Thailand

After the seizure of the Pak Mun Dam in Ubon Ratchathani Province that occured on March 23th to the hands of five thousand people from eight different groups affected by existing or planned dams, false charges have been made against the demonstrators. The Government has alleged that opposition parties are supporting the demonstration, with the ultimate aim of bringing the government down.

Four thousand representatives of rural, poor and ethnic communities within the upper nine provinces of Northern Thailand rallied at the Provincial Office in Chiangmai early on the 25th of April. These representatives of the people have released the following statement: Stop the violation of community rights and protect the dignity of human beings

During a high-level seminar on "The Forestry Department Chief's Vision" held in March 21st Plodprasop Suraswadi , Head of the Forestry Department, proposed giving logging concessions to companies to develop degraded forests, arguing it would stem encroachment and generate income for the state. To his view the problem with deforestation was that the government was bound to yield eventually to encroachers' demands and recognise them as rightful owners of forest land.

Dams are one of the most important causes for forest and agricultural land destruction, which usually goes together with the loss of their land by local communities caused by forced displacement. This unsustainable model is applied worldwide, from South America to Asia. Thailand is not an exception.

In late 1995 the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) started a survey of the route for a gas pipeline between the western province of Kanchanabuti and Myanmar (ancient Burma). It was only after eight months that they admitted that the pipeline would be built. Since its very beginning this project was strongly resisted by villagers living near the route of the pipeline, who feared an explosion since the required security standards have not been reached.

The pulp and paper industry, which lost a number of battles to peasants opposing both plantations and pulp mills in Thailand , is now putting pressure on the government for the approval of an expansion of eucalyptus plantations. The Thai Pulp Industry Association is suggesting the Agriculture Ministry ammend the existing forestry law which curbs the planting of eucalyptus. The reasoning is simple: that "the law should acknowledge that eucalyptus is an economic plant." The already well-known social and environmental impacts don't seem to be a major source of concern for the industry.

In June 1998 we published a special WRM bulletin focused on the environmental and social problems affecting the lives of highland people in Northern Thailand, including a critical response regarding a previous article published in WRM bulletin 11. We are pleased to inform that a number of people, both from within and outside Thailand, got together on October 2nd in London, with the aim of clarifying the differences in analysis and approach of the wide number of actors involved directly or indirectly with this very complex situation.

Phoenix Pulp and Paper Company in Khon Kaen province in northeastern Thailand is the recipient of a large credit extended by the Finnish DIDC (Department of International Development Cooperation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs), former FINNIDA. Between 1990 and 1994 Scandinavian companies including Ahlstrom, Sunds Defibrator, Valmet and Jaakko Poyry delivered most of the machinery, equipment and services for the Phoenix P&P's second pulp line and waste water treatment plant.

For the past five years, the small community of the village of Pang Daeng, in the mountainous northern province of Chiang Mai, Thailand, has been visited by lots of tourists seeking an exotic experience among exotic people. But now the hilltribes people in this picturesque hamlet want to keep as low a profile as possible. Why?

There has been, over the course of the last decades in Thailand, many developments concerning the rights of the tribal peoples found throughout the country, but predominantly in the north. The difficulties faced by the entire country, stemming from bad environmental management, came to rest upon the shoulders of the tribal people as they now inhabit the last remain stretches of forested land. However, is the basic assumption made here valid?

Kanchanaburi March 6, 1998: Sulak Sivaraksa and some 50 students and activists who have been camping in the forest were arrested and taken out of the Huay Kayeng forest about noon time. Kancahnaburi governor was present at the event to instruct some 20 officers to take away the activists. Even though Sulak was shown a letter requesting him to testify to the police on the charge filed by PTT (Petroleum Authority of Thailand) before the arrest, the other activists were taken away without being informed properly on what charge they were taken.

By Ricardo Carrere