Deforestation in Thailand
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Between 1945 and 1975 forest cover in Thailand dropped from 61% to 34% of the country’s land area. Over the next 11 years Thailand lost close to 28% of all of their remaining forests. This means that they were losing 3.1% of their forest cover each year over that period. Northern Thailand, the most heavily forested region of the country was not subject to central government and settlement until the second half of the nineteenth. Prior to settlement it was a sparsely populated resource-rich region When looking at cases of deforestation most people associate the rapid loss of forests with the increasing demand for wood as a resource for industry and development, Thailand presents a somewhat different situation in that deforestation can be tied to political, economic and societal factors. Much of Thailand’s recent economic improvement can be attributed to increased agricultural production for export. The country was able to increase production by clearing much of their forests and converting them to cropland.
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[edit] History of Thai Forest Management
- In 1897 the Royal Forest Department was established in order to maintain and control revenue from the teak forests in 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 in order to take over government control of industrial uses of Thai forests.
- In 1962 the Thai government began to establish national parks and other forest conservation areas, their management was still under the jurisdiction of the Royal Forest Department. In the sixties their was a large shift in the forest use in Thailand. Deforestation began to increase but not due to the commercial uses in the teak forests in the north but rather the increased export agriculture being done in the south.
- In the late 1960’s the Thai government began to grant logging concessions which required re-planting but were poorly managed.
- A military coup in 1976 led to political instability. The military began to clear forests in order to suppress rebel forces that had settled in the forests in order to seek protection.
- The 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 50-75% of timber coming out of Thailand was obtained illegally.
- In the 1980s the government took many steps to limit the speed at which Thailand’s forests were disappearing. They set a target for 40% forest cover. In order 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 finally set in motion a complete ban on all commercial logging that was put in place in 1989.
[edit] Drivers of Deforestation in Thailand
[edit] 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 also increased and much of the forest land had to be cleared in order to try and increase food production capacity to meet the rising demand.
[edit] Agricultural Policy:
The Thai government has controlled installed 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 2. These roads were built in order to help farmers bring food products from rural areas into the more densely populated urban centers. This encouraged farmers to move away from subsistence farming and begin to farm on a larger scale.
[edit] Land Ownership Policy:
Property rights in Thailand are extremely ambiguous and are often interpreted differently by the various branches of the Thai government. The inability of many Thai citizens to secure property has resulted in them going out into the forests to find space to farm.
[edit] References
- Poffenberger, Mark (1990), Keepers of the Forest: Land Management Alternatives in South East Asia, Kumarian Press, ISBN 0-931816-81-5
- Myllyntaus, Timo & Saikku, Mikko (1999), Encountering the Past in Nature: Essays in Environmental History, Ohio University Press, ISBN 0-8214-1357-0
- Durrenberger, E. Paul (1996), State Power and Culture in Thailand, Yale University South East Asia Studies
- http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/Asia/Thailand.html
- http://www.american.edu/TED/urban-forest-thailand.htm
[edit] See also
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