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โครงการหนังสืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์ด้านการเกษตร เฉลิมพระเกียรติพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว

Executive Summary

“Highland Management: A State of Knowledge”

In the past three decades, an increasing amount of land in the highlands, which is mostly
forest land in the mountains, has been utilized for agricultural and other land uses. And the
problem continues to intensify. As the forests covering the mountains and areas with steep

slope are destroyed, the soil erodes and landslides occur due to heavy rain, in addition to
the loss of beautiful views. According to a Land Development Department report, as much
as 95.22 million rais of land in areas with more than 35% slope has soil erosion problems.
This results in accumulation of sediment in lowland areas, causing rivers and streams to
become shallow. There have been many landslide incidents in various locations, including

Phipun District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in 1988, Lom Sak District in Phetchabun
Province in 2000, Wang Chin District, Phrae Province in 2001, Laplae District, Uttaradit
Province in 2006, and recently on 28 July 2018 in Bo Kluea District, Nan Province. Each

landslide incident causes substantial property damages and casualties.
In addition, as a consequence of deforestation in the highlands, the downstream
areas suffer from alternating flood and drought. As stated in the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification, deforestation is the key factor that contributes to desertification in

various regions around the world.
There have been a number of government policies for highland management, as
stipulated in the National Economic and Social Development Plans, cabinet resolutions, and
regulations issued by relevant committees. There are also study results and

recommendations from scholars in various institutions. A number of highland development
projects are also successfully implemented in select areas by government agencies and
private organizations. But these initiatives are mostly carried out by separate agencies; they
are not aiming at solving the overall problem at the national level. Consequently, problems

in managing the highlands and mountains still persist. The problems are expected to
intensify, because of various factors, including pressure from population growth, which
increases land demand for agriculture and other activities, and climate change. If such
highland management problems continue, there will be negative effects on economic and

social development of the whole country. The government thus needs to formulate a new
set of overall national policies for managing the highlands and mountains.
Before doing so, it is first necessary to systematically review government policies,
concepts and recommendations proposed by scholars and institutions, as well as practices in

a large number of projects that have been implemented so far. The objectives of the study
are to draw lessons from the experience and to use such lessons in formulating future
policies for managing the highlands and mountains.

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