Thai Forests Vanish at Alarming Rate
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
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
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.