VZCZCXRO9752
PP RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHCHI #0114/01 2110248
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 300248Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1126
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 1209

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. 
 
------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
------------------------------------- 
A Brief History of Thai Forest Policy 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶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 
 
 
 
------------------- 
Tenuous Land Tenure 
------------------- 
 
¶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 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
The Law is Like a Spider's Web 
------------------------------ 
 
¶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." 
 
--------------- 
Land Conflicts 
--------------- 
 
¶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." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
Will climate change policies be used to displace highlanders? 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
---------------------------------- 
NGOs Reach Out to Highland Farmers 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶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