Budo-sungai Padi National Park, Illegal Logging In The South On The Rise

DEEP SOUTH

Unrest takes toll on forest

Precious rainforest is disappearing, taking several endangered species with it

Published on March 27, 2008

Masked and aided by five years of violence in the troubled South, Thailand's last stretches of tropical rainforests and the endangered species they support are disappearing at an alarming rate.

While gunshots and bomb explosions ring out in villages and towns, the deafening noise of chainsaws has shattered the natural silence of the 340-square kilometre Budo-Sungai Padi National Park, which encompasses the mountains linking the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat.

Last year, the park reported 13 arrests for illegal logging with seizure of hundreds of cubic metres of hardwood timbers, but Park Superintendent Sitthichai Madsri said the arrests represent only a tiny fraction of the loggers that have invaded the park.

"Wading into the forest is like entering 'no man's land', it is too dangerous to send in rangers as we don't know who is who," Sitthichai said. "We only have ageing shot guns while they carry modern weapons. We dare not even ask security officers to fly in patrol helicopters because of the high risk of being shot down."

Sitthichai blamed the increasing illegal logging on the southern unrest that has intensified since 2003 when scores of armed men raided an Army base in Narathiwat and made off with 300 automatic weapons.

He said while security officers have to focus on fighting the insurgency, timber traders seize the opportunity to hire local villagers to cut down trees and mill them into lumber ready for transport and sale.

"Everyday we see trucks wandering from one village to another to pick up the lumber," Sitthichai said. "With our limited rangers and resources, we can only do so much. I can't tell you how many trees are being cut deep in the forest while we are talking.

"Some accuse me of taking kickbacks from timber traders, but I am clean. To tell you the truth, I'm discouraged and can't wait to be transferred out of here," Sitthichai said.

The park superintendent said the disappearance of large trees has an immense impact on threatened species especially rare hornbills that nest in tree cavities. The trend infuriates Dr Pilai Poonswad, Thailand's leading hornbill researcher, who has spent more than a decade convincing villagers to stop poaching hornbill chicks in the park for wildlife markets, enabling their populations to rise.

Of the world's 54 hornbill species, Thailand is home to 13. Six of these large bird species inhabit the Budo-Sungai Padi National Park. "They are indicators and protectors of healthy forests. Hornbills live where big trees are prevalent, as the birds require the natural cavities in those trees to nest. They also help spread seedlings from the fruits they eat to enhance forest regeneration," Pilai said.

Habitat loss is now the primary threat to hornbills, which are protected species under the wildlife conservation law. Pilai said her effort to stop poaching appears to have been in vain now that deforestation is running rampant.

Chakaj Lapanupat, director of the Protected Areas Regional Office in Songkhla, said the Budo forest and other protected areas also face clear cutting because of state-promoted oil palm and rubber plantations.

Both Chakaj and Sitthichai said they are trying to come up with projects to create employment to replace income from logging.

While Pilai agreed such programmes will be helpful, the bottom line is that "the forestry department must be given the resources to protect the forest".

Nantiya tangwisutijit

The Nation