Anand urges review of bad jungle laws; Commercialisation depriving the poor
Copyright 2000 Bangkok Post
December 15, 2000
Former prime minister Anand Panyarachun has called for a review of forestry-related laws he claims are unconstitutional.
He said the laws have led to a growing number of conflicts between the state and villagers in forest management. "If no changes are made, our society is going to be plagued with endless conflicts," he said.
Mr Anand did not identify the laws but they are believed to include the Forest Act, National Forest Reserve Act, National Park Act, Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, and Forest Park Act.
All of them have been criticised by environmentalists for infringing on local people's rights in managing natural resources, because they empower the state to arrest and relocate forest dwellers even before the forests are given protected status.
"Both the state and the people are victims of an unjust legal structure," he said.
Mr Anand made his statement on Wednesday during a presentation ceremony of the Green Globe awards, which are bestowed on individuals and communities in recognition of their outstanding performance in forest conservation and protection.
The award is sponsored by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), in conjunction with the Thailand Environment Institute and Wildlife Fund Thailand.
Mr Anand said it was time bureaucrats took pains to work out a just legal structure.
If the state strictly followed the letter of those laws, people would have no choice but to fight back. "We simply can't go on like this," Mr Anand said.
Social commentator Nithi Eiewsriwong said the country needed to reform laws on the use of natural resources to achieve social justice.
He said the existing legal system barred the poor from having access to land, forest, water and biological diversity. It tended to favour commercialisation of natural resources and was the major cause of poverty, he said.
Bureaucratic inefficiency and a centralised management system also aggravated the problem.
He also accused the state of favouring commercial entities in forestry-related disputes and harassing poor villagers.
'The forest is open to tourism but closed to the poor who simply want to collect mushrooms for a living," Mr Nithi said.