Thailand's forests
In January this year the Thai Government announced a ban on all logging. The decision to scrap 301 existing logging concessions followed disastrous flooding, brought about by deforestation. In November 1988, 14 provinces of South Thailand were devastated. Mountains of logs, undergrowth and mud swept down on hillside villages leaving more than 430 dead, 300 missing and 70,000 injured.

The race for profits by the logging companies has stripped the forest cover of the country. In the 1940s more than 70 per cent of the country was forested. By 1985 the figure was down to 29 per cent and that was suspected to be a gross overestimate from the Royal Forest Department. About half this area is meant to be protected forests - national parks and wildlife sanctuaries - but the protection is seldom enforced. And after the strip logging the land is left as scrub grassland or used for arabic farming.

The public outcry following the November floods has at last jolted the Government into action.

From Asian-Pacific Environment, Vol. 5 No.4,1989