Give land title to those who need it, not the wealthy

Over the past few months, the ongoing conflict between forestry officials and the owners of luxury resorts inside various natural parks has made headlines. But these all-too-familiar incidents belie the fundamental problem, which is the country’s failure to ensure good governance over land use. 

Most of the properties in question are in areas that had no title deeds until the government redefined the forest zones to issue land ownership deeds to the farmers who had long earned a living there. 

The government’s policy is supposed to prevent landless people from encroaching upon forest land and illegally exploiting it. In reality, ownership often ends up in the hands of influential businesspeople and political officeholders. There is an insufficient legal framework to encourage local participation in sustainable forest and community development, thus opening the door for wealthy opportunists to abuse their power, and the law, to seize title to cheap land. Many of these supposedly protected zones are in areas that have seen a tourism boom, such as Wangnamkiaw in Prachin Buri and Suan Pueng in Ratchaburi.

The land ownership issues have become chronic because the legal framework doesn’t do enough to promote or protect local ownership. Thailand’s community forest law has yet to be enacted to promote grassroots participation in development schemes.

Conflicts inevitably arise when the authorities issue new ownership titles to outside investors. Locals meanwhile are often portrayed as the villains, “encroaching” on the very land that they and their families have been tilling for decades.

Land-use systems and deforestation are interrelated. As we have seen too often, inefficient land-use governance and lax law enforcement lead to significant deforestation. However, it is possible for local people to constructively co-exist with forests if they are encouraged to preserve the natural resources for sustainable use over generations. This is even possible if cultivation in these areas is managed correctly. 

At present, however, there are no clear property rights or obligations for the use of land. Each ownership decision tends to depend, arbitrarily, on the local authority that approves the land allocation.

The failure of land reform in Thailand is evidenced in the high number of farmers who don’t have enough soil to make a living. Yes, the authorities have been allocating land over the past few years, but it rarely seems to go to those who have the most legitimate claim.

In 2004 more than 4 million small farmers and poor people applied for authorities’ assistance regarding land ownership. Of this number, 811,871 farmers owned no land where they could earn a living. Between 1 million and 1.5 million other households have to lease land because they don’t own sufficient land themselves to sustain a crop or business. 

Ironically, around 90 per cent of the total land area in Thailand belongs to just 10 per cent of the population. These big-time owners are not farmers but politicians and businesspeople. Even worse, this exclusive group is not subject to proper taxation because the collection system for land and property taxes is so inefficient. It’s time the authorities closed the loopholes, tightened administration procedures and forced these wealthy landowners to pay what they owe to the state. 

The government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra won a mandate from the grassroots population, which continues to suffer from unequal access to opportunity. Thus the government, with its full control of Parliament, has no excuse for failing to provide a proper legal framework and undertaking efficient land reform. It must show the courage to do this, so that land is distributed fairly and the people it purports to represent have a chance to make a decent living. Without this, it is unlikely that Thailand will ever be able to address the festering problems of inequality of opportunity and the widening income gap.