Community forest act passed
Will it really solve the problem?
By Jon Fernquest |
The Community Forest Act, in the making for years, finally passed the NLA this week, but according to experts the new law is not what it seems.
The stated purpose of the new law is to help forest communities preserve and manage forest land surrounding their communities, to transfer the rights to manage natural forest resources from the central government to local communities.
Some experts say the law doesn't meet this goal, other experts say that this is just the first step and that the government has to go slowly in transfering forest rights to local communities.
I know the situation in Chiang Rai because I live there and have known and discussed things with a lot of people there over the years. In Chiang Rai a large portion of the land belongs officially to the forestry department. Land often doesn't even have the lowest level deed: Ngor Sor Sam. People buy and sell the land all the time anyway, transferring land through the headman of the village.
Rich people from Bangkok come and buy hundreds of rai from farmers and build a tourist resort on it. A poor farmer goes into debt and loses the farm that his family has supported itself with for generations and sells it for peanuts. A rich family buys the land up and puts it in a pile of deeds. The land goes unused for years. These may be good reasons for the land not to be saleable or transferrable at all, to belong permanently in perpetuity to a community.
Sometimes poor farmers or town folk grab land clearly marked as government land and end up selling it for a profit. Sometimes the forestry department kicks poor Akha hill tribe people off their land and they end up living in a squatter hut next to to the highway and working on a plantation. Pretty horrible life.
Vocabulary:
a community forest - a forest area in which the community jointly creates rules for the use of forest resources to preserve the forest for future generations and prevent over-exploitation (See World Bank case study)
in the making - working on it, in progress, not yet finished
stated purpose - what it says it does (may be different from what it actually does)
preserve - take action to protect and save from damage
transfer the rights - take a legal right from one person and give it to another
a deed - an official document proving overnship of land
Nor Sor Sam - a legal right to land but without accurate surveying which can cause problems verifying land area (See Samuiforsale.com)
sells it for peanuts - for a very small amount of money
in perpetuity - lasting forever
folk - people
kick off - force to leave
a squatter hut - a small temporary house on land the person doesn't own or pay rent on
a plantation - a very large commercial farm (for example growing coffee or pineapples)
The Controversy
The controversy surrounds two articles. Article 25 is on the qualifications of a community necessary to obtain rights. To qualify for rights a community has to be older than ten years. 20,000 communities on the edge of the forest are excluded. Article 34 defines the rights communities get if they qualify. There are strict guidelines on the use of protected forest.
Andrew Walker an expert at the Australian National University is concerned that the bill doesn't protect farmers and agricultural lands in the forest. In the past the idea of 'community forestry' has even been used to pressure already existing farmers off their lands. Previous draft versions of the act forbid a lot of common activities in any farmer's life: controlling land, farming, living, building, burning, clearing, lopping, and gathering. Andrew Walker wrote a paper on the proposed law back in 2004. In the words of Andrew Walker:
My key concern is that the community forest bill does nothing about the uncertain status of agricultural land in forest reserve areas. Giving local communities a role in forest protection is all very well, but the much more pressing livelihood and human rights issue is to give them secure tenure over their agricultural land. (Source: ANU New Mandala Blog, also see previous post)
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For further reading, read this World Bank Case Study from Columbia University on Community Forests in Thailand. The Asia Forest Network also has a lot of information including a working paper that describes some of the basic issues.
Vocabulary:
controversy - an issue that people disagree about
guidelines - official advice to guide action (not a law)
uncertain status - uncertain about who the land belongs to
forest reserve - forest area set aside to the protect trees, plants, and animals in it
is all very well, but... - is good, but...
more pressing - more important and urgent, needs attention quickly
livelihood - making money to feed, clothe, and house your family
objected to - disagreed with
