khao yai world heritage in danger

I'm actually glad to read this. Of course not that all these issues are threathening this beautiful part of the country - anyway that's no surprise -, but good to hear at least UNESCO is putting some pressure on the government.
Not sure if it will help, especially if officials in the parks believe that the status is more a burden than an advantage. Just because it makes encroachment more complicated, haha. What a joke. It's not that much of a burden except placing those signs telling it's a world heritage site. Other than that any developers should just keep their hands of the protected areas. The boundaries are (for as far as I know) clear.

"However, of greater concern to the team was encroachment by developers of large-scale resorts, and modifications made to boundaries to facilitate this.

Credits: www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/3...rks-to-keep-promises."

Yes, it's troublesome to make modifications to boundaries. But there should be no need to make any modifications in the first place. Well, unless it is to make the protected areas larger.

When staying in Pangsida at the camping ground I could hear chainsaws in the distance at night (no, they were not cicadas). But with the news of a ranger getting killed by loggers, I can understand that the ranger stayed within his little station at the camp.

And the aloewood poaching in Khao Yai is just everywhere, even along the official tourist trails, but more even along the numerous unofficial/ animal trails. The factories south of the park proccessing these woods are/ should be known by the government. But nothing is done, because as with everything in Thailand, the rich have too much influence/ connections with officials.

There is good news as well. Not long ago, when leaving Khao yai in the evening, we saw 3 guys sitting with handcuffs on at the entrance of the park, guarded by armed park staff. The park staff told us the guys admitted they were after wildlife, but not sure what exactly. However, I haven't heard about any serious punishments for poaching in Thailand. At least Africa is more strict on this. Though, not that it seems to help much...

I always wonder how these forests would have looked if they were not exploited by greedy people? How easy or difficult would it be to see wildlife? There is quite an abundance of animals in some of these parks, so I wonder how large the original populations were before mankind came by to destroy most of it. How many tigers, elephants, deer, wild boar, etc should roam in these parks?

I was thinking about solutions, but it's certainly not easy. To get around the corruption I believe the only option would be to get foreign teams - with zero connections with local governments or any of this countries officials - patrolling the parks and country borders. An anti-poaching UN 'army'. Though, not sure if people are willing to voluntarily risk their lives to protect nature. I love nature, but am not even sure how far I would go to protect it...
But such an army would be the only way to get around corruption, but I'm 100% sure the Thai government would never agree with such a plan. It always seems like Thailand is by no means interested in 'help' from foreign countries. Just like they did not want any officials from overseas keeping an eye on the elections to see if everything went according to the rules.

BTW, is that tiger image used in the Bangkok Post article from one of the camera traps of the admin of this forum? It sure looks like it.

I wonder if the article also appears in major Thai language newspapers... Hope it's read by many.

Thanks for sharing!

onflipflops wrote:

BTW, is that tiger image used in the Bangkok Post article from one of the camera traps of the admin of this forum? It sure looks like it.

I looked at that also but I can confirm that its not one of ours, probably came from the DNP.

The DNP is under-resourced and has no control outside the parks of roads, police, administration, etc, etc. Protecting the fauna and flora needs a government wide firm commitment and actions. Legislation, funding, communication, education, criminal penalties, land office review, Min of Transport working in tandem with Min of NR/Env, etc, etc.

Money should be available, after all the government had no problem putting up 13 Billion to build a dam in Mae Wong National Park.

One number that always sticks in my mind from another article written by the BKP, an interview with Khun Chaiwat, Chief of Kaeng Krachan, was that he only has 85 rangers!! Even David and Goliath was one against one.

An 11th hour reprieve, and a new deadline ..................

"The World Heritage Committee has decided against placing the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest complex on the list of World Heritage sites in danger after Thai representatives provided satisfactory feedback to the panel's technical adviser - the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)...........: see link below

Khao Yai forest escapes UN danger list

Good to hear that they have plans to solve the problems in the region.
And good news about the encroachment along the 304 road.
Great if they demolish these resorts. And hopefully they will remove all human development between the parks and the 304 road.
Then dig a tunnel for the 304 road for at least a few kms to connect the various parks and create a safe crossing for especially the larger mammals to freely move around in the whole DPY-KY forest complex.