Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Tue, 18 Aug 1992 05:25:34 PDT
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      TH: Campaign to Save Forests
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu

/* Written 12:04 am  Aug 18, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "THAILAND: CAMPAIGN TO SAVE FORESTS " ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Agriculture
Title: THAILAND: CAMPAIGN TO SAVE FORESTS GETS ROYAL BOOST


bangkok, aug 15 (ips/yuli ismartono) -- the national campaign to
save thailand's dwindling forest cover got a boost from queen
sirikit on her 60th birthday this week.

the queen, consort to much-revered monarch king bhumibol
adulyadej, called on fellow thais to save the nation's balding
forests, warning that the land would become barren and lifeless if
exploitation went unchecked.

''if we continue to abuse the land without realising its merits,
the motherland will one day be dead and leave us forever, leaving
behind a land which is dry and devoid of fertility,'' she said.

queen sirikit pledged her efforts towards the success of the
government's environment protection projects.

''i may have done many things for my people, but if i cannot make
them realise the importance of protecting forests, then i have not
completely fulfilled by duty,'' she said.

over 30 years of logging, insurgency and slash-and-burn farming
have taken a heavy toll on thailand's forests, which now cover less
than one-quarter of the country, compared to half in 1961.

thailand has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the
world, losing about half-a-million hectares of forest cover a year.

one of the worst victims of deforestation is khao kho, some 400
kms north of bangkok, which lost over 90 percent of its forests in
just over a decade.

to restore the area's once-lush forest cover, the royal thai
army, the royal forestry department and the food and agriculture
organisation (fao) have launched a massive reforestation project
funded by the united nations development programme (undp).

the project seeks to promote sound land use by introducing
higher-value crops to local farmers and providing them with tree
seedlings to plant in the area.

the government also adopted tough environmental policies in 1988,
including a nationwide ban on logging, both in reserved forests and
other concession areas, aimed at widespread illegal logging.

under the national forestry policy, the goal is to restore the
minimum forest cover to 40 percent, with only 15 percent designated
for commercial purposes and the rest as protected reserves.

officials claim the logging ban has reduced the rate of
deforestation to 0.3 percent per year, although they admit illegal
logging still continues. (more/ips)



thailand: campaign (2)

but environmentalists say the national forestry plan often loses
out to its export-oriented economic policies which favour
industries, particularly those funded by foreign investment.

the ban on logging, for instance, does not apply to
''experimental projects'' aimed at sustainable resource management.

under the auspices of the forest industry organisation (fio), a
finnish-designed sawmill has been allowed to operate in the last
remaining natural pine forest in northern chiang mai province. pulp
from pine is considered to be of better quality than that from
bamboo for production of paper.

although an fio plan calls for replanting pine trees on vast
tracts of land each year, environmentalists say this destroys the
biological diversity available only from natural forests.

''this proves, once again, that our natural resources are up for
sale,'' said wikom kittirattanachai of the northern developers
group, a non-governmental organisation that participated in a recent
seminar on development alternatives held in bangkok.

the rapid rise in population has also increased the demand for
agricultural land, leading landless and small farmers to encroach on
forest reserves, clearing land to cultivate food crops.

many follow logging operations, planting cassava and maize,
popular staples among thai farmers, on the cleared land abandoned by
logging companies after they move on to other sites.

but environmentalists say the nutrient levels in the soil are
reduced after some years of farming, resulting in lower crop yields.

''farmers then move on to newer locations, thus establishing a
pattern of deforestation and soil exhaustion,'' said dhira
phantumvanit, director of natural resources and environment
programme at the thailand development research institute.

environmlies in eliminating the root
of the problem: poverty. ''the answer is jobs for rural people,
particularly for landless farmers,'' wikom said.

officials say increased economic and industrial activities, both
in rural and urban areas, are expected to absorb the farm labourers
and thus reduce the agricultural encroachment into forest areas.
(end/ips/yi/ln/92)
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