Thailand: abused bird sanctuary
By Tony Ball
Tony Ball
Commercial development is Thailand’s cancer. It is spreading mindlessly toward national parks and wilderness areas, eating away the beauty and tranquility of this lovely country.
I have enjoyed hundreds of species of birds in Thailand for 22 years and grown to love this country. My two decades of fond memories makes the commercial metastasis so painful to witness. Like me, the average Thai citizen feels powerless.
Conventional tourism is partly to blame. The Thai government’s encouragement of tourism is founded on exploiting its natural areas rather than preserving them. I’ve seen no evidence that the 200-baht entry fees that foreigners pay are being used to maintain Thai parks.
Parts of Thailand, like the mountains in the north, are still relatively intact and beautiful, but only because they are so remote.
I recommend that Thailand make these three changes:
• Stop all development that encroaches on national parks.
• Ban slash-and-burn practices and enforce the prohibition. Human deaths from respiratory effects of smoke spike during a two-month winter burning period. The burn-offs must be stopped on agricultural, municipal and military lands and in construction zones under development.
Air pollution at Huay Tung Tao in March 2007.
• Reduce vehicle emissions. The laws on the books that govern this environmental problem should be phased in over time to ease the transition to cleaner vehicles and fuels.
This photos shows smog/polution at Huay Tung Tao in March 2007. A great deal of the smoke pollution is blown to Thailand from Burma, Laos and as far away as Indonesia.
Huay Tung Tao, a 2.6-km circumference reservoir on land owned by the military is an example of malignant, mindless deforestation here. Over the past 8-9 years I have documented the birds in this resort area. In the early years it was very productive bird-wise. But then the military began to slash-and-burn the area and prune the lakeside vegetation to the ground.
During one breeding season, all the growth around the lake was chopped, including the thorny mimosa, which was a sanctuary for the smaller birds. I found broken eggs and dead nestlings.
A paintball area was added. All terrain vehicles were introduced, and most of the birds left. The checklist of birds I documented over the years in this area is misleading because many species have disappeared or remain in greatly reduced numbers.
I have played my part in that process by introducing schoolchildren and kids from the villages to the birds that are still in the area. Some of them now enjoy birding as adults.
Indeed, more Thais are taking a greater interest in birding, which is needed to slow the cancer of devastation and then stop it.
RELATED LINK:
A Birdwatcher’s Diary (Thailand)
Short URL: http://birdsnews.com/?p=528
Posted by Rex Graham
on Sep 21 2011. Filed under Asia.
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