logging because the FIO will log and sell to sawmills. These sawmills can easily mix the FIO's logs with other logs from illegal log sources."
When SmartWood awarded FIO its FSC certificate in June 2001,
it also issued 26 conditions, 15 of which FIO had to meet within one year. A
year later,
SmartWood determined that FIO had not met twelve of the conditions. SmartWood,
however, did not suspend the certificate. Instead, it issued 13 corrective action
requests, six of which had to be met within six months.
In January 2003, SmartWood found that FIO had not met four of the corrective action requests. SmartWood, however, did not suspend the certificate. Instead, it issued six corrective action requests, all of which were "effective immediately".
In June 2003, SmartWood discovered that FIO had still not met five conditions and two corrective action requests. Five months later SmartWood, at last, suspended the certificate. Certifying FIO was controversial from the start. In November 2000, before SmartWood issued the certificate, Thai NGO TERRA published an article in its magazine "Watershed" about the certification. Rainforest Foundation included a case study on the FIO in its November 2002 critique of FSC, "Trading in Credibility". In April 2003, Foundation for Ecological Recovery wrote to FSC demanding that FSC withdraw the certificate. WRM Bulletin has covered the issue several times (see WRM Bulletins 48, 64 and 72) and in August 2003, WRM published a book titled "Certifying the Uncertifiable" which included a detailed study that I wrote on the certification of FIO.
Without the pressure of this civil society monitoring, SmartWood may not have suspended the certificate. When SmartWood suspended FIO's certificate, it also issued 16 corrective action requests, five of which must be met before FIO's certificate can be reinstated. Among SmartWood's corrective action requests are two relating to chain of custody (the technical term for tracking timber from the forest to the end use). More than two years after issuing FIO's certificate, SmartWood is now asking FIO to "improve the chain of custody system, so that the system consistently documents the movement of logs from the cutting blocks to the log yard."
The clear implication is that currently FIO cannot reliably track its timber. In this case, there is no way of knowing from which plantation FIO's timber comes - or even whether the timber is legal or illegal. One of FIO's most controversial activities is its role in auctioning illegally logged timber. When illegally logged timber is discovered by the authorities it is passed on to FIO to auction. For cash-strapped FIO, these auctions are an important source of income. For loggers, they are a way of making illegal timber legal. Suraphon Duangkhae, secretary general of Wildlife Fund Thailand, describes how logging companies send workers into forests to log illegally. "Then they ask the forest officer to arrest the workers," he says. "But when the forest officer gets to the area there are no workers, just logs. So they arrest the logs! And then FIO holds an auction and the company that's behind the scenes comes back and they win the auction."
In 1997, FIO was embroiled in a major logging scandal. Loggers were illegally cutting trees in the Salween National Park and fraudulently stamping the logs as coming from Burma. Perhaps surprisingly, given that the forestry official who exposed the swindle also revealed that FIO officers were involved, FIO was among the organisations responsible for storing the confiscated logs. Perhaps not so surprisingly, by April this year more than half of the confiscated logs had "disappeared". In May, FIO was ordered to move the logs to an army camp in Saraburi to prevent further theft.
Recently the Thai government has started to ask awkward questions about the legality of 100,000 teak logs sunk in Chiang Saen Lake in northern Thailand. The owner of the logs, Archa Land Company, claims to have bought the logs from FIO. The problem is that no one can prove where the logs came from. The Nation newspaper reported Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as saying, "I believe such a large amount of wood would include some illegal timber. There are many ways to falsify records and corrupt officials are involved in the scam." As if to confirm Thaksin's worries, 200 of the logs mysteriously caught fire - the day before Natural Resources and Environment Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa was due to inspect them.
On 12 December 2003, an editorial in
The Nation pointed out that in order to deal with illegal logging in Thailand,
the government must look into the
FIO's role. FSC certification had made the situation worse by enabling FIO to
export its timber, thus making "illegal logging even more desirable."
The editorial asked "whether Thailand still needs the FIO, an agency that
seems to do more harm than good to the country's forest conservation efforts."
The editorial's headline leaves no doubt about The Nation's opinion: "Do
the right thing: abolish the FIO". [return]
