Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

With the country’s remarkable gains in reducing poverty, Thailand was able to meet the target set in
the 9th Economic Development Plan (2002-2006) to reduce a percentage of the population under the
poverty line to 12% before the end of the 10th Plan (2007-2011). The country is also an early achiever
of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1, halving the percentage of people living under the poverty
line between 1990 and 2015 (NESDB 2010). However, it failed to achieve the highly ambitious target
of reducing poverty to less than 4% by 2009.
The success in bringing down the proportion of the poor relative to the total population was not paralleled
by the improvement in income distribution. In 2009, the income share of the poorest quintile was still
less than 5% whereas the share of the highest income group was still as high as 54.39%. For 2009, the
Gini coefficient for income was 0.48. The Gini coefficient estimated from SES data on consumption
expenditures for 2009 was 0.4072 and deteriorated only slightly to 0.4094 in 2010. 3
Using the Poverty Headcount Ratio, Jitsuchon and Richer revealed that the speed at which poverty
was eradicated differed by region, illustrating changes in poverty headcount by region and province
in 1988, 1994, and 2002. While there were significant changes both in the number of people living
below the poverty line and distribution of poverty in the north, central and southern regions, the
situation for the northeast, though improved, remained quite dire relative to other regions. In 2002,
it was estimated that around 3.8 million or just over 60% of the population classified as “poor” lived
in the northeastern region. The poorest provinces, namely Buriram, Srisaket and Surin were also the
provinces with the largest number of poor people. The north is the region with the second largest
share of the poor. The poorest provinces in the northern region in 2002 were Mae Hong Son, Tak,
and Uthai Thani.
A spatial information overlay of areas where there is concentration of poverty, with maps showing
the location of protected areas, particularly national parks, Forest Zone C and Watershed Class 1 A
and 1 B would be interesting guidelines on the priorities in addressing poverty alleviation and forest
conservation concerns.
Poverty and Forestry in National Policy
Forestry Policies within the National Economic and Social Development Plans
On forestry resources, the 5th Plan was the first that ever went beyond statements of principles
to stating concrete measures. The Plan recommended that watershed classifications be undertaken
(1982), that a National Forest Committee be appointed, and land classification be undertaken
to clearly delineate degraded from pristine forest area. Targets were also set that 300,000 ha of
economic forests were to be planted each year. To step up control, the Plan also recommended an
increase in the number of staff and equipment. Significant developments emerged during the 6th
Plan Period, especially the formal recognition of the role of local people and their organization in the
management of forest resources. Laws, rules, and regulations seen to impede efficient management
of forest resources were to be reviewed.
Apart from reiterating the need for forest reclassification, the Plan also supported the idea of private
sector involvement in areas such as development of commercial forestry, planting fast-growing trees,
and community forestry. The principle of people’s participation in natural resources management was
reiterated in the 7th Plan. An additional element stated was the potential to reduce conflicts over natural
resources use by having clearly defined land-use plans. The plan also advocated that potential uses of
financial and fiscal mechanisms be explored. An important policy statement was that the process for
issuing the Community Forestry Bill should be expedited to open up legal channels for people and their
organization’s involvement for the management of forest resources. All these principles were carried
over into the 8th Plan but with specifications over the need for adjustment both of roles and attitude of
3 Thailand Development Research Institute. Calculated from SES Data tapes.
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