PUBLISHED: 1 Jul 2024 at 08: 38
Chaiwat Limlikhitaksorn, chairman of the National Parks Office, claims he is concerned about the loss of 265 286 acres of agricultural land in Thap Lan National Park as a result of a project to reform the area.
Through an online poll conducted by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation ( DNP ), he has invited the public to vote against the government’s plans until July 12.
In four Nakhon Ratchasima districts and one neighborhood in Prachin Buri, Thap Lan National Park has an area of 1.4 million ray.
The area is part of the government’s Dong Phayayen- Khao Yai Forest Complex, a World Heritage site.
In order to resolve land disputes between locals and the regional area, the Prayut Chan- o cha’s government made the decision on March 12 of last year to allow the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to withdraw the secured location for Sor Por Kor property plots.
The new moderate is drawn based on the president’s One Map initiative, which standardises charts used by state firms at a level of 1: 4, 000 to resolve problems caused by overlapping boundaries.
” People should be concerned if the national park’s borderline will be changed due to last year’s cabinet’s resolution. With the new borderline, the department will lose 265, 286 rai to the Office of Agricultural Land Reform ( OALR )”, he said.
He claimed that the land may later change hands after farmers have been able to do so for five years, but that was not the best way to resolve the land dispute issue.
He claimed that in 1981, three years after OALR released land reform proposals for the area, Thap Lan was designated as a national park.
At that time, the disputed land covered about 58, 882 rai.
However, after OALR conducted a new survey and the One Map project in 2016, the land in dispute increased to more than 260, 000 rai.
One of the well-known resort areas in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Soeng Sang and Wang Nam Khieo districts, were where the land was located.
According to Mr. Chaiwat, those who live on the disputed land are investors and resort owners who want to create wealth as well as landless farmers.
He warned that if Thap Lan National Park loses its forest reserves, it will result in significant land shortages elsewhere.
” There are 316, 560 households on disputed land nationwide today”, he said. ” If the’ Thap Lan model ‘ succeeds, the country will lose about 4.2 rai of forest land to those who have encroached”.
This runs counter to the 20- year national strategy, which stipulates the country must maintain 40 % of its land as natural woods, he said.
A poll to gauge public opinion before the new borderline becomes effective, he said, urging people to vote on the new borderline on Facebook ( facebook .com/ThapLan ). NP ).
He stated that the survey will be accessible through July 12th. On Thursday and Friday, he added, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachin Buri, and Sa Kaeo will hold public hearings on the subject.
The findings will then be forwarded for analysis to the national committee that is in charge of the park, he said.