The fate of the long-delayed community forest bill will be known today, when the joint House-Senate committee scrutinising it decides whether community forests can be allowed in protected forests. Today's ruling should bring to a head a long-standing controversy over the bill, which has been debated for more than 15 years.
Forestry experts and forest dwellers agree with most of the content apart from an article involving the establishment of community forests in protected forest areas including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and no-hunting areas.
Grassroots advocates and forest dwellers demanded community forests be allowed in protected forests because they lived there before national parks were created, and had protected the forest.
Some green groups, however, argued community forests should be banned from prime forest areas as human activities would damage the ecological system.
The joint House-Senate committee was set up last year to resolve the disagreement. The panel backed the idea of allowing community forests in protected forest.
However, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat proposed to the committee early last month that forest in catchment areas, or so-called "special forest zones", be protected and turned into people-free zones.
Mr Yongyuth said special forest zones were areas with a slope of more than 30 degrees, containing high levels of biological diversity and located in headwater areas. Such forest areas cover about 18 million rai nationwide.
The minister's proposal sparked another fierce debate in the committee. The idea has also been opposed by community forest advocates, who see Mr Yongyuth's proposal as a major setback for the bill.
Some committee members, who support the community's right to manage the forest, yesterday threatened to walk out or resign if the 24-member panel adopts Mr Yongyuth's proposal.
''It is likely the committee would vote in favour of Mr Yongyuht's proposal, which is against the will of 50,000 eligible voters, who signed up saying they wanted the bill to be enforced,'' said biodiversity and grassroots advocate Buntoon Srethasiroj, a committee member.
"Mr Yongyuth was to blame for his lack of understanding about the people's role in forest protection and community's right to manage natural resources."
Legal experts, MPs, senators and conservationists have discussed the issue for more than a decade, until we finally reached a conclusion that community forests played a key role in forest protection.Bangkok Post
