Covered at the meeting will be the 13-point criteria for the policy’s implementation, according to Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya.

The minister insisted that the policy would not affect people’s land holdings, as it mainly aims to solve overlapping land territory of state agencies and to tackle |deforestation and encroachment |on forest- and state-owned |land.

Any plot deemed to have encroached on state land could undergo a land-rights identification process so a state agency could fix the problem, possibly by leasing the plot to prevent more encroachment and to create income to the state, he said.

The 13-point criteria includes the following: If a national forest reserve overlaps with a national park/wildlife sanctuary, the |authority will maintain the latter’s territory.

If a national forest reserve overlaps an agricultural reform plot, the authority will consider the latter’s territory and the resolutions of |ministry-level and provincial-level panels set up to come up with |solutions for overlapping land issues.

If a self-settlement area and co-operative’s land overlaps an agricultural reform plot, the authority will base its decision on the land on whichever law is older.

People who encroach on |forestland will face legal action, with or without this policy, Paiboon said.

He said the map-correcting effort – slated for completion by December so the government can allocate land appropriately – would also yield a clearer picture of the situation for the government, which wants to increase forestland from 31 per cent to 40 per cent of total national land area.