GOING "GREEN" TO EARN GREEN: CONSERVATION POLICIES USED TO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHIANG MAI 000114

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON EAGR EAID ELAB SENV TH
SUBJECT: GOING "GREEN" TO EARN GREEN: CONSERVATION POLICIES USED TO
DISPLACE HILL TRIBES AND BRING IN MONEY

REF: A. CHIANG MAI 109 (HILL TRIBES, ENVIRONMENTALISM, AND POLITICS)

B. CHIANG MAI 75 (NGOS ASSIST HILL TRIBES)

C. 08 CHIANG MAI 140 (RELOCATIONS HURT HILL TRIBES)

D. 08 CHIANG MAI 192 (HILL TRIBES PLAGUED BY STATELESSNESS)

CHIANG MAI 00000114 001.2 OF 004


Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly.

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Summary and Comment
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1. (SBU) In the past, the Thai Royal Forest Department (RFD)
has encouraged and, sometimes forced, upland dwellers to
resettle outside of highly valued national parks and protected
forests. Recently, NGOs have begun to worry that carbon trading
initiatives designed to slow climate change will make forest
conservation profitable and will provide further incentives for
displacing communities in forested areas. They are also
concerned that worsening economic conditions may add to the
already 10 million individuals living on protected lands,
further exacerbating the problem. While officials report that
the relocation of entire villages rarely occurs today, many
highland farmers still lack formal land titles and are therefore
pressured to vacate their agricultural lands. Lack of Thai
citizenship has hindered attempts to secure land titles for hill
tribe farmers, and Thai NGOs have argued that politicians and
their cronies use forestry regulations as a cover for land
acquisition and development schemes. As a result, hill tribe
and other upland dwellers have partnered with NGOs to develop
strategies for securing recognition of their land tenure rights.
This cable, part two in a series on highland agriculture and
land tenure, will focus on RTG environmental policies and the
ways these policies have been used to displace upland farmers.



2. (SBU) Comment: The displacement of
agriculturally-dependent hill tribe people in the name of
environmental preservation is cause for concern, especially in
light of potential climate change and REDD ("Reduced Emissions
from Deforestation and Degradation") initiatives. However, NGOs
have supported relocated communities, and those at risk of
eviction, in many ways. Community based land management has the
potential to secure land rights for highlanders, and REDD
programs could be designed so that highland communities receive
some of the revenue earned through forest conservation. End
Summary and Comment.

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A Brief History of Thai Forest Policy
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3. (U) Decades of insufficiently regulated logging led to
massive deforestion, culminating in a countrywide ban on
commercial logging in 1989. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Royal
Forest Department (RFD) began creating national parks,
conservation forests, wildlife conservation areas, protected
watersheds, and other areas where land-use restrictions apply,
out of the forests that were relatively untouched. Communities
located within these protected areas were resettled, often at
the prodding of the Thai Army (ref c). During the Vietnam War,
the RTG viewed the northern provinces as a refuge for communist
insurgents, and upland resettlement efforts often coincided with
anti-insurgency military activities (ref a).


4. (SBU) As previously reported by post, The Office of
Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Environment (MoNRE) have also resettled hill tribe
communities alleged to be involved in narcotics cultivation and
smuggling (ref c). Both the ONCB and MoNRE halted their own
relocation policies in 1988 and 1998, respectively.


5. (SBU) In later years, welfare stations, with education
and agricultural extension services, were established to attract
forest dwellers to areas outside of watersheds. These new
villages rarely attracted permanent settlers, and by 1980, only
50 of these villages had been established. In the 1990s,
relocations of entire villages fell out of favor, and the state
turned to land-use regulations to protect forest ecosystems.


6. (SBU) According to the Highland People's Taskforce (HPT),
these land-use regulations are complicated by conflicts between
the RFD and MoNRE's National Park, Wildlife and Plant
Conservation Department (NPD) over jurisdiction and funding.
Although the NPD used to be a division of the RFD, these
departments were reorganized in 2002, and the NPD is now part of
the MoNRE. The RFD continues to report to the Ministry of
Agriculture (although responsibilities for managing national
parks were reassigned to the Ministry of Natural Resources and
the Environment in 2003.) As a result of this split, the RFD
and the NPD now battle for their share of a sizeable budget
allocated for reforestation activities. In 2009, for example,
the NPD's budget was 8.3 billion baht (US $244 million),and the
RFD's budget was 3.3 billion baht (US $97 million).

CHIANG MAI 00000114 002.2 OF 004



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Tenuous Land Tenure
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7. (SBU) As of June 2009, there were 148 national parks and
112 wildlife sanctuaries nationwide. In several meetings with
pol/econ staff, NGOs claimed that many of these conservation
areas were drawn on maps with little regard for existing
occupants. With the stroke of a pen, upland dwellers who may
have lived for generations in their agricultural villages became
squatters on protected lands. A journalist informed post that
there are 5,000 - 6,000 villages located within the boundaries
of forest parks, national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and
mangrove forests.


8. (SBU) Whenever the RFD establishes a national park or
forest reserve area, the declaration is posted at the district
office, and villagers have 30 days to file an objection.
However, rural villagers rarely travel to their district office
and may not find out about the establishment of a forest reserve
until after those 30 days have passed. One NGO has noted that
some upland villages did not even know about the existence of
national parks until they were charged with offenses related to
encroaching on protected areas.


9. (SBU) Current punishments for violating land-use
regulations are harsh, and upland dwellers often have difficulty
proving ownership over the lands they utilize. Those who are
found to be "encroachers" on forest lands can face criminal
charges, and, since 1997, they have also been prosecuted in
civil courts. The Thai Land Reform Network reports that
families convicted of living illegally in protected areas have
been forced to pay 2-5 million baht (US $59,305-147,506) in
damages to the NPD. The Northern Development Foundation (NDF)
highlighted to us the case of a farmer convicted of encroaching
on protected lands. In criminal court, he was fined 20,000 baht
(US $589) and sentenced to one year in prison. In civil court,
he was convicted of violating environmental laws and fined an
additional 1.5 million baht (US $44,196).


10. (SBU) The Bangkok Post reported that from July 2001 to
September 2007, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)
Office received 603 complaints concerning land rights and
conflicts over land use. Of these, 122 were related to national
park and forest reserve areas. Similarly, the NDF noted that
there were 6,711 arrests for illegal land use in 2007 and 2,626
arrests in just the first four months of 2008. Many of these
arrests were round-ups of entire families and communities,
meaning that the actual number of people arrested was far higher
than the statistics above suggest.


11. (SBU) In one case reported in the media, several
villagers were accused of encroaching on lands that were
designated as part of Bantad Forest Reserve. One villager, in
particular, was convicted of encroachment on 1.31 hectares of
forest reserve. After her conviction, she was fined 1.67
million baht (US $49,519) and told to vacate her land. The land
had been cultivated by both her late father and grandfather, and
she had paid the local land taxes every year since she had
inherited the property. She had also received a grant from the
office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund, a state agency.
However, in 2005, she lost her legal battle with the NPD, and
the courts ordered her assets seized. More than 700 villagers
in the province protested against this and other NPD lawsuits
and asked provincial officials to investigate the facts. In
2008, a group of officials, including the district's deputy
governor, were taken to see the lands in question and interview
the village headman. After this investigation, the governor
sent a letter to the NPD, asking it to withdraw the lawsuits
against the villagers. The NPD informed the governor that it
could not follow his recommendation, citing a lack of
justification for withdrawing the cases. As of February 2009,
the villagers accused of encroachment are still on their land
and their cases are still pending.


12. (SBU) Lack of Thai citizenship has also prevented members
of hill tribes from securing the land titles needed to protect
their agricultural lands and livelihoods (ref d). Several NGOs
have reported that stateless persons living in upland forests
are more vulnerable to eviction than those with Thai
citizenship. This vulnerability has been exploited by forestry
officials. For example, the entire village of Na-on in Chiang
Mai Province was threatened with eviction in 2006 after the
establishment of Chiang Dao National Park. When villagers
protested against their eviction, the District Governor promised
the villagers Thai citizenship if they agreed to leave Na-on.
District authorities have met with the Na-on villagers several
times since 2006, and the eviction is still pending. Staff
members from the Highland People's Taskforce question the
district officials' promise of citizenship and doubt that the
local officials have the authority to honor that pledge.

CHIANG MAI 00000114 003.2 OF 004



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The Law is Like a Spider's Web
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13. (SBU) NGOs, such as the Thai Land Reform Network (TLRN)
and NDF, reported that 10 million people (including 800,000
ethnic hill tribe minorities) currently live in protected forest
areas. Growing populations and the expansion of protected areas
has created a shortage of available agricultural land. NDF has
also maintained that the 1997 Thai economic crisis forced newly
unemployed urban dwellers to return to the rural sector where
they began farming on protected forest lands. NDF has predicted
that the current global economic crisis may exacerbate the
situation, pushing more people to return to rural farming in the
protected uplands.


14. (SBU) NGOs also voiced concerns about rent-seeking
behavior among government authorities. One NGO maintained that
police and forestry officials are overzealous about arresting
people because they use the number of arrests to justify their
requests for greater funding. Another NGO claimed that forest
dwellers are not being displaced for environmental reasons, but
to establish profitable eco-tourist accommodations in desirable
locations. This NGO highlighted the eviction of villagers from
Huaykon in Chiang Mai Province, noting that there were rumors
that the district council planned to evict villagers so that a
rock climbing resort could be constructed in the area. (When
contacted by post, district officials were unable to confirm
whether the eviction actually took place.) Similarly, a recent
Bangkok Post article revealed that the Department of National
Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation plans to spend 765 million
baht (US $22 million) on renovating tourist accommodations and
improving tourist spots.


15. (SBU) Another Bangkok Post article reported that only one
private firm, a large resort hotel located within a national
park, has been charged with invasion of a protected forest. In
contrast, the NPD has examined the land claims of over 10,000
families who have been accused of encroaching on protected
forests and has filed 293 encroachment lawsuits. Of those 293
lawsuits, the NPD has successfully won 121 cases. (The
remaining 172 cases are still pending.) Forest-dwelling
villagers have complained about this apparent double-standard,
with one noting, "You can see that many influential people can
build big houses and resorts in the forest reserve or national
park without any troubles. I think the law is like a spider's
web; it can trap only small insects like us, those that have the
power to destroy the web can fly freely."

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Land Conflicts
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16. (SBU) Accusations of rent-seeking and corruption have, in
some cases, led to vocal protests by forest-dwellers. In June
2009, displaced villagers cut down eucalyptus trees in the Dong
Yai National Park and set them ablaze after their request for
permission to use the land was denied. Forestry officials
brought in more than 300 soldiers from a military camp in Nakhon
Ratchasima to quell the situation, but the villagers have vowed
to clear more land if a high level minister does not respond to
their concerns. The villagers had accused forestry officials of
collaborating with the logging companies that harvest the
eucalyptus trees. Although the land was declared a forest
reserve, parts of it had been set aside for the planting of
eucalyptus trees, and private firms were permitted to buy the
mature trees. Arguing that they had no land on which to make a
living, the villagers had asked authorities to give them access
to the land used for the eucalyptus plantation.


17. (SBU) If villagers can prove that they have been living
in an area prior to the establishment of a protected area, the
NPD will demarcate the land and consider revoking its national
park status. The area can be re-classified as a forest reserve,
a designation that would allow people to reside in the forest
and use forest products. However, displaced villagers have
argued that the burden of proof is difficult to meet. The
testimony of village headmen is often ignored, and, instead, the
NPD relies on old aerial maps and satellite photos to verify
historical land ownership and use. Yet, aerial maps may not
accurately demonstrate land use, as mixed orchards and rubber
trees may look like untouched forest from above (ref b).
Villagers have argued that the NPD should also consider the many
layers of annual rings around fruit and rubber trees, which
indicate that the trees were planted long before the national
parks were established.


18. (SBU) The Western Forest Complex is the largest
contiguous protected forest area in Thailand and encompasses 9
national parks, 6 wildlife sanctuaries, and 2 preserved forests
in the six provinces of Tak, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai

CHIANG MAI 00000114 004.2 OF 004


Thani, Kanchanaburi, and Suphan Buri. In the Western Forest
Complex, land conflicts have become so acute that a five-year
project, known as the "Joint Management of Protected Areas"
(JoMPA),was established to formally demarcate the boundaries
between "forest" and "farm". JoMPA was initiated in 2004 and
is funded by the Danish International Development Agency
(DANIDA). Under JoMPA, the Seub Nakkahasathien Foundation, a
forest conservation organization, trains villagers to use and
understand global positioning system (GPS) equipment. GPS
systems are then used to mark the boundaries of village
agricultural lands, as well as the boundaries of protected
forests. The data collected through JoMPA will be used to
settle future land rights claims. Despite village involvement
in JoMPA, some villagers still do not accept the boundaries
established by JoMPA. According to the general secretary of the
Seub Nakkahasathien Foundation, the role of JoMPA is not to
protect land rights, but to "block further encroachment."

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Will climate change policies be used to displace highlanders?
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19. (SBU) NGOs have also raised concerns over Thailand's
potential involvement in REDD ("Reduced Emissions from
Deforestation and Degradation") programs. REDD is designed to
inhibit the deforestation that is a significant source of carbon
emission as well as incentivize the reforestation that is needed
in Thailand. First introduced at the 11th session of the
Conference of Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP 11)
in Montreal, REDD was discussed again at COP 13 in Bali.
Indonesia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Tanzania, and Democratic
Republic of Congo have been selected as pilot countries. REDD
would provide a market for carbon credits, allowing
industrialized nations to buy forest credits to meet their
mandated emissions reductions. Countries with large swaths of
forests stand to bring in tens of billions of dollars. However,
several NGOs based in northern Thailand are worried that REDD
could create further incentives for the RTG to displace
highlanders from valuable forests. These NGOs also noted that
there is no guarantee that REDD profits will be used to help
highland people evicted from their forest homes.

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NGOs Reach Out to Highland Farmers
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20. (SBU) Several NGOs complained that forestry regulations
fail to account for the complexity of hill tribe livelihoods.
As a result, many of these NGOs have sought to create more
dialog between highland farmers and forestry officials. NGOs
have also supported displaced highland farmers by:

--educating local authorities and forestry officials about the
concerns raised by highland farmers,

--supporting highland communities threatened with eviction, as
well as individuals who have been arrested for encroaching on
protected, forests,

--organizing political campaigns on the policy level, and

--cooperating with global networks of indigenous people on
environmental initiatives.


21. (U) The Northern Development Foundation has also
pioneered a new model for community based land management, an
innovative solution to the problem of land tenure. As a part of
a pilot project, NDF has helped 79 families establish communal
ownership over their lands. Under this model, the plots used by
these 79 families are surveyed and clearly demarcated, but
families can continue to use their agricultural lands as they
see fit. However, land sales or transfers have to be approved
by the community, and other community members get the right of
first refusal. The selling price is determined by the community
and financing provided through a community land bank fund. This
community based land management system is designed to protect
the livelihoods of small scale farmers and to prevent large
landowners from pressuring small scale farmers to sell their
lands.


22. (U) This cable has been coordinated with Embassy Bangkok.
ANDERSON