Focus forest plan on the urban jungle

While I welcome the National Council for Peace and Order’s plan to recover 128 million rai of forest land over the next decade, it is to say the least, somewhat ambitious. The goal, in my humble opinion, is harder than restoring democracy itself.

But as you can see, our generals are dead serious. Over the past year we have witnessed forceful crackdowns on forest encroachers. Illegal resorts have been bulldozed. Yet hovering in the background are human rights violations — poor forest dwellers such as Karen villagers who live on their ancestral land are put in jail for cutting down trees to build houses.

The heavy-handed tactics being employed confirm the belief that forest conservation in Thailand remains volatile. Violations of the law are carried out on a grand scale. Many of us remember the respected forestry official Sueb Nakasathien who committed suicide in a protest at the bureaucratic system that failed to provide enough resources for him and his staff to deal with poachers.

Forest protection for us means fighting against crime syndicates and billion-baht businesses that smuggle precious teak and wildlife. At the same time, ordinary people have no role to play — not directly. We are just bystanders who sincerely wish the target of restoring 128 million rai of forest land will be met in 10 years’ time. Yet we don’t know how or when this will be achieved.

But as we look at national forest policy, we see disparity on the ground, in particular the way state officials in municipal offices handle trees in their urban communities. There are many examples of officials dealing with infrastructure maintenance problems by simply chopping down trees.

Such incidents are prevalent in Bangkok, where city officials usually “trim” trees to prevent branches from damaging the electricity grid. The “trim” usually takes place during summer, a time when we need the shade of trees more than ever. But city officials think summer is the best time to cut … oops … to trim, those trees. The rainy season is too late and too dangerous. Summer is a time when trees are fully grown and strong enough to withstand the arrested development perpetrated in the name of “trimming”.

Yet, the word “trim” depends on individual interpretation. For me, trees that are “trimmed” by BMA staff render horrific images, like the distorted nightmarish tree shapes in some paintings by Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh when he was in the midst of his lunacy.

Sadly, the mayhem is not contained to the capital. We have witnessed highway department officials felling giant tree trunks along Sarit Thanarath Road towards Khao Yai to expand traffic lanes. The same tragedy befell those majestic trees that lined Chiang Mai-Lamphun road for centuries. That road, for me, was the most beautiful in the country.

I believe the problem stems from the fact that we do not count trees in cities as part of the national forest protection plan. Forests for us are isolated entities, located in faraway national parks, that I dare say many of us have never set foot in.

I have covered environmental issues for almost two decades and am familiar with forestry law and forest issues. Yet I have never found any legislation to protect “urban forests”, not to mention conservation plans. Of course, there are specific forestry laws for community forests, but these “communities” are often located in distant regions, not in Bangkok or in urban areas.

Authorities often make the mistake of ignoring a city’s arborial splendour, given that there is so much of it. In Bangkok, we have 150,000 large trees standing along streets, not to mention those in public parks, and on private property.

Without question we have to protect those trees. In doing so, all we need is to make urban tree conservation part of the national forestation master plan. The regime should target not only forest encroachers in rural areas, but also tree murderers in city areas.

What should the state do? In my opinion, the authorities can start right away by allowing the public to work with municipalities on tree conservation and cutting.

We also need legislation to reward those who grow perennial trees, and legal requirements for those who cut trees to replant them. We badly need an inventory of urban trees in order to take care of them appropriately.

The NCPO’s plan to recover 128 million rai of forest land is like the challenge that Mao Zedong saw when he used the quote “A journey of a thousand miles”.

With such a tall order, the NCPO should follow Mao’s advice by starting with one small step, such as showing they can save urban trees.