Forest Act to be amended to encourage felling and growing of rare trees

By THE NATION

 

File photo

 

LANDOWNERS will be able to cut down up to 171 “reserved” and “rare” timber species growing on their properties without having to seek permission from the authorities, once an amendment to the Forest Act is published in the Royal Gazette in the next two months.

 

FThe amendment to the 1941 Forest Act will legalise the felling of 158 “reserved” species, including teak, para-rubber, chingchan (Burmese rosewood) and phayung (Siamese rosewood), along with another 13 “rare” species. 

 

Athapol Charoenchansa, director-general of the Royal Forest Department (RFD), said on Sunday that the amendment had cleared all major hurdles and will be published in the Royal Gazette by March or April. Once the law is enforced, some 10 landowners will receive official pardons after being prosecuted for felling such trees on their land.

 

This amendment will also be applied to the felling of trees on plots with a full-ownership title (chanote), a confirmed right of possession (Nor Sor 3) or a notification of land possession (Sor Kor 1).

 

He added that Article 7, which subjects precious trees to state regulation despite logging activities on private land, has been removed as it proved to be an obstacle to logging business and obsolete in the current situation. 

 

With this amendment in place, people will be encouraged to grow rare trees and either fell them or use them as collateral to secure a bank loan without having to seek permission from the authorities, he added. 

 

Athapol said that RFD will hold roadshows across the nation to educate people about growing such trees. The first such event is being held in Suphan Buri’s Mangkorn Sawan Park on February 22-24, then the Forest Management Bureau 7 in Khon Kaen on March 1-3 and Surat Thani Rajabhat University’s conference hall on March 8-10.

 

RFD law office director Jumphot Chobtham explained that this amendment will motivate the owners of some 138 million rai (22 million hectares) of land in Thailand to grow precious trees.

 

Leaving such trees unused subjects the owners to a land tax rate of 0.3 to 0.7 per cent a year under the new Land and Property Tax Act that comes into effect from April 1, 2020, he said. However, he added, if the land is used to grow trees, owners will be subjected to an annual land tax of 0.01 per cent yearly. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30364415

 

 -- © Copyright The Nation 2019-02-20

What could go wrong?

The rare trees.....will become extinct in Thailand.....within a very short time.

regards worgeordie

P.S    "subjected to an annual land tax of 0.01 per cent yearly. "

        how are they going to work that out ,when they need

        a calculator to work out ,buy something for 49 THB  

        and you give them 100 THB. fractions of a %,they will

        need the big computer for that.

       

 

 

      

Edited February 20, 20197 yr by worgeordie

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Once the law is enforced, some 10 landowners will receive official pardons after being prosecuted for felling such trees on their land.

Call me cynical but I wonder just who these 10 are and if this has something to do with the change........

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Leaving such trees unused subjects the owners to a land tax rate of 0.3 to 0.7 per cent a year under the new Land and Property Tax Act that comes into effect from April 1, 2020, he said. However, he added, if the land is used to grow trees, owners will be subjected to an annual land tax of 0.01 per cent yearly. 

I am not really sure what this amendment to the Forest Act is supposed to achieve and how it "encourages" land owners to grow rare tree species, because the wording is so confusing:

 

Okay, so you start plant a rare species on your land, which entices a land tax of only 0.01% per annum (based on what? the land's assessed value?).

 

But then the trees begin growing and will need years if not decades to reach maturity before they can be harvested. That means that during all that time the tree will remain "unused", which of course would "subject land owners to a land tax rate of 0.3 to 0.7 per cent a year" -- unless they immediately cut down the newly planted saplings in order to "use" them and thus secure themselves the lower land tax rate.

 

Am I missing something?

 

And of course as soon as this new amendment comes into effect, frantic logging of rare trees standing on privately owned land will commence as permission no longer must be sought. The only effect I can see is that those species will be driven to extinction at an even faster rate.

 

So what's the true purpose of this rather strange amendment?  

33 minutes ago, Misterwhisper said:

I am not really sure what this amendment to the Forest Act is supposed to achieve and how it "encourages" land owners to grow rare tree species, because the wording is so confusing:

 

Okay, so you start plant a rare species on your land, which entices a land tax of only 0.01% per annum (based on what? the land's assessed value?).

 

But then the trees begin growing and will need years if not decades to reach maturity before they can be harvested. That means that during all that time the tree will remain "unused", which of course would "subject land owners to a land tax rate of 0.3 to 0.7 per cent a year" -- unless they immediately cut down the newly planted saplings in order to "use" them and thus secure themselves the lower land tax rate.

 

Am I missing something?

 

And of course as soon as this new amendment comes into effect, frantic logging of rare trees standing on privately owned land will commence as permission no longer must be sought. The only effect I can see is that those species will be driven to extinction at an even faster rate.

 

So what's the true purpose of this rather strange amendment?  

Somebody in the government has rare trees on his property !!!

3 hours ago, off road pat said:

Somebody in the government has rare trees on his property !!!

I thought it. You wrote it. Thanks!