The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) has voiced its disagreement with two bills which seek to protect indigenous people's rights to their land, saying the bills will erode the department's ability to preserve the nation's forests.
DNP chief Attapol Charoenshunsa said if passed, the bills proposed by civil rights group P-Move and the Ministry of Culture will lead to the destruction of the nation's forest reserves by effectively handing over protected land to "forest encroachers and capitalists".
"The bills will also encourage further encroachment into protected forest areas," he said before singling out P-Move's bill, which seeks to secure amnesty for those who were convicted of encroachment under the Forest Law, National Park Law, Preserved Forest Law, Wildlife Protection and Preservation Law, and Environment Promotion Law.
If the bill passes, those who were deemed to have encroached on protected forests will be allowed to continue occupying their land until authorities can determine if they, in fact, have a legal right to stay on the land.
According to the DNP, between 2015-2024 there were 13,760 cases of forest encroachment involving 2,718 offenders countrywide, with the encroached areas totalling 180,002.71 rai.
The department noted 1,140 forest burning cases and 9,713 illegal logging cases within the same period.
Meanwhile, the bill drafted by the Ministry of Culture, which was designed to safeguard and promote ethnic minorities' way of life, specifies that the nation's hill tribes' traditional heritage, including their spiritual sites, should be protected.
If passed, the bill will see members of the community working together with authorities to map out sacred sites and culturally significant areas that would be exempted from laws meant to protect the nation's forests.
A source from the DNP said that if approved, the bill will undermine the department's forest conservation and preservation efforts.
The source said the bill would give ethnic committees the ultimate authority to select any area in the country as a sacred site, even a protected forest reserve.
This must be carefully scrutinised, as laws on forest preservation, animal hunting, and burning will not apply in areas designated sacred sites, the source said.
The source further said that the two bills will effectively curb the ability of forest conservationists to protect the interests of the general public, who are the ultimate owners.
The existing national park law was created to foster harmonious living conditions, the source noted, adding that the law has allowed people to live together in protected forest areas.