BANGKOK, Thailand – Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suchart Chomklin has distributed land-use certification booklets to residents in Uttaradit Province, marking a major milestone in the government’s National Land Policy Committee (NLPC) initiative to secure legal farming rights and safeguard local agricultural incomes.
The Minister presided over the official distribution ceremony at the Tha Pla District Auditorium, attended by Permanent Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment Raweewan Bhuridej, Director-General of the Royal Forest Department Nikorn Sirarotchananon, and provincial executives. The initiative supports the core administrative policies of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, focusing on regularizing land tenure within national reserved forests to improve rural livelihoods.
The Minister stated that the ministry is fast-tracking land tenancy resolutions in accordance with the Cabinet resolution dated November 26, 2018. The program formally recognizes residential and farming rights of local communities, granting legal security to generate sustainable income without the threat of eviction.
In Uttaradit Province, the Royal Forest Department mapped land management zones across nine districts, covering over 317,566 rai. Under the first target group, the NLPC framework allocated land across 35 zones covering 118,047 rai. Official permits have been issued for 12 zones, and the remaining zones are awaiting final approval. Project approvals and official declarations under Section 19 are complete for all remaining zones in the province.
The Minister highlighted the economic benefits of land formalization by citing durian farmers in Lablae District. With their NLPC land-use booklets, these farmers secured Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certification from the Department of Agriculture. This certification verifies that the premium “Lin-Long Lablae” durians are not harvested from illegally encroached forest reserves. It prevents predatory price-cutting by middlemen and drives multi-year advance orders from global buyers.
Meanwhile, the Minister issued a legal timber-harvesting permit under the NLPC framework to a local farmer in Khun Fang Sub-district, which authorizes the regulated harvest of 830 teak trees within the Huai Kiang Pha and Nam Khrai national reserved forests under strict forestry supervision. For Fiscal Year 2026, 1,800 farmers across eight districts in Uttaradit received their land tenure booklets, advancing the government’s long-term environmental vision of fostering a sustainable balance between human settlements and forest conservation. (NNT)
