Community land title deeds for Thais

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Community land title deeds for Thais 
Bangkok Post: 7 May 2010
Community land title deeds in pipeline
Nod for 'flagship policy' expected on Tuesday

Community land title deeds are expected to be granted to an initial batch of 30 communities in September, a grass-roots group working on the issue says.

The issuance of community land title deeds is a flagship policy of the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. The scheme aims to solve land disputes between state agencies and villagers living on state land, such as forest reserves.

Prayong Doklamyai, adviser to the community group Thailand Land Reform Network, said the Council of State had finished screening the draft legislation on community land rights and the cabinet was expected to endorse it on Tuesday.

The legislation was drafted by a special committee made up of representatives from state agencies and affected communities established by the cabinet last October.

The draft legislation provides for land title deeds for idle state land to be granted to communities instead of individuals. Communities would be unable to sell the land.

If approved by the cabinet, the legislation would take effect within 120 days. After that, the government would grant community title deeds for land in provinces such as Chiang Mai, Lampang, Phetchabun and Trang to 30 communities under its pilot project.

Mr Prayong, however, complained that the state's legal arm had altered some key points of the draft legislation.

For example, the Council of State deleted a clause which would have given a community the right to manage the land for 30 years.

"This means a community has to renew their land rights with state agencies that own the land every year or so. This is like we are renting their land," he said.

Mr Prayong also criticised Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti for not supporting the scheme. The minister had been an "obstacle" to the community land rights policy as he did little to support the scheme, he said.

"Most of the state land to be granted to communities across the nation is under the supervision of the national park and royal forest departments under Mr Suwit's supervision. Lack of support from the minister will hold this scheme back," Mr Prayong said.

Jatuporn Buruspat, chief of the National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, wondered whether issuing the community land title deeds would contravene existing laws.

"People who stay on forest land illegally must face legal action," he said. "The policy to grant land rights to communities must comply with the law."

The department chief said issuing community land right to locals was not an effective way to stop encroachment on state land.

He said the decision to grant land rights to a person or a community must be based on satellite surveys to determine whether they occupied the land before it was declared a protected forest.

There are about 10 million people living in protected forests in Thailand and 2 million living on land owned by other agencies.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/36926/community-land-title-deeds-in-pipeline