In the years preceding the creation of the Royal Forest Department, the forests were under the control of local chiefs. They allowed concessionaires to exploit exploitation. The RFD was therefore founded by King Rama V in 1896 to consolidate the exploitation of these forests. Three years after RFD was established, ownership and control of all forests were transferred from the feudal chiefs to the government. During the same period, several laws, rules, and regulations on forest protection were promulgated. More forestry laws were passed from the 1910s up to the early 1960s, as new forest protection problems arose.
The administration of the Kingdom's forest resources has been regulatory in nature. This has been because a single agency, RFD, is supposed to take responsibility over more than half of the Kingdom's land area. Because its administrative resources were limited, it had to rely on concessionaires to do most of the forest management and utilization functions, such as logging, natural regeneration, tree planting, and protection. Forests which were not under concessions had to be protected by controlling their utilization and by punitive actions, which had been defined in the forestry laws, such as the Forest Act and the National Reserved Forest Act.
RFD expanded its administrative functions over the years, as technical aspects of forestry development were assigned to it. Its organization structure evolved in response to changes in administrative requirements and conditions, such as to the ban on logging concessions and to the instructions to give priority to forest conservation. It reorganized just recently. At present, RFD has five technical bureaux, seven administrative divisions, and 21 regional offices (Figure 1). Local forestry administration is being handled through 72 provincial forestry offices and 524 district forestry offices.
Forest territories are administered by:
· A network of national parks, wildlife reserves, and other protected areas, which are directly linked to the Natural Resources Conservation Bureau.
· The field forestry offices, for territories outside the protected areas.
The other RFD technical bureaux are not concerned with administering territories; they provide different technical services: forest protection (by the Protection and Suppression Bureau); resource inventory, silviculture, forest management, and technology development (the Technical Forestry Bureau); promotion of forest plantation activities of development partners (the plantation promotion Bureau); and management information systems (the Information Service Bureau).
Figure 1 Organizational chart of the Royal Forest Department
Royal Forest Department |
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central Administration |
Local Administration |
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office of the |
Protection and |
Provincial Forest |
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Secretary |
Suppression Bureau |
Offices (72) |
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Finance Division |
Technical Forestry |
District Forest |
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Bureau |
Offices (524) |
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Personnel Division |
Plantation |
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Promotion Bureau |
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Permit Division |
Natural Resources |
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Conservation Bureau |
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Legal Affairs |
Information Service |
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Division |
Bureau |
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Planning Division |
Regional Forest offices (21) |
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Training Division |
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At present, a Minister and three Deputy Ministers share in overseeing the ministry and its component organizations. One of the Deputy Ministers handles forestry affairs. The administrative supervision over the entire ministry is undertaken by a Permanent Secretary:
In addition to RFD, the following agencies and state enterprises of the ministry have existing or potential roles related to forestry:
· Department of Agriculture. This department provides technical assistance to farmers. It performs a forestry development function, in the sense that some tree crops can be treated both as agricultural and as forestry crops.
· Department of Agricultural Extension. The extension function of this office extends to the promotion of tree crops, some of which can produce wood. In the future, as the demand for expands, it can lend assistance to RFD. Duplication of extension work by several agencies will not be efficient, and may be confusing to the farmer, especially if conflicting messages are given. Forestry development will certainly benefit if RFD's extension efforts are augmented by those of this office and of the NGOs.
· Cooperative Promotion Department. This office is not presently active in forestry, but it may play a future role in granting official recognition to forest communities and farmers, groups.
· Land Development Department. A division of this department is responsible for land-use planning. Several categories of forestry land uses are included in its land-use related work. Conflicting results often arose in its land-use interpretation and mensuration with those by the RFD Remote Sensing Office. More collaboration between these two offices is needed.
· Agricultural Land Reform Office. Large parts of the state forest land are being declassified and turned over to this office for distribution to the farmers. In the future, it will have to expand its collaboration with RFD to include deforested state land that are to be leased to farmers as part of a forestry land reform programme.
· Office of Agricultural Economics. This office collects statistics and conducts economic studies concerning agricultural crops. Forestry information is also included among the concerns of this office.
Forest Industry Organization. The FIO is an autonomous state corporation, which was set up to harvest teak forests and to process wood into usable forms. Subsequently, the FIO got widely involved in reforestation, in accordance with the government policy to reforest logged-over areas. In its reforestation programme, the FIO applies the forest village system, which employs landless villagers as workers and allows them to interplant agricultural crops between the rows of newly established trees. The FIO forest village system covers 53 forest areas (24 in the north, 16 in the north-east, and 13 in the central and southern regions).
The FIO will have to evolve into an organization that will be responsible for providing support to forest-based communities and villagers in forest management. Depending on the decision of the government, the expanded functions of the FIO may include supplying quality planting materials, piloting new processes for raising source plants for non-wood forest products, channelling funds for tree planting, and developing markets and providing market guarantees for forest products.
Thai Plywood Company Limited. This state enterprise was established to make more efficient use of forest resources by producing plywood and other wood products of a standard quality. This company is already partly owned by the private sector; eventually, it will have to become a fully private enterprise according to the government's privatization policy.
Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund. This office has been instrumental in quickly expanding the areas devoted to rubber plantations to about 12 million rai. Like the FIO, this office has a potential role in channelling funds to farmers for the establishment of forest plantations. In practice, this office has already extended its operations to include non-rubber tree crops.
Marketing Organization for Farmers. This office is a possible alternative to the FIO in developing markets for forest products.
It is clear from the many possible ways of supplying the needed services to the farmers, that the MOAC has to carefully plan its evolution and that of its organizations, for maximum effectiveness and efficiency in resource utilization.
In addition to the MOAC, the following ministries and agencies have existing and potential roles related to forestry:
Ministry of Interior. The day-to-day operations of the provincial and district forestry offices of RFD are supervised by the Office of the Governor of the different provinces, which are under the Ministry of Interior's Local Administration Department. The Forest Police Unit of the Police Department assists RFD in forest protection. Other offices under the Ministry of Interior that have to do with forestry include the Department of Town and Country Planning and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration for promoting and developing urban forestry; the Office of Accelerated Rural Development and the Community Development Department for providing support services to forest-based rural development; and the Department of Lands for registering lands and installing policies and measures to discourage land speculation.
Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Commerce. These two ministries are responsible for promoting forest-based industries and products Under the former is the Department of Industrial Promotion, and under the latter are the Department of Internal Trade, the Department of Foreign Trade, the Department of Commercial Registration, and the Department of Business Economics.
Ministry of University Affairs. A number of universities offer curricular programmes and courses in forestry and forestry related disciplines. Foremost of these is the Faculty of Forestry of the Kasetsart University.
Ministry of Education. Schools play an important role not only by including forestry in their different curricula, but also by providing extension services through their outreach programmes.
National Economic and Social Development Authority. This prepares the National Economic and Social Development Plan on a five-year cycle, formulates policies to implement the plan, and assesses the Kingdom's development programmes and projects to ensure consistency with the plan. The forestry master planning process will have to be coordinated with the planning work of this agency.
There are many types of organizations within the NGO community, whose activities bear on the concerns of the forestry sector. Some NGOs concern themselves with environmental matters, some with local development, and others with both. Of special concern to the future development of the forestry sector are the NGOs, secular organizations, and schools which can operate at grassroots level to support forest-based rural development.
Organizations concerned with the forest-based industry are typically associations of industry operators including those for furniture-making, sawmilling, panel manufacturing, pulp and paper manufacturing, and rubber wood products manufacturing. These associations keep a registry of their members, as well as statistics on product types, capacity, and actual production; conduct periodic assessment of the state and problems of their industry; and lobby for incentives and other support from the government.
In the period of the 5th National Economic and Social Development Plan (January 1985), the cabinet approved the appointment of the National Forest Policy Committee. The committee was assigned to draft National Forest Policy and operational plan and submit to the cabinet within one year. The cabinet approved the National Forest Policy on December 3, 1985. The details are as follow.
To achieve a long term and coordinated national forest administration and development and for better understanding between state and private sectors, it is hereby declared as a national forestry policy that:
1. Long term guidelines for forest management and development shall be established to maximize national social and economic benefits and national security, with sufficient measures provided for environmental protection. Emphasis shall be placed on harmonized utilization of forest resources and other natural resources.
2. Role and responsibility sharing among various government agencies and the private sector in forest management and development shall be promoted.
3. National forest administration shall be reorganized in line with the changing quality and quantity of forest resources and environment.
4. Forty percent of the country area shall be kept under forests. The forest area shall be divided as follows:
4.1. Protected forest: 15 percent of the country area shall be kept as protection forests for nature conservation recreation and environmental quality protection.
4.2. Production forest: 25 percent of the country area shall be designated as production forest to produce timber and other forest products.
5. Public and private sectors together shall develop and manage the forest area to achieve the objective of providing perpetual direct and indirect benefits to the country.
6. Science and technology to increase the efficiency of agricultural production shall be enhanced to reduce the risk of agricultural production shall be enhanced to reduce the risk of the forest being destroyed to increase agricultural land.
7. The State shall establish a forest development plan as part of the natural resources development plan in the National Social and Economic Development plan to harmonize a mutual utilization action between forest resources and other natural resources.
8. Efficiency in timber production shall be increased through appropriate forest management techniques using both selection and clear cutting systems. In the clear cutting system, the cleared area shall be replanted immediately.
9. To conserve and protect natural environment, the State shall accelerate the city planning process and designate specific area for forest residential, rural and agricultural areas in each province to prevent forest land encroachment.
10. National Forest Policy Committee shall be established under the Forest Acts for policy formulation, supervision and management of national forest resources.
11. The State shall undertake extension programs to create public awareness, instil positive attitude, and proper skills on the wise-use, as opposite to the negative effects of forest destruction and wasteful use of forest resources.
12. The State shall promote reforestation by the public and private sectors for domestic industrial consumption. Export of wood and wood products shall be encouraged. Community forestry such as reforestation on public land by private sector, tree planting on marginal agricultural land and establishment of forest woodlot for household consumption shall also be promoted.
13. The State shall encourage integrated wood using and pulp and paper industries to realize the whole-tree utilization concept.
14. Amendment of forest acts shall be made to support efficient forest resources conservation and utilization.
15. Forest research shall be carried out in collaboration with universities and educational institutions concerned.
16. Wood energy as a substitute of fossil energy shall be promoted through energy plantations.
17. Any land with the slope of 35 percent or more on an average shall be designated as forest land. No title deed, or land use certificate under the Land Acts shall be issued for the land of this category.
18. Explicit guidelines shall be established to deal with various forest degradation problems e.g. shifting agriculture, forest fires, forest clearing by the hill tribe minorities, etc. Measures on enforcement of law and penalty codes shall be specified and respective due processes shall be established. Measures shall also be devised to penalize corrupted government official and influential person.
19. Incentive systems shall be established to promote reforestation by the private sector.
20. Human resource and rural settlement planning must be in conformity with national natural resources management and conservation plans.
Royal Forest Department was established on 18 September B.E. 2439. Prior to this time, there was the Royal Announce B.E. 2417 on Taxes of Teak and Non-Teak to control logging operations. This Announce, with amendment made from time to time, had been in use up till the new forest legislation.
Presently, there are five Forestry Acts namely:
· Forest Act B.E. 2484;
· National Park Act B.E. 2504;
· National Reserved Forest Act B.E. 2507;
· Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act B.E. 2535;
· Reforestation Act B.E. 2535.
Forest Act B.E. 2484 concerns logging operation and non-wood forest products collection, timber stamp, woods and non-wood forest products during moving, sawn wood control, forest cleaning, miscellaneous, penal provisions, transitory provisions.
· National Park Act, B.E. 2504 covers the determination of National Park Land, National Park Committee, Protection and Maintenance of the National Park, Miscellaneous, Penal Provisions and Transitory Provisions.
· National Reserved Forests Act, B.E. 2507 includes the determination of National Reserved Forest, Control over and Maintenance of the National Reserved Forest, Penal Provisions and Transitory Provisions.
· Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2535 concerns General Provision, the National Wildlife Preservation and Protection Committee, Hunting, Propagating, Possessing and Trading in the Wildlife, their Carcasses and Carcass Products, Importing, Exporting, passing Through, Moving the Wildlife and Wild life Check Point, A Public Zoo, Area and Place under Prohibition of Wildlife Hunting, The Competent Officer, Penal Provision and Transitory Provisions.
· Reforestation Act, B.E. 2535 cover the determination of Reforestation Land Registration of Private Reforestation Right, Ownership and exemption from Royalty on forest products
There are some new responses supporting community forest initiatives. A new constitution in Thailand, written in response to the economic downturn of 1997 gives communities the right and duty to protect and rehabilitate forests in their area. The Royal Forest Department has the mandate and to support them. However the actualization of the constitution is dependant upon the political will of those in the cabinet.
There have been progressive policy shifts to support decentralization with the creation of the Tumbol Council and Tumbol Administration Organization Act B.E. 2537. It is approximate 3 years after this Act is effective. All Tumbol Council will be upgraded as Tumbol Administration Organization (Or-Bor-Tor). The Or-Bor-Tor is an elective body drawn from the village level where two representatives are chosen. The organization plans activities to spend the taxes it is mandated to collect, part of which is hoped will go towards resource management and protection activities. The Tumbol council, although its members can sit with the Or-Bor-Tor, is a separate body and cannot decide how taxes are spent locally at the district and sub-district level. Only 3 percent of the revenue collected by the Or-Bor-Tor will go to central government; the rest to be used locally.
A new community forestry act is being drafted. However three version are said to exist, two written by NGOs and one by government. This reflects a split in by NGOs, the hard core environmental protectionists feel that relocation of communities is justifiable to retain pure protection zones. The second group, more supportive of communities staying in the forest, are finding ways to pro-actively involve them in planning and protection activities.
There seems to be a general lack of agreement on what is community forestry. The situation will be complicated further as the economic downturn bites and those from the cities return to the rural areas, once again increasing the demands on the degraded resource base. How these policy initiatives will be implemented remains subject to the budget allocations and the ability for the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) to re-orientate itself and respond to the local needs.
A strategy being considered is the creation of a community forestry office. But without a supporting budget, the proposed initiatives are as good as dead for the moment. Even with the very positive policy initiatives at the top levels, coordination of implementation activities are still sending mixed messages. Moves to increase the number of protected areas and wildlife sanctuaries are creating a deep sense of uncertainty for the communities affected as its not clear the level of involvement communities will be allowed in the management of these areas.
Where forest protection committees have been active and successful in rehabilitation forest areas, the tenure uncertainty surrounding National Park Policy is undermining previous efforts of RFD at the local level. Processes are needed to facilitate greater understanding of the local implementation realities and help central government representatives to develop more flexible and responsive policies.
At this moment, there will be 8 Chapters with 59 articles. Summary of the draft Community Forestry Bill and the Fundamentals of the Bill as follows:
Summary of the Draft Community Forest Bill
The principles: There are 4 principles that all sides agree to:
1. This bill is one of the tools in environment protection and development. It is not meant to be used to define and grant land rights.
2. It is a framework for utilizing natural resources sustainably in order to protect the forest's ecosystem.
3. To underline and support the roles of communities that protect, use and develop forests their traditional ways.
4. To promote the process whereby the state and the community cooperate in supporting the state's development process.
1. Define what a community forest is.
A community forest can be anywhere the community wants to be designated a community forest whether it is within the limits of a conservation zone such as a national park, wildlife sanctuary, watershed area; or non-conservation zone such as a national forest reserves, (NFR Act B.E. 2507) forest area (FL B.E. 2484) and public use area.
2. National policy committee on community forestry.
There will be a National Policy Committee on Community Forestry, whose functions are as follows:
_ Propose opinions on the policy of the establishment and management of community forest to the cabinet and consider the issues related to community forest as the cabinet or minister assign.
_ Recommend for the enactment of ministerial order with regard to this Act.
_ Formulate the Rules for the implementation with regard to this Act.
_ Consider judging the appeal with regard to this Act.
_ Formulate the regulation relating the election and appointment of provincial community forestry committee.
_ Propose the list of the persons who have knowledge, expertise, outstanding work and experience related to the activities which are in line with the objectives as mention in section. The list will be forwarded to governor who will consider and appoint them as experts committee in the provincial community forestry committee.
_ Propose the report on the overview of community forest of Thailand as well as propose the opinions to the cabinet once a year in order to be the guideline in the development and improvement the maturate status in the community forest or the support of the management of community forest.
3. The provincial community forest monitoring committee.
There will be a provincial community forest monitoring committee, called short "the monitoring committee", which will consider applications requesting that an area be designated a community forest and also inspect the area. It will also oversee and evaluate the management of the community forest and also be able to revoke the status of a community forest. This committee will have the provincial governor or a deputy governor as its president. It will include the government officer, local administrator, member of local council or other government officer who works in this province and four experts. A RFD Officer who is deputed by D.G. will be the Committee & Secretary.
The criteria of provincial community forestry committee appointment will be followed the National Policy Committee on Community Forest's Order/Regulation.
4. Who has the right to manage the community forest.
The person who could manage is a community forest a group of fifty persons that wish to undertake the role of managing the community forest.
5. The Monitoring Committee shall have the power and duty as follows:
(1) consider the application and inspect the forest area which has been proposed to be designated as a community forest;
(2) announce the application for a forest area to be a community forest and examine the objections;
(3) make recommendations to the secretary general to designate a forest area a community forest, add or reduce the extremities of a community forest or revoke the status of a community forest;
(4) revoke the appointment of member of Community Forest Management Committee;
(5) appoint and revoke community forest official;
(6) give approval to the community forest management plan including the community forest management committee is rules;
(7) give advice and make recommendations to the Community Forest Management Committee in the management of the community forest;
(8) permit any person to stay in the community forest;
(9) control and direct the actions of the community forest management committee so that it is in accordance with law, regulations, rules and the community forest plan;
(10) perform other functions designated by Cabinet Minister or National Policy Committee.
6. The organization that manages the community forest.
The organization that manages the community forest is the community forest committee which is appointed by the director general of the Royal Forestry Department. This committee will have to present a community forest management plan to the monitoring committee in support of sustainably using the natural resources.
7. The guidelines of utilizing the community forest.
The community can use the woods for household or public use. They can collect wood products, raise animals, catch animal that are not reserved, protected, rare, or endangered animals. They can grow controlled plants or make other uses of the community forest which the director general allows. They can not take control of the forest to live in, build anything nor slash, burn or cut the trees or do anything that will degrade the forest.
8. Revoking the status of a community forest.
The Director General of the Royal Forestry Department has the power to revoke the status of a community forest if the monitoring committee finds that the community forest has been seriously damaged, or if the community forest committee does not recover the forest, or if they do not comply with the bill, the director-general's regulations or the community forestry plans.
9. Penalty.
There is penalty for those who obstruct the management of the community forestry committee or the provincial monitoring committee. The penalty for violations against the community forest is higher than those against areas that are not within a conservation zone.
So far, the draft community forestry act has been approved by the State of Council. The said act will be considered for 1st, 2nd and 3rd readings in the parliament very soon.
