The dispute over Thap Lan National Park shows no sign of ending as opposition mounts against plans to drastically reduce the park’s size, fearing it will benefit developers over long-time residents.
The environmentalist Seub Nakhasathien Foundation has vowed action against the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) if it continues with plans to slash about one-fifth of the national park’s area.
Established in 1981, Thap Lan is Thailand’s second-largest national park and covers around 1.3 million rai or 2,235 square kilometres of land.
However, the government is preparing to shrink that area by 265,286 rai to resolve decades-long disputes with local forest dwellers.
The DNP’s public hearings on the plan began on June 28, and triggered the #SaveThapLan campaign, before concluding on July 12.
Opposition to redrawing the boundaries of Thap Lan was overwhelming, with 95.3% of online participants in the hearings disagreeing with the plan.
The plan was forged to end the government’s land disputes with locals who insist they have been living in the park since long before it was established as a national reserve.
Concerns and outcry
Panudej Kerdmali, president of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation, pointed out that the DNP’s plan will hack off part of the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex – a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses Thap Lan.
“It’s not the right move,” Panudej commented. “It’s a blanket measure.”
He added that, as far as he knew, families that have lived for generations on land that is now within Thap Lan National Park occupy just 58,000 rai.
Even accounting for those handed plots in Thap Lan before 1998 under a government initiative to help landless farmers, the area that would have to be removed from the national park should only be around 113,000 rai.
“So, how did the DNP come up with a plan to cut out 265,286 rai?” he asked.
Panudej is among the many opponents who suspect the plan will offer opportunities for developers and corrupt officials to grab picturesque land plots at the expense of pristine nature and the common good.
Thap Lan National Park’s forests, mountains, lakes and rivers stretch across four districts in the Northeast provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachin Buri.
The park protects the country’s last remaining fan palm (talipot) forests and is home to a multitude of wildlife ranging from tigers, Asian bears and deer to bats, snakes and spiny eels.
Will developers benefit?
According to Chaiwat Limlikhitaksorn, who heads the DNP’s National Parks Bureau, Thap Lan has attracted numerous developers who have found loopholes in the law to acquire land plots.
Many have already constructed resorts or villas on land in the national park, he said.
“We have lodged complaints against many with police,” he added. Currently, between 400 and 500 cases are under investigation or being prosecuted. They involve about 12,000 rai of land.
Chaiwat says developers have conspired with corrupt politicians to grab a huge amount of land from Thap Lan National Park.
He believes they are confident that their influence and power will be enough to push the DNP into removing 260,000 rai of land from the park.
As a consequence, they have been offering to buy resorts cheaply from small investors who are facing legal proceedings.
“They must think that these resorts will be able to operate legally in the end,” Chaiwat said.
Model for the ‘de-greening’ of Thailand
Both Chaiwat and Panudej are worried that if the plan to reduce the size of Thap Lan is implemented, other national parks will also be at risk.
“I can tell that as soon as the plan goes ahead, efforts will surface to trim Khao Leam Ya-Mu Ko Samet [in Rayong], Sirinat National Park [in Phuket], and the Mu Koh Chang National Park [in Trat],” Chaiwat said.
He warned that this trend could result in the shrinkage of all of Thailand’s national parks.
Voice of long-time residents
Kitnapat Jainork, 42, asked supporters of the #SaveThapLan campaign to consider the rights of families who have lived on the land long before it was designated as Thap Lan National Park.
“My paternal grandfather settled in this area in 1960,” he said.
He recalled that the Second Army Area had deployed troops to Thap Lan’s Thai Samakee village around 1957 to drive away communist insurgents hiding in the forest at that time.
“There are solid records of the village’s establishment. You can see the Thai Samakee Temple and the Thai Samakee School here too,” Kitnapat explained. Thai Samakee translates as “Thai Unity”.
Kitnapat said the lives of local families were seriously disrupted when the DNP declared the establishment of Thap Lan National Park in 1981. They have been fighting to stay on the land ever since.
“We are not demanding land-title deeds. We just want land plots where we can live and continue farming for a livelihood,” he said.
Baramee Chaiyarat, an adviser to the Assembly of the Poor, said #SaveThapLan supporters should understand that long-time residents are not destroying the forest.
“If you visit their sites, you realize that their area is not full of trees, it’s full of communities,” he said.
Plugging the loopholes
Baramee said there was nothing wrong with the plan’s intention to resolve disputes with poor people who have sound claims to the land.
The controversy arises over fear that opportunistic developers will join forces with powers-that-be to steal reserved forests from the state and the public.
“So, I demand that careful surveys of the targeted land plots are conducted before the plan is implemented,” Baramee said.
Old solution scrapped
Authorities have been trying to resolve the land disputes around Thap Lan National Park for decades, going back to the outcry from locals when the park was established.
In 1991, the Royal Forest Department announced plans to redraw the park’s boundary. Six years later, the Cabinet passed a resolution in support of the plan.
In 2000, the new boundary line was marked based on surveys and measurements conducted jointly by government agencies and local communities.
But before the new boundary could be established in law, the government introduced its One Map programme in 2015.
This initiative aims to set a single standard for the demarcation of all land in Thailand. But One Map significantly altered the boundary line for Thap Lan National Park, leading to the dispute that is now rumbling through Thailand.
By Thai PBS World’s General Desk
