World heritage panel defers forest ruling

A sign indicates that Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex is a world heritage site, but poor management threatens that status. (Photo courtesy Freeland Foundation)

The World Heritage Committee has deferred a decision on whether to place Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex on the world heritage in danger list until 2019.

The committee wants to see what progress has been made in efforts to prevent the cutting of Siamese rosewood, Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) secretary-general Raweewan Bhuridej said Wednesday.

Ms Raweewan said the World Heritage Committee has expressed confidence in the country's efforts to deal with illegal logging in the forest complex, that stretches 230 kilometres across central Thailand from Ta Phraya National Park in the east to Khao Yai National Park in the west.

They include a smart patrol system, launching prosecutions for illegal logging and resort encroachment, and closer cooperation with neighbouring countries to limit any threat to Siamese rosewood, or phayung trees.

Phayung is a rare plant species found in the park which helps give it Outstanding Universal Value, she said.

This is one criteria the committee looks at when considering what should be a World Heritage Site.

"The committee will wait to see the results of the country's action plan on Siamese rosewood protection, and will look at the situation at a committee meeting in 2019," she said.

The committee has raised concerns about the logging of Siamese rosewood, the Hauy Samong dam construction project and expanding roads inside the park, which it said were all prime threats to the forest complex.

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has become more aggressive in the way it deals with illegal logging, and figures show a drop in logging incidents.

As a result the heritage committee agreed to defer a decision on the complex's status.

Regarding a 2011 application to list the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex as a heritage site, Ms Raweewan said it is under the process of deferral, meaning further work needs to be done, including measures to prevent impacting ethic minority rights and demarking border areas between Thailand and Myanmar.

Thailand this year proposed that Wat Phra Tat Phanom in Nakhon Phanom be put on the tentative list, she said.