Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Environmental Issues
Thailand is in a different developmental stage to most Western countries and this affects
both the environmental problems and how people react to them. Thailand is wealthier, bet-
ter developed and more educated than its regional neighbours, so there is an awareness of
environmental issues that barely exists in countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar. But
that awareness is often limited in scope and, while this is slowly changing, it rarely devel-
ops into the sort of high-profile, widespread movements seen in Europe, North America or
Australia.
As such most issues have a very low profile, with only the most visible problems, such
as pollution, overdevelopment and a lack of adequate planning, making it onto a visitor's
radar. Look a little deeper and you'll see the environment has often been the victim in
Thailand's rapid modernisation, with short-term considerations usually to the fore. Few
Thais see any problem with cutting down mangroves to make prawn farms, or powering
their development with energy from dams in Laos and dubious natural gas concerns in
Myanmar.
So many well-meaning laws have been put on the books that it might seem Thailand is
turning the corner towards greater ecological consciousness. But when the implementation
of these laws is investigated it is often revealed that corruption and lack of political re-
solve have severely hampered efforts to enforce these environmental laws. With the deep
split within Thai politics showing no signs of being healed and governments having to
make all sorts of undesirable concessions just to stay in power, it seems the political will
to enforce these laws remains some way off. Ironically, however, this same lack of politic-
al stability has also scared off investors.
The Land Environment
The main area in which Asia exceeds the West in terms of environmental damage is defor-
estation, though current estimates are that Thailand still has about 25% of its forests re-
maining, which stands up favourably against the UK's dismal 5%. The government's Na-
tional Forest Policy, introduced in 1985, recommended that 40% of the country should be
forested, and a complete logging ban in 1989 was a big step in the right direction. By law
Thailand must maintain 25% of its land area as 'conservation forests'. But the logging ban
has simply shifted the need for natural resources elsewhere. While illegal logging persists
in Thailand on a relatively small scale, in neighbouring Cambodia, Laos and particularly
