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A PROPOSED forest conservationprogramme in Thailand has met withfierce resistance from non-governmental organisations, academiciansand forestry officials who feel theproject may dislocate forest dwellers.
The $93-million ConservationForest Area Protection, Managementand Development Project is to befunded partly by a GlobalEnvironment Facility grant of $20million. Additional financing willcome from the Thai government andthe World Bank, which emphasises the need to protect "core"biodiversity areas throughdemarcation and buffer zones.
The programme will be initiated in the Huay Kha Kaengand Thung Yai Naresuanwildlife sanctuaries in westernThailand. The forests cover600,000 ha, forming the largestprotected area in mainlandsoutheast Asia, and are hometo a large variety of animals thatare endemic to the region, suchas wild buffalo, tiger and clouded leopards.
However, many doubts about theproject have surfaced. A World Bankdocument talks of "decriminalising"forest dwellers and integrating theminto the mainstream of society. Thishas triggered fears that emphasis willbe laid on resettlement.
Dave Hubbel of the Thailand-based Project for Ecological Recoverypoints out: "The Bank documenterroneously targets the livelihoodactivities of small-scale farmers, tribals and forest dwellers as the mostserious threats to biological diversity,while failing to recognise the destruction caused by the construction of dams and roads, mining and tourism."
And, Weerawat Theeraprascrt,chief forest warden of the Thung YaiNaresuan sanctuary, contends:"Actual conservation of biodiversitywill happen only in direct cooperation with the people dwelling in forest areas."
Another fear is that the knowledge of the forest dwellers will beused to identify genetic material thatcan be developed into commercial products.
However, some expertsbelieve that the programmeoffers the only hope of protecting fast-disappearing plant andanimal species. "We have about5 per cent of the world's speciesof flowering plants, but havedeclared only 200 species asprotected under the law," saysLart Chanthanaparb, head of theprogramme's biodiversity section and professor of forestecology at Bangkok's KasetsartUniversity.