Thailand’s Forests: Why Their Destruction is so Devastating for Thailand
Whilst Thailand may seem like a tropical paradise, with miles of luscious and thick jungles and forests, it may come as a surprise to know that Thailand’s jungles used to be even more vast and magnificent.
Between the years of 1960 and 1980 a huge amount of Thailand’s natural forests and jungles were stripped. What was once a largely natural country soon developed and grew, with cities building up across the country, and forest landscapes slowly disappearing. The amount of land in Thailand that was once covered by forest was reduced from 70% in 1950 to only 25% today. Whilst Thailand still has a vast amount of natural forests and jungles, it’s not what it once was.
So what is the reason for this? In 2018 alone, forest products, or products made from the materials found in the forest, account for a whopping 118 billion Thai Baht (3.9 billion USD) in exports from the country. The forests were cut down to meet growing foreign demand for tropical hardwoods and wood furniture, as well as illegal logging and agriculture being two primary culprits in the decline of Thailand’s forests. It has been suggested that only around 16-17% of Thailand’s current forests are healthy, and that if deforestation continues at the rate that it currently is, Thailand will have no more natural forests left within 50 years.
Thailand’s jungles provide a crucial key to Thailand’s ecosystem. Not only does a huge percentage of Thailand’s population use the forests as a means of providing for their families, using the natural materials found their to survive, but most of Thailand’s wildlife population have made home within these jungles.
Rapid deforestation, couple with a rise in demand for exotic animals to be used as pets, has been detrimental to Thailand’s wildlife population. Rhinos and tapirs, which were once commonly found across the country, have all but disappeared, alongside herds of wild elephants, gibbons, and some species of monkeys and birds. Thailand’s once abundant population of freshwater and marine fish have been rapidly depleted by the disruption and destruction of their natural habitats, as well as shrimp, prawns, and sea crabs.
But that’s not to say that efforts are not being made to change this. In 1989 the Thailand government completed a ban on all commercial logging. It is now illegal to sell timber felled in Thailand and all imported timber must be registered with the government before going for sale.
The government has also formulated a series of policies to reforest the open tracts of land. One of the most uncommon techniques is to use aerial reforestation. The idea sounds like from a fantasy movie, but they actually managed to plant 900,000 trees in a day by launching seeds from a military aircraft.
With the reforestation efforts taking place currently, it’s suspected that Thailand’s forest population will grown exponentially over the next decade, hopefully bringing with it an increase in wildlife populations. However, with reforestation already putting many people out of their homes in the countryside, will reforestation usher in a new era of a thriving ecosystem for Thailand, or will it simply bring with it more problems?