Only forestry reforms will end conflicts, forum told
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Law must be amended to allow private sector, the landless to manage forests
LANDLESS people and the private sector should be allowed to manage forestlands and the laws should be amended to end the conflicts between state agencies and the landless, a forum on forest and land management was told yesterday.
More than 20 academics and officials from related agencies joined the forum, which was hosted by the Thailand Research Fund.
Land and forestry conflicts have raged for at least five decades.
As many authority-community conflicts remained unsettled, Itthiphon Srisalwalak, the forum’s coordinator, said the government-issued policies and laws did not consider the people and promoted disparity and conflicts with the authorities.
“The current forestry laws focus on keeping the people out of the forests and do not promote public participation in forest management,” Itthiphon said.
“We need a rethink so that forest management is about the participation of all stakeholders, not only the government.
“Therefore, the forestry laws should be amended to let the communities and local authorities manage the forests together, or switch the government’s duty to that of just a regulator.”
Itthiphon pointed out the government’s unrealistic plan to reclaim encroached land so as to boost the country’s forestland from 30 per cent to 40 per cent put pressure on lower-ranked authorities, which led to severe measures on the landless as they tried to hit their targets.
“The community plot policy could be the best way out of this problem. Many governments tried so hard to protect the forest areas but the forests are still being steadily reduced,” he said.
“Why don’t we let the people in the forests look after the forests for us by granting them the right to live on their land and protect the community forest.”
Sompon Issawilanon, an economics expert from the Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, suggested that some forestland should be preserved and be people-free because the current economics trend was moving towards products from biodiversity.
Sompon said to increase the forest areas, the government should issue better financial benefits to attract people and the private sector to protect forests rather than use hard measures to reclaim land.
Itthiphon agreed with this idea, saying there was a lot of abandoned land outside forest areas that could undergo reforestation.
“The government may support the private sector growing the forestry plantations on this empty land and also encourage the people to grow and protect the forests by paying them money,” he said.
“If we pay the corn farmers more money than they will gain from selling corn, they will not encroach on the forests to expand their fields.”
