Deforestation in Thailand
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Deforestation in Thailand refers to the conversion of its forested land to other uses.
Between 1945 and 1975,
The
During the 20th century, deforestation in Thailand was driven primarily by agricultural expansion,[8] although teak deforestation happened as a direct result of logging. The Royal Forest Department has been referred to as "Forest Death" by environmental activists and those living with a close relationship with the forest, as its general promotion of deforestation for logging and other agricultural ventures resulted in the large decline in forest cover.[9] Much of the growth of cropland in the highlands of Thailand, where most of the deforestation has occurred, comes as a result of the growth and globalization of Thailand's agricultural economy and the relative scarcity of land available in the lowlands.
The Thai government, through both legislation and action of the Royal Forest Department, is beginning to emphasize forest restoration through a combination of policies seeking the reservation of existing forest land for conservation and the promotion of tree plantations to contribute to the amount of forest cover.[11] Notably, the country's policies seeking to emphasize conservation and amelioration of upland forests have come into significant conflict with upland communities, whose traditional means of agricultural practice and habitation have been significantly impacted.[4] In addition, a contingent of Buddhist monks in the country, known as "ecology monks", have become increasingly engaged in activities promoting environmental conservation and protection of original forest land.[12][13]
History of Thai forest management
- On 18 September 1896 King Chulalongkorn established the Royal Forest Department under the Ministry of the Interior to manage forests and control revenue from the teak forests of northern Thailand.[14] A British forester from Burma, Herbert Slade, served as the first director of the department. From 1896 to 1925 the Thai government and British foresters and businesses created an "informal empire" over the teak forests of northern Thailand.
- In 1899 all forests were declared government property and all logging without payment to the Royal Forest Department was prohibited.
- In 1956 The Forest Industry Organization was established to establish governmental control of industrial uses of Thai forests.
- In 1962 the Thai government began to establish national parks and other forest conservation areas, their management under the jurisdiction of the Royal Forest Department. In the 1960s there was a large shift in forest use in Thailand. Deforestation began to increase, but not due to the commercial uses of teak forests in the north, but rather increased agricultural exports from the south.
- In the late-1960s the Thai government began to grant logging concessions, which required re-planting. They were poorly managed.
- A military coup in 1976 led to political instability. The military began to clear forests to suppress rebel forces who had settled in the forests for protection.
- Political instability left the government with little power to protect forests and illegal logging was pursued more heavily by villagers. During the height of illegal logging in Thailand it is estimated that somewhere between 50 and 75% of timber coming out of Thailand was obtained illegally.[citation needed]
- In the 1980s the government took steps to limit the speed at which Thailand's forests were disappearing. They set a target for 40% forest cover. To achieve this they initiated tree planting initiatives and leased some degraded forests to third parties to create logging plantations.
- In 1988 a flood in southern Thailand set in motion a complete ban on all commercial logging that was put in place in 1989. The government imposed a logging ban on 17 January 1989 in the form of a Cabinet Resolution (Order number 32/2532). This revoked all logging licenses in natural forests, effectively banning commercial logging, particularly in the uplands.[15]
Intact forest landscape
Intact forest landscape (IFL) "...is a seamless mosaic of forest and naturally treeless ecosystems with no remotely detected signs of human activity and a minimum area of 500 km2".[16] These areas must be undisturbed by human activities—they cannot be traversed by roads or deforested or harbor industrial operations. When any of these conditions apply, the ecosystems cease to be considered "intact". As of 2000 Thailand had 19,400 km2 of IFL, amounting to seven percent of its forested landscape. Over the period 2000–2013, 7.8% of Thailand's natural, intact forest landscape disappeared.[16]
Causes of deforestation in Thailand
Population growth
This is most evident in the northeast region of Thailand. The region is the most densely populated in the nation and has some of the least productive soils for agriculture. As populations increased, the need for food increased, and much forest land was cleared to increase food production.[17]
Agricultural policy
The Thai government put controls on the price of rice, which encouraged farmers to explore alternative crops. However, the largest impact agricultural policy had on deforestation was the construction of roads following World War II. These roads were built to help farmers bring food products from rural areas to urban centers. This encouraged farmers to move away from subsistence farming and begin to farm on a larger scale.[18]
Land ownership policy
Thailand is a nation where over 80% of land is owned by the richest 10% of the population
Illegal logging
Governmental officials in charge of
Climate change
Patterns of deforestation in Thailand have both contributed to and grown alongside trends of global climate change. During Thailand's agricultural boom of the late 20th century, an increasingly mechanized agricultural and forestry industry accelerated both industrial emissions and the rate of deforestation.[7] As awareness of this behavior's ramifications for the climate became better known, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries have attempted reforestation efforts to address the harm caused.[11] The decline in Thailand's forest coverage has resulted in shifts in local temperatures, changes in patterns of seasonal rainfall, and soil erosion.[24] As state reforestation efforts have continued on behalf of the state, climate change has decreased the natural biodiversity of plant life in the country's northern forests, complicating the viability of a return of original forest cover.[25]
Reforestation
Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's "20-Year Strategic Plan for the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (B.E. 2560 – 2579)" (2016–2036) addresses deforestion with its first strategy.[26] Among other goals, it aims to raise the nation's forest cover to 40%. Twenty-five percent would consist of "conserved forests" and 15% "commercial forests".[3] However, as of 2015, an estimated 24% of Thai forests were made up of commercial forest, or tree plantations, as a result of government actions to address deforestation through the promotion of reforestation programs.[27] The prevalence of these commercial forests seems to counter some work to address deforestation's ecological contributions to climate change, as these planted forests lack traditional fallow periods which contribute to soil health.
Additionally, attempts by the Thai state to implement forest conservation policies have had significant impacts on upland ethnic groups, as limits on traditional farming practices and increasingly stringent policies on land ownership in natural forests have fundamentally altered these groups' relationship with the forest.[4][11][29]
See also
References
- ^ "Forest area of Thailand, 1973-2018". Royal Forest Department. Retrieved 7 December 2019.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Yonpiam, Chairith (7 December 2019). "Pareena probe must set a precedent" (Opinion). Bangkok Post. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
- ^ a b c d Panyasuppakun, Kornrawee (11 September 2018). "Thailand's green cover in slow decline as 40% goal remains out of reach". The Nation. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- ^ S2CID 31794031.
- ^ Living Forests Report, Chapter 5 (PDF). Gland, Switzerland: World Wildlife Fund. 2015. p. 35.
Between 1973 and 2009 forests in the Greater Mekong declined by almost a third: 43 per cent in Vietnam and Thailand; 24 per cent in Lao PDR and Myanmar; and 22 per cent in Cambodia.
- ^ Barton, G.A. and B.M. Bennett. (2010) Forestry as Foreign Policy: Anglo-Siamese Relations and the Origins of Britain's Informal Empire in the Teak Forests of Northern Siam, 1883–1925 34 (1): 65-86
- ^ ISSN 0894-1920.
- ^ Delang, C.O. (2002) Deforestation in Northern Thailand: the Result of Hmong Swidden Farming Practices or Thai Development Strategies? Society and Natural Resources 15 (6): 483-501]
- ISSN 1793-284X.
- S2CID 135397341.
- ^ S2CID 229427730.
- JSTOR 3773845.
- ^ Darlington, Susan M. (2012). The Ordination of a Tree: The Thai Buddhist Environmental Movement. Suny Press.
- ^ "Brief history of the Royal Forest Department". Royal Forest Department. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ Lakanavichian, Sureeratna. "6. Impacts and effectiveness of logging bans in natural forests: Thailand". FAO. United Nations. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- ^ PMID 28097216.
- ISBN 978-0-931816-81-9
- ISBN 978-0-8214-1357-9
- ^ Ekachai, Sanitsuda (2016-01-27). "Poor suffer as regime goes back to old ways". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ Durrenberger, E. Paul (1996), State Power and Culture in Thailand, Yale University South East Asia Studies
- ^ Samabuddhi, Kultida (2012-03-16). "PM misses the boat again on northern haze". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 22 Apr 2015.
- ^ "King says greed a factor in floods". Bangkok Post. 2012-02-25. Retrieved 22 Apr 2015.
- ^ Land, Graham (2016-01-08). "'More valuable than gold': Thailand's fight to save the Siamese Rosewood". Asian Correspondent. Archived from the original on 2018-09-11. Retrieved 5 April 2016. Archived 2018-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kamolrattanakul, Kanchanit; Tungkananuruk, Kanita; Rungratanaubon, Thitima; Sillberg, Chalisa Veesommai (2022). "Analytical Approach to Deforestation Effect on Climate Change Using Metadata in Thailand". EnvironmentAsia. 15: 154–165.
- ^ Trisurat, Yongyut; Alkemade, Rob; Arets, Eric (2009). "Projecting forest tree distribution and adaptation to climate change in Northern Thailand". Journal of Ecology and Natural Environment. 1: 55–63.
- ^ "20-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT (B.E. 2560 – 2579)". MNRE. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
- ^ United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015. Rome: UN Headquarters, 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-323-85729-1, retrieved 2022-03-22
- ISSN 1999-4907.
External links
- World Rainforest Movement: Thailand
- Urban Forest Archived August 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine