Amid the nationwide crackdown on the forest poor, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) is pushing for a new national park law to serve the tourism industry. This is scandalous.
The law does not allow the tourism industry to operate in national parks. This will change if the DNP has its way.
According to the draft of the new national park law, the DNP director-general has the sole authority to grant 30-year concessions to tourism businesses in national parks. Should any businesses violate the contracts, the DNP can simply terminate the deals, confiscate, take over their assets, and use them as it sees fit. This does not look good.
The proposed bill will also allow the DNP director-general and national parks chiefs to divide parks into three zones, namely strictly protected forests, less restricted areas, and areas for tourism. They also have complete freedom to determine the size of each zone. The profits will go to the DNP without external oversight. This does not look good either.
Proponents argue that the 1961 National Parks Act, which was amended in 1989, is outdated and needs to be replaced to keep up with changing times. For starters, human resettlements need to be recognised and allowed to stay in less restricted zones in national parks. To prevent corruption in tourism zones, the decision to grant concessions to resort businesses in national parks has to be approved by the national resources and environment minister. In addition, the tourism business will help provide needed cash for DNP to better protect national parks and wildlife.
These explanations are far from convincing.
For starters, the necessary minister’s consent for resort concessions fails to allay worries over political interference in exploiting national parks for the profit of particular individuals in power. In fact, it heightens the concerns.
National parks belong to the whole country. Their ecological health is crucial to maintaining the country’s biodiversity and environmental balance. It is just too dangerous to put the care of the nation’s natural environment in the hands of a few men.
True, forest and national parks laws need to be amended. But the changes should first and foremost be in line with the constitution. That would not be the case with the new draft.
It should be noted that recent charters recognised local communities’ rights to co-manage their natural resources. Yet, forest authorities refused to amend forest laws to allow people’s participation in forest management. Worse, they continue to evict forest peoples with violence.
This DNP push for a new national park is unfolding according to the old, top-down, centralised authority style.
Although the draft bill is open to permitting human settlements which existed prior to the establishment of national parks, the DNP still insists on being the sole authority to say who can stay. There is no room for local voices and those who do not follow the DNP still face eviction and jail terms.
With the the new charter not yet finalised, it is highly inappropriate — opportunistic even — for the DNP to press for a new law to consolidate its own agency’s power.
For a new national parks law, the DNP must wait and get approval from the next elected government under the new charter to initiate it. The process must be inclusive and open to all stakeholders. National parks belong to the people, not DNP officials. They must stop their attempts to commercialise national parks immediately.