The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked for a special budget from the Central Fund to prevent about 4,500 forest rangers from being laid off, or faced with a 25% pay cut, due to a substantial budget reduction for the ministry in the 2023 fiscal year.

 

Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said in his Facebook post today (Friday) that he and senior staff at the ministry are very concerned over the predicament confronted by the forest rangers, who are mostly salaried employees and do not enjoy government officials’ fringe benefits.

 

He said that these forest rangers play a vital role in protecting the country’s 10.4 million hectares of forests, protecting wildlife from poachers and fighting forest fires in a hard and, at times, risky job, despite the low pay.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/special-budget-needed-to-prevent-4500-job-cuts-among-thailands-forest-rangers/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-01-22

 

- Aetna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

- Follow ASEAN NOW on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

Quite a knotty problem, The rangers needed to consider branching out into other areas before they enthusiasm for growth sapped.

I support this effort and would even contribute to a Go Fund me account to help out.

 

 

We don't need Forest Rangers.  What we really need are more submarines, F-35 fighters, etc.   Maybe health care workers should be next on the chopping block.

Here's an idea, get the army to help, the Thai army has ten of thousands of soldiers who sits idle anyway, or semi privatize the workload to the outsiders, all that until enough budget will be found to go back to normal... 

3 hours ago, Will B Good said:

Quite a knotty problem, The rangers needed to consider branching out into other areas before they enthusiasm for growth sapped.

Barking up the wrong tree as usual

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said in his Facebook post today (Friday) that he and senior staff at the ministry are very concerned over the predicament confronted by the forest rangers, who are mostly salaried employees and do not enjoy government officials’ fringe benefits

So keep the chiefs [with fringe benefits]  but fire the indians who do all the work...

 

Easy…

 

With its world famous tourist industry and (outside of COVID times) tens of millions of foreign tourists annually, we could simply charge them an ‘special’ price (say 5x-10x local fees) to enter forests & national parks. Local government officials can be 100% trusted to equitably distribute monies received to underlings for their valuable work in maintaining and protecting these areas. Hey presto - problem solved !

 

Oh wait…

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said in his Facebook post today (Friday) that he and senior staff at the ministry are very concerned over the predicament confronted by the forest rangers, who are mostly salaried employees and do not enjoy government officials’ fringe benefits.

It’s only 22 January and we already have a solid contender for euphemism of the year !

The forest rangers I've met are very nice people and genuinely care about the land and animals living on it. Last time I was in Nan the rangers were discussing what to do with a king cobra nest that some tourists (Thai) wanted removing (I don't understand how people can travel to a national park and then complain when they meet nature). They were also concerned that a local bear was injured, which also presented a potential danger to us. They were inspecting faeces on the ground to monitor the movements of some rare to the area deer type animal. Snakes that had become roadkill were taken away for inspection if they looked unfamiliar. 

 

This is what we need more of: people who genuinely care for the environment around them rather than money. This is also one of the reasons I don't begrudge the entry fees so much. 

Is it the revenge of the poachers?

 

What a brilliant promotion campaign for TAT - we can't afford to pay our Forest Rangers $1 a day, come and help. Bound to attract rich tourists. 

 

The government could try a similar approach to Oxfam - "adopt a ranger"  (You can't buy land but you can buy a man to protect the land.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, webfact said:

.......and do not enjoy government officials’ fringe benefits.

Ahem! Is this a euphemism for 'tips'? 

Obviously the budget has been cut because they have arrested too many well connected people for poaching and illegal logging.

Just hope you don't cross them and end up buried in an oil drum:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50823872