The government should increase funding to better manage or prevent incidents that can cause forest damage, says Phattarapong Leelaphat, Chiang Mai MP for the People's Party.
Local state agencies do not have enough money to suppress forest fires in reserved forest areas nationwide, he said. "In the fiscal year 2025 (starting on Oct 1 last year), the Department of Local Administration sought a budget of 1.3 billion baht for its 1,800 tambon administrative organisations (TAO) to use in forest fire prevention missions, but the government approved only 122 million baht," he said.
Referring to the forest fires on Khao Loi mountain in Pak Chong district, he said: "The TAO of Phaya Yen did not receive a single baht for fighting forest fires (on Khao Loi mountain)." The agency was paid just 10,000 baht for a forest fire prevention training project this year and another 200,000 baht central reserve budget for emergency disasters such as for drought and flooding, not for forest fires.
Mr Phattarapong said if local government agencies had enough money, they could set up a war room, making firebreaks and creating more surveillance units. This would enable them to control a forest fire from the start or prevent fires from spreading to the point where they destroy 1,7000 rai of forest.
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), meanwhile, sought 1.4 billion baht for forest fire missions, but received only 392 million baht this year. The Royal Forest Department requested 509 million baht for the same mission, but only 137 million baht was allocated. The budget for heat-sensing drones and air blowers has been cut almost entirely.
