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THAILAND
Thailand Forest Figures
Forest CoverTotal forest area: 14,520,000 ha % of land area: 28.4%
Primary forest cover: 6,451,000 ha % of land area: 12.6% % total forest area: 44.4%
Deforestation Rates, 2000-2005Annual change in forest cover: -58,800 ha Annual deforestation rate: -0.4% Change in defor. rate since '90s: -44.9% Total forest loss since 1990: -1,445,000 ha Total forest loss since 1990:-9.1%
Primary or "Old-growth" forests Annual loss of primary forests: n/a Annual deforestation rate: n/a Change in deforestation rate since '90s: n/a Primary forest loss since 1990: n/a Primary forest loss since 1990:0.0%
Forest ClassificationPublic: 86.8% Private: 13.2% Other: n/a Use Production: 13.8% Protection: 7.6% Conservation: 58.3% Social services: n/a Multiple purpose: 1.1% None or unknown: 19.3
Forest Area BreakdownTotal area: 14,520,000 ha Primary: 6,451,000 ha Modified natural: 4,970,000 ha Semi-natural: n/a Production plantation: 1,997,000 ha Production plantation: 1,102,000 ha
PlantationsPlantations, 2005: 3,099,000 ha % of total forest cover: 21.3% Annual change rate (00-05): 4,400,000 ha
Carbon storageAbove-ground biomass: 1,129 M t Below-ground biomass: 305 M t
Area annually affected byFire: 150,000 ha Insects: n/a Diseases: n/a
Number of tree species in IUCN red listNumber of native tree species: n/a Critically endangered: 30 Endangered: 21 Vulnerable: 37
Thailand's recent economic development has been achieved at the expense of the environment and the country's natural resources. Most of the primary forest is gone (FAO figures for primary forest cover haven't been updated since 1990), but secondary forest still covers roughly 20 percent of the land area. The growing middle class is more environmentally aware and has shown interest in conserving Thailand's remaining forests; hence there has been a nationwide ban on logging since 1988—following devastating mudslides—and, in theory, there is protection of existing forest reserves from development and exploitation. In 1991, the government revised the National Forest Policy to set a 40 percent forest cover target—25 percent conservation forest and 15 percent production forest. This action angered Thailand's mining industry, which sought to exploit mineral reserves located within the country's parks.
One of the greatest threats facing Thailand's forests is illegal logging, which is rapidly degrading Thailand's remaining forests, despite the nationwide ban on rainforest cutting. Investigations by NGOs reveal that trees are felled in Thailand and smuggled into Burma to be exported as Burmese logs or processed logs. The industry is controlled by timber barons who, at times, have strong ties to politicians and the military. In remote areas, forestry officials have difficulty enforcing the logging ban due to armed gangs hired by illegal timber operators. Further, villagers in some parts of Thailand have come to rely on logging as their primary source of income. Parks appear to serve as prime harvesting grounds. For example, 30 percent of Salween National Park was logged between 1997 and 1998.
Other forces responsible for forest loss in Thailand are land development for tourism and real estate, agricultural clearing, hydroelectric projects, and forest fires.
In total, between 1990 and 2005, Thailand lost about 9 percent of its forest cover or about 1.4 million hectares. Natural forest loss was offset by the expansion of plantations by about 460,000 hectares. The government did not report figures reflecting the change in primary forest cover. On a positive note, overall deforestation rates have fallen significantly since the close of the 1990s.
On paper, about 13 percent of Thailand is protected. The country is home to 1,715 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles, of which 5.1 percent are endemic and 5.8 percent are threatened. Thailand has 11,625 species of vascular plants.
Oil spill off Australia potential 'disaster' for marine wildlife
(08/30/2009) Oil is leaking from an offshore drilling rig in the Timor Sea near Australia's Northwest coast. Authorities say it will be weeks before the leak is plugged: they are awaiting the arrival of a drilling rig from Singapore to plug the leak.
World's largest bat threatened with extinction due to legal hunting
(08/25/2009) Under the current legal hunting rate scientists predict that the world's largest bat, the aptly-named large flying fox or Pteropus vampyrus, faces extinction in six to 81 years. Increasing the urgency to save the large flying fox is the vital role it plays as an ecosystem engineer (a species whose behavior can shape an ecosystem); the species maintains Southeast Asian forests by dispersing a wide variety of seeds over distances farther than most birds and other mammals.
Tropical East Asian forests under great threat
(06/02/2009) Tropical East Asia's rapid population growth and dramatic economic expansion over the past half century have taken a heavy toll on its natural resources. More than two-thirds of the region's original forest cover has been cleared or converted for agriculture and plantations, while its flora and fauna have suffered dearly from a burgeoning trade in wildlife products—several charismatic species have gone extinct as a direct consequence of human exploitation. Nevertheless tropical East Asia remains a top global priority for conservation, supporting up to a quarter of the world's terrestrial species.
Asia's conversion of forests for industrial rubber plantations hurts the environment
(05/21/2009) Policies promoting industrial rubber plantations over traditional swidden, or slash-and-burn, agriculture across Southeast Asia may carry significant environmental consequences, including loss of biodiversity, reduction of carbon stocks, pollution and degradation of local water supplies, report researchers writing in Science. Conducting field work in the Xishuangbanna prefecture of China's Yunnan province and assessing broader regional trends, Alan Ziegler of the National University of Singapore and colleagues argue that policies favoring agricultural intensification over small-scale slash-and-burn have encouraged the rapid expansion of rubber plantations across more than 500,000 hectares (1,930 square miles) of montane forest in China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Despite widespread perception among authorities that "swidden cultivation is a destructive system that leads only to forest loss and degradation", the researchers found that the transition to industrial plantations has not necessarily been a boon to the environment.
UN: Population growth rates fall to 1.1 percent in Asia-Pacific
(05/19/2009) The population growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region has dropped to 1.1 percent, according to the Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2008, compiled by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The 1.1 percent growth rate is the lowest in the developing world.
Global warming to cripple Southeast Asia economically
(04/28/2009) By the end of the century nations in Southeast Asia will face debilitating economic loss due to global warming, according to a new study from the Asian Development Bank. Analyzing Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam the study found that they could suffer an annual loss of 6.7 percent ($230 billion dollars) in combined gross domestic product by 2100, more than double the global average which is estimated at a loss of 2.6 percent.
Massive freshwater stingray takes 13 men to pull it ashore in Thailand
(02/27/2009) It took ninety minutes and thirteen men to reel in an astounding specimen of giant freshwater stingray on the Ban Pakong River in Thailand. At seven feet wide and weighing an estimated 580-770 pounds (265-350 kilograms), the monstrous fish is thought to be the largest freshwater fish ever caught with a rod and line, according to Fishsiam, a company that provides fishing tours in Thailand.
Photos of new species discovered in the Greater Mekong
(12/15/2008) More than 1,000 previously unknown species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong, a region comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Vietnam and the Yunnan Province of China, in the past decade, according to a new report from WWF.
Thailand's forests could support 2,000 tigers
(12/19/2007) Thailand's network of parks could support 2,000 tigers, reports a new study by Thailand's Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant conservation and the New York-based Wildlife conservation Society.
Fires burn across Burma; pollution levels rise in Thailand
(03/20/2007) Fires are raging across Myanmar (Burma) causing 'haze' pollution in neighboring Thailand, Laos, and southern China according to new satellite images release by NASA. The fires are set annually during the dry season for clearing brush and scrub for agriculture. In especially dry years the fires often spread into adjacent forest areas.
Bird species rediscovered after 139 years
(03/06/2007) A wetland bird that has been 'lost' for nearly 140 years was rediscovered at a wastewater treatment plant in Thailand according to bird conservation group BirdLife International.
Apes sing for protection
(12/25/2006) White-handed gibbons in Thailand use songs as a defense against predators according to a study by researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
$100 laptop for poor children ships
(11/20/2006) The first ten $100 laptops have shipped from their Taiwanese manufacturer according to a report from News Corporation. The One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) -- the nonprofit group behind the device -- reportedly tested the laptops, which were hand-built, at the U.S. State Department last week. The laptops have been billed as a durable low-cost PC for children in developing countries. OLPC says it will begin production once it has orders for 5-10 million machines. Already the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Nigeria, Thailand, and Israel have expressed interest in the machines which have received support from Google, AMD, Brightstar, News Corporation, and Red Hat, but not Microsoft.
Why is palm oil replacing tropical rainforests?
(04/25/2006) In a word, economics, though deeper analysis of a proposal in Indonesia suggests that oil palm development might be a cover for something more lucrative: logging. Recently much has been made about the conversion of Asia's biodiverse rainforests for oil-palm cultivation. Environmental organizations have warned that by eating foods that use palm oil as an ingredient, Western consumers are directly fueling the destruction of orangutan habitat and sensitive ecosystems. So, why is it that oil-palm plantations now cover millions of hectares across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand? Why has oil palm become the world's number one fruit crop, trouncing its nearest competitor, the humble banana? The answer lies in the crop's unparalleled productivity. Simply put, oil palm is the most productive oil seed in the world. A single hectare of oil palm may yield 5,000 kilograms of crude oil, or nearly 6,000 liters of crude.
Fishermen catch 646-pound catfish, believed to be world's largest
(06/30/2005) Thai fishermen caught a 646-pound catfish believed to have been the largest freshwater fish ever recorded, a researcher said Thursday. The 8.9 foot long Mekong giant catfish was the heaviest recorded fish since Thailand started keeping records in 1981.
