Thai Govt To Issue Land Deeds To Mangrove Encroachers

[webfact]

Govt to issue land deeds to mangrove encroachers

Janjira Pongrai

Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Marine and Coastal Resources Department plans to ask the Land Department to issue land title deeds to people who have encroached on mangrove forest reserves nationwide.

Under this plan, the department's directorgeneral Boonchob Suthamanuswong said his agency would allocate about 450,000 rai of mangrove forest reserve areas to people currently living illegally and encroaching on mangrove forest areas in 23 coastal provinces.

Thailand has only 1.5 million rai of mangrove forest. The department estimated that about 30 per cent of mangrove forests in all coastal areas were encroached upon by local people with illegally issued landownership deeds.

Most encroachedupon mangrove land - especially in the Andaman Sea provinces of Phuket and Krabi - is occupied by wealthy people. Some mangrove lands were abandoned shrimp farms eroded by the sea.

"The department expects that this plan to issue land ownership deeds to those people who illegally utilise and live in the mangrove forest will stop them encroaching on these areas," Boonchob said.

The department will conduct a survey to designate the boundaries of mangrove areas nationwide by using satellite images from the GeoInformatics and Space Technology Development Agency.

The department will also invite local people living on the encroached mangrove land to help the department draw up the mangrove forest borders before issuing the land title deeds to them.

However, Boonchob said the department also planned to restore degraded mangrove forest through massive planting. The department expected to increase the size of mangrove forests by up to 4,000 rai per year.

Additionally, he said the department would ask the owners of abandoned shrimp farms to grow mangrove trees on their farms. The department will give Bt3,930 per rai to the owners as financial support for recovering degraded mangrove forest.

Some 100,000 shrimp farms along country's coastal areas have been abandoned by their owners. Nakhon Si Thammarat has the highest number, with abandoned shrimp ponds covering about 20,000 to 30,000 rai.

Boonchob said he will start the plan to recover degraded mangrove forests at Chantaburi, Trat, Samut Songkhram, and Surat Thani, as theses provinces are now ready to implement the plan.

Woraphon Duanglomchan, a coordinator of the Conservation Network of the Gulf of Thailand, said he strongly disagreed with the Marine and Coastal Resources Department’s plan to issue land ownership documents to people who have encroached on the mangrove forest.

Instead of encouraging people to recover and protect mangrove areas, he said the plan will encourage people to sell their land to wealthy persons after they receive the land ownership documents.

He said his network has drafted a mangrove land management bill that would allow people to utilise the mangrove areas, but they need to preserve the mangrove forest and its ecosystem at the same time. If people damage the mangrove areas, they will be asked to move out and will no longer to be allowed to utilise the areas.

The network proposed the draft bill to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk during his visiting trip to Samut Sakhon province's Kok Kham mangrove forest two months ago.

"Preecha promised to submit this draft bill to the Cabinet, but so far there has been no progress and no news from him," Woraphon said.

However, he said his network would work on its own to recover degraded mangrove areas without assistance from state agencies. Over 1,000 rai of degraded mangrove areas in Samut Sakhon province have now been recovered.

-- The Nation 2012-06-25

[Reasonableman]

Seems pretty consistent with the approach adopted with other issues. If it's illegal, make a baht from it, ignore it, or legalise it.

[AleG]

This is the Marine and Coastal Resources Department director?

"The department expects that this plan to issue land ownership deeds to those people who illegally utilise and live in the mangrove forest will stop them encroaching on these areas,"

It is to cry.

[binjalin]

This is the Marine and Coastal Resources Department director?

"The department expects that this plan to issue land ownership deeds to those people who illegally utilise and live in the mangrove forest will stop them encroaching on these areas,"

It is to cry.

it is a pathetic response - illegally encroach, destroy then they will give in and give you it so you can sell and take BIG profit

[kartman]

BIG is not BIG enough.

[londonthai]

you missed some other important info "Most encroached upon mangrove land - especially in the Andaman Sea provinces of Phuket and Krabi - is occupied by wealthy people"

I would understand the policy, if the encroachers were poor and landless, but that's not the case

[jaltsc]

Perhaps this is the new and improved policy for preserving the environment. Can't wait to see these same officials scratching their heads, wondering why the rains are causing mudslides and washing away all the land.

[GentlemanJim]

So why have the government been destroying resorts and houses that were illegally built on land owned by the nation yet on Mangrove land they take a more lenient approach?

In Krabi one of the wealthiest families is that of the ex governor, who is a Thaksin man through and through. They built the Maritim Hotel on protected Mangrove land that they just 'took' whilst he was Governor. No doubt this little move is designed to help the likes of them keep their illegal gains worth hundreds of millions.

Edited June 25, 2012 by GentlemanJim

[Reasonableman]

Next the "resorts" built in national parks...

[Pib]

And the real goal of the plan follows:

Instead of encouraging people to recover and protect mangrove areas, he said the plan will encourage people to sell their land to wealthy persons after they receive the land ownership documents.

Kids of the parents to receive the land ownership documents already have dreams of new cars, jewelry, and smartphones...all bought in Bangkok, their new home. Life is good in Thailand.

[EyesWideOpen]

This is classic Thai government at work.

[hanuman2543]

Only in Thailand you will be rewarded for doing something illegal, never mind it is encroaching on public land or staging coups. Amazing

[h90]

Only in Thailand you will be rewarded for doing something illegal, never mind it is encroaching on public land or staging coups. Amazing

Successful coups aren't illegal.....only the unsuccessful.

Like war crimes, they are illegal if you lost the war, if you won you are a war hero.

On the land it may depend on how rich you are already. Taking land, because you are homeless and poor --> need to be punished.

Taking land, because you are rich and want to get ample rich --> complete OK.

But you find similar things in other countries....maybe not that visible but the things aren't different.

[hanuman2543]

Only in Thailand you will be rewarded for doing something illegal, never mind it is encroaching on public land or staging coups. Amazing

Successful coups aren't illegal.....only the unsuccessful.

Like war crimes, they are illegal if you lost the war, if you won you are a war hero.

On the land it may depend on how rich you are already. Taking land, because you are homeless and poor --> need to be punished.

Taking land, because you are rich and want to get ample rich --> complete OK.

But you find similar things in other countries....maybe not that visible but the things aren't different.

That is <deleted>. You have to judge it from the laws already existing when the deed is done. But I agree with you that history is written by the winners. The coup 2006 was in Sep 2006 illegal, it was made legal by the new constitution. Rich people can only get away with illegal deeds, when there is no rule of law or when the justice system has double standards.

[animatic]

'To cry' is only the start.

The absurdity is on glalactic proportions.

[daninthai]

If enough people break a law, it will be made legal. TIT

[kawaiimomo]

<deleted>! They should be jailed and the illegally occupied land taken away!! And the retarded director should be ceased. Reading this stuff just makes me %$@# angry GRR Death penalty should apply for those scumbags, you cannot play with important things like this :-@

[h90]

Only in Thailand you will be rewarded for doing something illegal, never mind it is encroaching on public land or staging coups. Amazing

Successful coups aren't illegal.....only the unsuccessful.

Like war crimes, they are illegal if you lost the war, if you won you are a war hero.

On the land it may depend on how rich you are already. Taking land, because you are homeless and poor --> need to be punished.

Taking land, because you are rich and want to get ample rich --> complete OK.

But you find similar things in other countries....maybe not that visible but the things aren't different.

That is <deleted>. You have to judge it from the laws already existing when the deed is done. But I agree with you that history is written by the winners. The coup 2006 was in Sep 2006 illegal, it was made legal by the new constitution. Rich people can only get away with illegal deeds, when there is no rule of law or when the justice system has double standards.

The justice system doesn't has double standards. That would mean that some people are treated different. That is not true. The justice system is simply corrupt. You buy the judges. But the worse thing is, big companies just buy laws (or politicians). Than everything is within the laws.

Coups is bad example, because without such illegal actions, we would all have absolute monarchies in Europe and USA would be under the British Queen. Or lets say, if the Generals in North Korea stage a coup and call for general elections it would be also illegal, but still a good thing.

The only thing I see is; in Thailand they do it bold and public and without shame, in every other country at least the pretend that it doesn't exist.

[h90]

<deleted>! They should be jailed and the illegally occupied land taken away!! And the retarded director should be ceased. Reading this stuff just makes me %$@# angry GRR Death penalty should apply for those scumbags, you cannot play with important things like this :-@

China has death penalty for such things.

[animatic]

If enough people break a law, it will be made legal. TIT

That explains the Red Shirts leaders M.O.

And historical attitudes.

A revolution is an old coup that has become a new state religion.

[doggie888888]

Perhaps this is the new and improved policy for preserving the environment. Can't wait to see these same officials scratching their heads, wondering why the rains are causing mudslides and washing away all the land.

Plus one of the lessons of the tsunami was that mangroves helped to reduce the impact of the waves. What an irresponsible decision.

[pistachios]

One way to look at it is that there won't be any illegally encroached mangrove land anymore.

Problem solved!

[steelepulse]

I thought the headline would have read, " Mangrove land encroachers jailed and gov't takes back control of illegally occupied land".

[daninthai]

One way to look at it is that there won't be any illegally encroached mangrove land anymore.

Problem solved!

One more statistic that shows Thailand's improvements over other countries.

[daninthai]

Perhaps this is the new and improved policy for preserving the environment. Can't wait to see these same officials scratching their heads, wondering why the rains are causing mudslides and washing away all the land.

Plus one of the lessons of the tsunami was that mangroves helped to reduce the impact of the waves. What an irresponsible decision.

The people making these decisions were not chosen for their intelligence, experience or expertise in the subject. I suggest there be a public investigation into who the land titles are issued to and who they are then sold (or leased) to over the next 20 years.

[Yunla]

Jailing people for stealing land and breaching conservation laws, costs money to police and to trial and to jail. Whereas letting the right people steal mangroves in potential tourist-expansion areas means you not only save money short term but you can get a slice of the cash bonanza a few years later when hotels and golf courses etc. pop-up there. Of course, that theory only works if you still have enough tourists arriving.

[h90]

I thought the headline would have read, " Mangrove land encroachers jailed and gov't takes back control of illegally occupied land".

Where is the money in this?

[belg]

nice pulse to the masses, do something illegal for long enough and you are rewarded to become the new legal owner

so i can conclude, jet ski and taxi maffia, doing it for sooooooooooo long, it is considered legal to ripp off tourists

[TheWalkingMan]

What a joke.

[binjalin]

If enough people break a law, it will be made legal. TIT

That explains the Red Shirts leaders M.O.

And historical attitudes.

A revolution is an old coup that has become a new state religion.

only you could go from Mangroves to Red Shirts - give it a break?