COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS Forest Trends (http://www.forest-trends.org): Forest Trends is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization advocating market-based approaches to conserving forests outside of protected areas. In addition to promoting markets for some of the ecosystem services, Forest Trends also supports markets for sustainably-produced forest products and markets that bolster the livelihoods of forest-based communities. To promote these markets, Forest Trends brings together leading agents in industry and finance with representatives from governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with forests. In addition, Forest Trends generates and disseminates critical information to market players in an effort to promote sustainable forestry. Center for International Forestry Research (http://www.cifor.cgiar.org): The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), based in Bogor, Indonesia, was established in 1993 as a part of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) in response to global concerns about the social, environmental, and economic consequences of forest loss and degradation. CIFOR research produces knowledge and methods needed to improve the wellbeing of forest-dependent people and to help tropical countries manage their forests wisely for sustained benefits. This research is conducted in more than two dozen countries, in partnership with numerous partners. Since it was founded, CIFOR has also played a central role in influencing global and national forestry policies. The York Centre for Asian Research (http://www.yorku.ca/ycar/): The York Centre for Asian Research was created to enhance the understanding of Asia and Asian diasporas. Our goal is to raise the profile of scholarship and education about Asia and Asian diasporas through research, lectures, workshops, and other public events. YCAR also supports scholars, community groups, and other organizations working to improve social justice and welfare in Asia and among Asian communities elsewhere. Through links with NGOs, governments, and academic institutions in Asia, Canada and elsewhere, YCAR facilitates the exchange of ideas and knowledge and promotes public awareness about Asia and Asian diasporas. YCAR is a centre for information on expertise about Asia and Asian Canadians, both within York University and further afield. SPONSORING INSTITUTION: 1 1 While the Department for International Development has provided financial support for this publication, the findings and views presented do not necessarily reflect UK government policy. AT THE SUPPLY EDGE: THAILAND’S FOREST POLICIES, PLANTATION SECTOR, AND COMMODITY EXPORT LINKS WITH CHINA by Keith Barney At the Supply Edge: Thailand’s Forest Policies, Plantation Sector, and Commodity Export Links with China © 2005 Forest Trends. ISBN - Reproduction permitted with attribution. Cover photo by ii TABLE OF CONTENTS AUTHOR CONTACTS Keith Barney is a Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Geography, at York University in Toronto and a Graduate Associate at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR). From 2004-2006 he is undertaking field work on the political economy and ecology of fast-growing tree plantations and rural livelihoods in Lao PDR, with funding through Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Keith can be reached at [email protected], see also http://www.yorku.ca/geograph/GraduateProgrammes/Graduate%20Students/PHD/barney.html iii PROJECT BACKGROUND This study on Thailand’s forestry sector was commissioned by CIFOR and Forest Trends as part of a wider effort to address an information gap regarding Asia’s forestry and plantation forestry industries as well as regarding the emerging trade linkages between East and Southeast Asia. This report on Thailand’s forest sector is one of three studies undertaken by the author, which links forest resource production trends in Southeast Asian countries to China’s rapidly expanding market for forest products, in particular woodchips and pulp and paper. The other two studies examine Cambodia’s and Vietnam’s forest sectors and their links with China. For some countries in Southeast Asia, such as Cambodia, the vast majority of recent trade in forest products has taken place through what are broadly illegal means and channels. This situation poses serious challenges for efforts to document regional relationships, while at the same time making it imperative that we develop innovative ways of estimating the illegal trade in forest products and forest loss as tools for political leverage. While the case of Cambodia may be the prime example, problems around poorly documented and illegal forest harvesting and trade flows exist for each of the countries studied. In addition to continued controversies over unsustainable harvesting, forest degradation and trade in Southeast Asia, a second related source of protracted tension in Asia’s forests involves conflicting, overlapping claims to lands and resources. Often, these conflicts have their source in the efforts of colonial- era forest bureaucracies to map and demarcate state-forest land from village land without adequate consideration for customary resource use systems. Land and resources held through common property forms of tenure have been particularly under-recognized in regional legislation. As many have argued, it is the poorest who are most affected by the policies which promote such displacement.1 There remains, however, a limited capacity of Forestry Departments in the region to actually implement forest zoning on the ground, and as a result these tenure disputes have often continued unresolved to the present. In many cases this situation has contributed to contemporary conflicts between communities and forest plantation companies. Close attention to local resource tenure systems in different Southeast Asian political contexts and a fuller documentation of the nature and extent of current state-community and company-community conflicts in the region are crucial for resolving these disputes. Given the extent of overlapping claims to land and resources in the region, the emergence of a new and potentially enormous Chinese consumer and industrial demand for forest products will likely have direct implications for land, resource and livelihood security of many forest- dependent communities in Southeast Asia. Research for this project was carried out in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, over ten weeks from late June to early September 2003 and has been kept updated since then to reflect recent developments. The methodology for the research began with a search of existing literature (from available government, scholarly, NGO and corporate sources, from both libraries and internet resources) on forestry and plantation forestry developments in the region. The focus was to develop a detailed picture of national production and consumption trends and regional trading relationships, both in terms of the legal and, to the extent possible, 1Direct displacement is here taken to include both the relocation and resettlement of communities, and (more often) the direct loss of local access to livelihood resources due to project or policy implementation which do not involve community resettlement. Indirect displacement can also be important and involves the unintended consequences of project or policy implementation, for example due to associated environmental externalities. iv illegal trade. In each country a number of key state officials and forestry–sector observers (from NGOs, academics, development banks and funding agencies) were then identified for in-depth interviews. Information on the primary pulp and paper operations and woodchip mills targeting production for export were also developed for each country and officials from these firms were contacted for interviews. Efforts were made to document the capacity and actual production statistics for these industries and to match these data to information on available wood resources and company supply strategies. Where possible, efforts were also made to upgrade the documentation on resource conflicts involving states, companies and communities. The research also attempted a preliminary exploration of the wider situation with respect to the trade in forest products between China and Southeast Asia (including hardwood logs, sawn timber, veneer and panels). Throughout the research, attempts were made to identify key individuals from government, academic and NGO sectors who might contribute towards and gain further research capabilities from a wider dialogue and critical debate on the future of forests and forest-dependent communities in the region. It is hoped that this research documenting the regionalization of trade in forest and plantation forest resources in East Asia and the associated implications for both natural forests and forest-dependent communities, will contribute towards informed decision-making, by governments, companies, funding agencies, investors and social- environmental organizations, and that it will lend support for innovative policies that better integrate priorities on development, poverty, and the environment. Keith Barney Vientiane, March 2005 v OVERVIEW OF THE THAI FORESTRY SECTOR BACKGROUND ON THAI FOREST POLICY A defining moment in the recent history of Thai forest policy is certainly the logging ban of 1989.2 The logging ban was an immediate reaction to landslides in the south of Thailand, which killed over 300 people, but it is also a reflection of broader changes in Thai society,