Encroaching levy hit with legal fight
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Eighteen farmers from various provinces, and five community groups filed motions at the Administrative Court yesterday, asking it to annul an order by two state agencies to use the "Global Warming Damage Model" to determine environmental damage by peopl
The plaintiffs – from Tak, Phetchabun, Chiang Mai, Trang and Chaiyaphum – are suing the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation and the Royal Forestry Department for issuing an illegal order.
They urged the court to cancel related orders, which seek to use the model to assess damage from deforestation, and calculate compensation for civil lawsuits.
They also want the court to order the two agencies to adjust and improve the model so it is in line with academic principles. They say the matter should be discussed at a public forum with academics, experts and stakeholders before the new “model” is used.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer Ammarin Saichan said people would not get justice if the agencies used a suspect model, which they thought was not according to academic principles, reality, and against the Constitution. He said the model would calculate seven aspects of damage – from nutrient loss, from soil not absorbing rain, from water loss due to sun exposure, from soil mass loss, from hotter weather, from less rainfall and the damage to three types of forestland. People were being asked to pay a sum Bt150,000 per rai a year, he said.
