Forest restoration at the landscape level in Thailand

Thailand is located in the Centre of the Indochina Peninsula, with a total land area of 513,115 sq km. Due to variations in climate and physiographical characteristics, various types of forests can be found. The complex forest vegetation ranges from upper montane forest, coniferous forest and dry deciduous forests in the north to lowland rain forests, sphagnum bog, peat swamp and tropical mangrove forests in the south. More than 50 percent of the land was covered with forest in 1960, but this gradually decreased to 25% in 1998, Owing to intensive reforestation efforts, forest cover was claimed to have increased to 33.4% of the total land area by 2008.

The history of deforestation and land degradation in Thailand dates back to the mid-1890's up to the early 1930's, when the Royal Forest Department (RFD) was established, to oversee forest exploitation, The first Forest Protection Act of 1913 was issued to assure benefits for the state. Rigorous forest exploitation took place from the 1930's to the 1960's, when income from logging became a driving force for other economic activities. The Forest Industries Organization (FIO) was established during this period (1947). From the 1960's to the late 1980's, forest exploitation peaked, due to the shift from subsistence crops to cash crops for export-oriented agriculture. Deforestation at that time was mainly due to agricultural expansion.

In the late 1980's, the country encountered several natural calamities, such as severe flooding in the south and drought in the Northeast. Thus, a nationwide ban on logging concessions was enacted. The average forest loss between 1961 and 2004 was greater than 3 percent per year. The worst losses occurred from  1976 to 1982 when political conflicts led to more encroachment into forest land. The destruction was not limited to terrestrial forest. For example, mangrove forest destruction was as high as 312 000 ha in 1979 and this continued to increase at an alarming rate, Deforestation has occurred nationwide at different intensities in each region. The most severe deforestation occurred in the Northeastern and Eastern regions; almost half of the forested areas were cleared between 1973 and 2008.

This book chapter summarizes national reforestation efforts. It recommends matching reforestation techniques with the level of degradation of deforested sites. It concludes with a discussion of the conditions needed to support future reforestation initiatives.