ID :
337270
Wed, 08/06/2014 - 09:32
Auther :

Thai junta approves forest protection plan

BANGKOK, August 6 (TNA) - The Thai army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has endorsed a master plan on protecting national forests and natural resources, under which national forests are to be rehabilitated within a decade. Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Spokesman Colonel Banpot Pulpian told journalists on Wednesday that the master plan has three objectives, including stopping deforestation and retrieving national forests from encroachers within one year, developing an efficient, effective and sustainable forest management system within two years and completely rehabilitating nationwide forests within 2-10 years. The ISOC spokesman explained that the NCPO had earlier ordered the development of the master plan to solve the deforestation and the encroachment on public land and to manage natural resources on a sustainable basis; so, the ISOC, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Faculty of Forestry of Bangkok-based Kasetsart University had jointly drafted the master plan, which was recently approved by Thai Army and NCPO Chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha. Under the master plan, the spokesman acknowledged, concerned government agencies will implement their integrated action plans to increase the combined area of national forests from 31.57 per cent currently to at least 40 per cent of the country's total land area over the next 10 years. The spokesman said that the implementation of the master plan includes integrated efforts to tackle deforestation and to raise public awareness on the importance of forests, with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment being the main mechanism to drive forward the master plan. (TNA)

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