Inmates screened to help put out forest fires in Thai North

BANGKOK, March 15 (TNA) - Thailand's Royal Forest Department, under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Department of Corrections, under the Ministry of Justice, have agreed to work together in putting out forest fires in the country's northern region with the support of good prisoners. The two departments have concluded a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) on the agreed joint move over the next five years, aimed to not only prevent, control, look after and rehabilitate forest areas affected by wildfires, but also bring about the maximum benefit to Thailand's environmental and social systems. Royal Forest Department Director-General Attapol Charoenchansa told journalists on March 14 that his department is ready to provide opportunities to inmates who are well-screened and trained by the Department of Corrections to participate in such the public project before they are welcome back to the society in the near future. Attapol said that the screened inmates will also be trained to have the proper knowledge and skills on the forestation and the conservation of forests to create their awareness on the environmental protection and to pave the way for part of them to become a new manpower force of his department if more workers are needed. Department of Corrections Director-General Police Colonel Naras Savestanan stated, meanwhile, that about 4,000, out of a total of about 390,000 inmates in all Thai prisons, who have been mostly jailed on minor forest and environmental cases will be well-screened to participate in the co-project and part of them will be provided with a vocational training for the production of wood furniture and forestry-related jobs to earn their living in the future. The agreed cooperation between the two departments was in response to the worrying wildfire situation in nine northern Thai provinces, where over 60,000 rai of forest areas (2.5 rai = 1 acre) remain to have been affected by forest fires since early this year with the detection of over 2,800 hot spots. (TNA)