The Thai authorities in northeastern Thailand have refused to meet villagers protesting against a plan to survey land ownership around a national park.  

About 300 people on Tuesday morning gathered in front of the Royal Forest Department Office of Phu Pha Man National Park in northeastern Khon Kaen Province to protest a plan to survey land ownership among communities adjacent to the park, according to a report from the Neo E-saan Movement, an environmental protection group in Isan.

The 300 represent 10 communities from Khon Kaen, Phetchabun, and Chaiyaphum provinces where some land of community members overlaps the National Park.

Villagers gather in front of the Royal Forest Department Office of Phu Pha Man National Park in Khon Kaen Province on 2 June 2015 (courtesy of Neo E-saan Movement)

Concerned that their communities might be affected by the survey plan, they demanded that the chief of Phu Pha Man National Park clarify why the new land survey is needed. However, the park official refused to meet the villagers’ representatives.

The group fears that the land ownership survey might lead to the reclamation of plots which overlap National Park land.

In June 2014, the junta’s National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issued NCPO Order No. 64/2015 as a master plan for national reforestation.

According to the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development (NGO-COD) of the Northeast, since last year, 103 small-scale farmers have already been accused of encroaching on protected areas and almost 1,800 in the Northeast have now been prohibited from using their farmland and are about to receive court summons for alleged encroachment.

NGO-COD added that if this trend is allowed to continue, approximately 1.2 million people who are living on land that overlaps protected areas could be affected.