Thai Forests Vanish at Alarming Rate

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

4/25/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

Following is a photocopy of a significant investigative article by

Reuters concerning Thailand's rapidly vanishing forests. Countries

that continue to have large levels of forest cover would do well to

heed the effects of the massive deforestation of Thailand on the

ecology at regional, landscape and local scales. Clearly restoration

of degraded forests and landscapes will be a component of pulling

human societies into more sustainable livelihoods. However, the

article notes the difficulty and expense of recreating a forest

compared to the ease of destroying forests.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Thai forests vanish at alarming rate

4/24/97

BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - As Thailand's economy develops,

increasing demand for timber has put unprecedented strain on its

once dense forests.

Government agencies responsible for preserving Thailand's forests and

engaging in re-forestation programs say it may now be impossible for

Thailand to sustain its national forest policy requirements.

Thai government policy stipulates that at least 40 percent of the

country's 51.84 million hectares of total land must be under forest

cover.

It says 25 percent is to be used to produce timber and the remaining

15 percent for conservation and recreation.

But Thailand has not met those requirements since 1975.

THAILAND FALLS SHORT OF FOREST AREA REQUIREMENT

The latest statistics issued by the government-run Royal Forest

Department show that at end-1995 only 25.62 percent of the country's

total area was covered by forest.

"Slightly more than one percent of the forest area will further

disappear in 1996 and this year due to illegal cutting of trees for

domestic consumption and by villagers who use them as fuel," Watana

Kaeokamnerd, deputy director general of the department, told Reuters.

A royal decree banning logging was issued on Jan. 14, 1989, after

flash floods and mud slides led to deaths and property damage in the

southern provinces of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chumpon in 1987 and

1988, respectively.

But despite the ban, forests continue to shrink due mainly to illegal

logging by parties backed by corrupt government officials, shifting

land cultivation by hill tribes, and depletion by poor and uneducated

local villagers, said the outspoken Watana.

NORTHERN FORESTS DWINDLING FAST

"There are about 500,000 hill tribe people who live in northern

Thailand and they travel frequently to southern China, Burma and Laos

so it's difficult to prevent them from destroying forests along the

way," he added.

His department had sent officials to some 40 watershed areas in the

north to educate locals of the negative effect of forest destruction

and persuade them to farm in lowland areas.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has professed a love for the environment,

frequently implores Thais to sustain forests.

Rampant destruction of forests was highlighted in 1993 when Queen

Sirikit visited the Thai-Burmese border and complained that many trees

had been cut and the area was being turned into farmland. She ordered

the then prime minister Chuan Leekpai to solve the problem, Watana

said.

Royal concern for the forests gave birth in February 1994 to a

reafforestation campaign. The Royal Forest Department was charged with

planting quick-growing trees such as eucalyptus mostly in degraded

forest reserves covering a total area of 810,000 hectares.

The campaign, which is set to end in 2001, also calls for the

department to plant valuable woods such as teak on a total area of

972,000 hectares nationwide.

REAFFORESTATION CAMPAIGN RUNS INTO SNAGS

"Although the campaign has begun, other concerned government agencies

have shown little enthusiasm to coordinate with my department," said

Watana.

"The government never consulted us in the past and I think we ought to

forget dreaming that one day our country will have at least 40 percent

of the total land covered with forests," he said.

To meet local timber demand, which is about 3.4 million cubic metres

per year, Thailand has had to import logs and sawn timber since the

Royal decree, he said.

Masakazu Kashio, regional forest resources officer at the Bangkok-

based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, said the Thai

reafforestation program has been unsuccessful so far.

He said the campaign to plant trees on the more than 810,000 hectares

was unrealistic, and hampered by a lack of funding for the department,

which had forced it to seek private donations, and disputes over tree

maintenance costs.

"The lack of high quality seeds and seedlings also plays an important

factor. This issue is overlooked in this country. Most of the tree

species bear seeds once a year. Transportation from long distances is

almost impossible because the seeds have a life of between seven to

ten days only," said Kashio.

"Politicians can do lip service only. Most of the laymen don't

understand the difficulties. It's easy to destroy forest but very

costly to recover them," he added.

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