The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has said it will press on with nominating the Mae Wong-Klong Lan National Park for World Heritage status despite the impending construction of the controversial Mae Wong dam.
Songtham Suksawang, director of the National Parks Office, said the department in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme has completed a master plan of the Mae Wong-Klong Lan National Park's management, which will be submitted to Unesco's World Heritage Committee in a request for the park's listing as a World Heritage feature.
However, public hearings will be carried out to hear the opinions of people living in the area before the submission is made.
"It might take around five years for the nomination and Unesco's consideration. However, the issue of whether the dam goes ahead will not disrupt efforts as it is a different case," he said.
Mr Songtham said heritage listing would be beneficial to the park, which consists of 17 forest groups covering 20 million rai, as the site would end up being better managed.
The Mae Wong-Klong Lan National Park could also serve as a home to tigers living in the nearby Thung Yai Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, which is currently listed as a World Heritage site.
The department found a female tiger with two cubs in Mae Wong National Park in May 2012 and another female tiger with three cubs in April 2014. The department has eyed the national park as a tiger rehabilitation zone.
A civic group organising "For Rest's Life", a campaign to support the listing of Mae Wong-Klong Lan national park as a World Heritage site, has submitted the names of more than 23,000 supporters to the department.
Kanwara Tharawadee, a third-year student at the Faculty of Decorative Arts, Silpakorn University, who introduced the campaign, said the Mae Wong National Park will be ring-fenced and so safe from the dam project if it comes under the supervision of the World Heritage Commission.
The dam proposal's environmental impact assessment is being considered by the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning's expert committee. The panel has sought further explanation on the project, especially on how wildlife and the ecology will be protected.