Practitioners of this relatively new strategy which
employs
progressive techniques in the fields of forestry, agriculture
and education to foster sustainable development
in areas around parks and sanctuaries had an opportunity
yesterday to get together and
compare notes at a seminar held in the Northeastern
capital of Khon Kaen.
But while the promotion of these techniques and obtaining
the funds
to adopt them are important, perhaps the most crucial
aspect of the buffer zone strategy is that
it creates an all-too-rare situation in which local villagers,
non-governmental organisations
and officials from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD)
and other agencies are forced to cooperate.
Presentations were made by representatives of seven buffer
zone projects yesterday and each stressed
the need to ''work together", in stark contrast to the
current confrontation outside Government House
in Bangkok, where thousands of farmers are demonstrating
to resolve the dozens of land conflicts they
have with government officials.
''The buffer zone concept has been around for [decades]
but has only really come into practice in
Thailand over the last few years," said Wattana Kaewkamnerd,
the RFD's deputy director general.
Wattana compared a buffer zone to ''a bumper on a car",
in that it is designed to brake the impact of
the collision between human society and conservation areas.
The Forestry Department has actively promoted a high-profile
buffer zone project around Huay Kha
Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, but Wattana said that the agency
does not have a policy to promote buffer
zones nationwide, explaining that it is merely a ''strategy"
to achieve the goal of protecting natural
resources.
Dhira Phantumvanich, president of the Thailand Environment
Institute (TEI), which organised the
seminar, said that no such national policy is necessary,
because buffer zones must be set up on a
case-by-case basis.
Besides Huay Kha Khaeng, other buffer zone projects have
been established at Phu Khiow Wildlife
Sanctuary, Khao Yai National Park, Pha Taem National Park,
Khao Bantad Wildlife Sanctuary, Khao Ang Ru
Nai Wildlife Sanctuary and Khao Nor Chu Chi Wildlife Sanctuary.
Many of these projects are quite modest, but the RFD's
Manop Chompoochan noted that ''if you start a
project with only a little money, people have to work
harder and the project becomes more sustainable".
''If you come in with a big project, it is often likely to fail," he added.
On Tuesday, seminar participants visited the project outside
Phu Khiow in Chaiyaphum province, where
community forests have been planted in a degraded forest
reserve to serve as a watershed and a source
for timber supply.
The community forests are not actually adjacent to the
sanctuary as at Huay Kha Khaeng but it is
hoped that they will serve as an alternative source for
wood and non-timber forest products so that
local villagers need no longer enter the sanctuary to
obtain these items.
The project, which is run by TEI in cooperation with local
teachers and women's groups, also involves
creating fire breaks to protect the forests, promoting
alternative agriculture to reduce the impact of
pesticides and fertilisers on the local environment, and
an extensive education programme.
''We raise environmental awareness among kids, who then
pass it on to their parents. That is the most
effective way," said Pratan Sawkatok, a teacher with the
Ban Chanuan Green Schools project, part of
the Phu Khiow project.
At Pha Taem, on the other hand, an organisation called
Nature Cares is helping to train men who have
traditionally been hunters or loggers to become nature
guides.
Although the projects take many years to develop, their
supporters believe in the long run they are
effective in reducing pressures on conservation areas
and improving the lives of villagers living
around them.
A more difficult question is whether buffer zones and community
forests should be used for people
living inside conservation areas, a situation which many
of the villagers protesting with the Assembly
of the Poor outside Government House are facing.
Wattana of the RFD, which has generally sought to relocate
such villagers to live outside conservation
areas, argued against buffer zones being set up inside
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
But, according to Dhira, ''In many cases villagers have
been living there for decades, much before
they were declared conservation areas, so how can you
move them?"
Dhira urged the swift passage of the Community Forestry
Bill which was held up by the Banharn
administration following disagreement among environmentalists
adding that the remaining issues can
be debated in Parliament.
Dhira said that three controversial issues surround the
draft bill: where community forest zones can
be set up; who should have the authority to approve them;
and who should be in charge of managing
them.
He argued that community forest zones should be allowed
inside parks and sanctuaries, that the
authority to approve such zones should rest with civil
servants and not merely ministers, and that
village committees and tambon councils should manage them.