Isoc to consider rights body's land plan

[Lite Beer]

Isoc to consider rights body's land plan
PRATCH RUJIVANAROM
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- THERE has been more progress in the effort to find a solution to land conflicts caused by the government's forest-reclamation policy, with the authorities accepting a draft public sector master plan written in response to the issue.

Major-General Ronnarong Kotaradamrong, deputy director of the Internal Security Operations Command's Fourth Operation Centre, said the draft plan - written by the National Human Rights Commission after consultation with the public - would be considered and adapted to the national forest master plan if the law allowed it.

He was speaking on the second day of a conference on the national forest master plan hosted by the NHRC yesterday.

"We agreed to let the public sector take part in the problem-solving and amending of the national forest master plan, but everything will have to be considered in relation to the law," Ronnarong said.

The main goals of the public sector's draft master plan are to give people and communities the right to take part in natural-resource management and for there to be just land distribution to the poor and the landless.

There are five strategies under the draft plan.

Five strategies in draft plan

The first involves saving existing forests, creating more forests and restoring ecosystems by letting local communities take care of them and implementing rules on resource management.

The second strategy centres on supporting and protecting communal rights by establishing an organisation consisting of

communities and related agencies that has proper funding and decision-making mechanisms.

The third strategy would result in communal-rights law reform and the enactment of legislation to distribute more land to the poor. The fourth would concentrate on sustainable land management by supporting communities to be self-reliant according to sustainable use of local resources, while the fifth strategy would aim to build motivation among people so they want to save forestland.

One victim of the implementation of order 64/2557 by the National Council for Peace and Order, Wilai Dindaeng from Krabi, said even though she did not fully understand all of the draft master plan, she believed that land disputes could be solved easier with the participation of locals who understand the problem.

"I only wish that the government would consider the draft and compensate me for my loss," she said.

Her rubber plantation, which was located in a national park long before the park was established, was cut down by officials last year, leaving her with no way to earn a living.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Isoc-to-consider-rights-bodys-land-plan-30260768.html

-- The Nation 2015-05-23

[Anon999]

Bureaucracy going OTT and without due consideration on the circumstances. However, retrieving forest land that was subsequently illegally bought and developed is not before time.

[retarius]

Sounds like a trick to allow wealthy and influential people to keep the land they stole.