Population Displacement and Forest Management in Thailand

Abstract

In the 1980s in Thailand, it was estimated that 10 million people were occupying land legally defined as forest (thereafter legal forest). During the following decades, a variety of state agencies tried to solve the problem through applying a mixture of population displacement projects and legalisation by granting usufruct rights or full land ownership to illegal squatters. This article focuses on the first approach, which has become the most high‐profile state intervention in forest areas. Previously published information on the subject is scarce and mostly anecdotal. The paper therefore attempts to supplement the debate by offering the first comprehensive review of conservation‐induced displacement (CID) across Thailand, focusing on the 1986‐2005 period. Results show striking inequality first in the geographical distribution of CID projects and ethnic composition of the people displaced. I find that Khon Tai (Southerners), Central Thais, Khon Muang (Northerners) and Karen have scarcely been affected by CID while the opposite is true for Northeasterners and particularly for non‐Karen hill tribes. Results also suggest that the number of people displaced by forest management, which amounted to at least 51,000 people from 1986 to 2005, has significantly declined since c. 2001. I propose a series of explanations of these peculiar results, and discuss their significance in light of Thailand’s changing forest policies. My interpretation rests heavily on the nature and evolution of the state motivations for CID projects, particularly those pertaining to geopolitical questions, and the unequal yet increasing political costs and constraints in implementing CID projects.