Royal Forest Department
The Royal Forest Department ( Royal Forest Department , Thai : กรม ป่า ไม้ ) is a department in the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand .
tasks and goals
The Royal Forest Department has a wide range of tasks, including researching the nature of forests and developing technologies for them. The department is also the point of contact for all questions relating to forestry and natural forest cover in the country, both for government agencies and for other organizations. In addition, the department serves as the central point for technology transfer for all forestry applications in Thailand.
organization
The core of the Royal Forest Department is the Forest Research Office, to which seven departments are assigned that carry out research and development and technology transfer in the following areas.
- Department for research and development on natural forest ecology (studies on watersheds , forest ecology , forest entomology , forest pathology and microbiology )
- Department of research into forest culture (improvement of the forest, forest soil, seeds, planting methods, biotechnology and smaller forest products)
- Forest use department (wood use and wood protection , energy generation from wood, properties of wood and other forest products)
- Department for National Park and Forest Life Research (research into the country's land and marine national parks, ecology and biology, breeding behavior in captivity, release and restoration of natural conditions). The director of the department is Mr. Damrong Phidet
- Department of Administration and Forestry (responsible for mangrove forests , swamp forests , wetlands , management of forest areas and nature trails )
- Forest Botany Department (documentation and enumeration of Thai flora , including preparation of specimens for herbaria and studies of the distribution of plants)
- Department for the assessment of forest resources (interpretation of aerial and satellite images , forest inventory, mapping of forests and monitoring of changes in forest areas)
location
The Royal Forest Department is based on Phahonyothin Street in Chatuchak , Bangkok .
history
The Royal Forest Department was created on September 18, 1896, when the forests of Siam were still in abundance and anyone could freely fell and use hardwood and its products, including for economic purposes. Only teak was exempt from this generous regulation. For the felling of teak, taxes had to be paid to the local chiefs, who, however, concentrated their attention more on the collection of the fees than on the extent and the effects of the timber use. Due to the local conditions, the "buyers" - mostly British citizens - often had disputes with various local authorities who declared themselves responsible for collecting fees. The government was often called in to settle the disputes. In 1874, for example, the government first acquired the right of consent, so that any contract between the buyer and the local authority was only valid after a government agency signed it.
A treaty signed between Siam and Great Britain in 1893 stipulated that British citizens (like the Shan and Burmese at the time ) had no right to cut teak without the consent of Siamese authorities. In accordance with the contract , a commission was set up in Chiang Mai in the same year to deal with questions of forest use, and in particular that of teak.
At the suggestion of the British H. Slade, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) finally ordered the formation of a central authority in 1896 to administer all of Siam's forests. H. Slade became the first chief curator. He followed the procedure of the British government in India and Burma with regard to forest use and was able to overcome the initial resistance, especially with the constant support of the then Mahatthai (Interior Minister) Prince Damrong Rajanubhab .
Chief Conservators of the Royal Forest Department (selection):
- H. Slade (1896-1901)
- T. Tottenham (1901-1904)
- WF Lloyd (1905-1925)
- Sanid Pukanan (1927-1937)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Supachai Lorlowhakarn; Sasithorn Teth-uthapak (Ed.): Science and Technology in Thailand: moving forward to the new era . NSTDA 2003, pp. 160f. ISBN 974-229-558-1
- ↑ Board Chart ( Memento of the original from September 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 667 kB)
Web links
- Royal Forest Department website (mainly in Thai)