Bangkok – Much progress has been made on the Government’s project to support the planting and processing of trees with economic value, such as golden teak, mahogany, Siamese rosewood, and rubber.
According to the latest report on this issue, the Ministry of Commerce issued a ministerial regulation, effective on 6 November 2018, allowing trees with economic value to be used as assets to guarantee loans. The ministerial regulation came after the Cabinet, during its meeting on 7 August 2018, approved a draft bill seeking to amend Section 7 of the 1941 Forestry Act to allow people to grow “precious trees” on their own plots of land.
Section 7 of the 1941 Forestry Act requires owners of the land where precious trees are grown to seek permission from the authorities, if they want to cut down or remove the trees. The draft bill to amend this section states that all tree species grown on private property are not regarded as protected trees and that they belong to the owners of the plots. In this regard, the trees can be felled and sold without permission from the authorities.
The Cabinet on 18 September 2018 approved the precious tree community project by encouraging farmers to grow trees with economic value, which can also be used as assets to guarantee loans. They will also be able to sell them to generate income and ease their poverty.
A target has been set to grow trees with economic value in 20,000 communities on 26 million rai (10.4 million acres) of land in the next 10 years. The project will enable these communities, covering 2.6 million families, to have stable occupations and will create economic value of at least 1.04 trillion baht.
It will also increase the country’s forest area and reduce greenhouse gases, as well as leading to a better equilibrium in the community ecological system.
The National Legislative Assembly on 20 December 2018 accepted the draft bill for consideration.
