“The land problem originated from unjust land distribution, which caused a few rich people to own most of the land while the poor do not have any land to live on,” said Prayong Doklamyai from the People’s Movement for a Just Society.

“I don’t think this scheme will tackle this issue and it is just trying to solve the technical problem.

“Even if we successfully create the one map, I don’t see how the landless, whom the national parks were set up over, will benefit from it,” he said.

What the government should really do is revise land taxes, set up a land bank to give the poor access to land and then solve the mapping disparity by using the one map.

“I agree with the idea of using a single official map,” he said. “But I think this is a long and difficult way of achieving it, because there will definitely be losers in the shifting of land boundaries and land fights will erupt.

“The government has to answer how to compensate the losers and reconcile the disputes.”

After discussing the One Map policy’s guidelines with agencies, Prayut said the new 1:4,000-scale map, besides getting rid of agencies’ land-territory overlaps, would cover agricultural zones and help boost water management.

The map, a digital integrated work by agencies, would provide a universal delineation of territory for use nationwide.

It should solve the problem of agencies maintaining different maps for reference when working on master planning, land purchases and farming permits, resulting in overlapping claims and disputes.

“We are solving the nationwide issue, not just for Phuket or only a particular place,” he said.

Yesterday’s step would be the beginning of the process to ensure that no more territorial disputes or accusations that a measure favoured a particular group would occur again, he said.

The One Map panel and agencies were assigned to see how to ensure that people encroaching on forestland or state land would be able to make a living – possibly by applying other laws to help them such as allowing leases for farming, he said.

The map-correcting effort is slated for completion by December.