Among the participants were some 300 cyclists.

They cycled alongside people in other vehicles, who all oppose the constructions, along the rally route from Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Centre to the construction site.

Rally participants flew green ribbons to show their stance in favour of protecting forestland.

The participants included activists who have long had differing political ideologies but have now come together for the common cause of protecting the environment.

Some cyclists headed from the construction site to zones with dense concentration of trees to perform sacred rituals to consecrate Chiang Mai’s forests.

Critics say the constructions have allegedly encroached on forestland, even though authorities have maintained that none of the buildings are located on land belonging to the nearby Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.

Authorities plan to hold talks with the protesters on Monday.

The Network to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forest posted its six-point proposal on social media in an open letter addressed to the Supreme Court president and the Judicial Commission.

It marked a softening of the group’s original hardline standpoint, which demanded that all the buildings must be demolished while rejecting “any other options”.

Teerasak Rupsuwan, coordinator of the group, said yesterday that the network would like to inform Supreme Court president Cheep Jullamon, who is the chief of the judiciary, and the Judicial Commission about the civic group’s consensus before a meeting of relevant state agencies scheduled for tomorrow.

The meeting is to be held at the order of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha in an attempt to find a solution to the dispute. Representatives from relevant agencies including the local military unit, Office of the Judiciary and Treasury Department are to attend the meeting in Chiang Mai.

The dispute involves the construction of summer residences for senior judges and court officials at the foot of the northern city’s Doi Suthep mountain. Local environmentalists are unhappy that the ongoing construction has allegedly appropriated Doi Suthep forestland, as the construction site is close to the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.

The project, built at a cost of Bt1 billion, includes nine homes for court presidents, 36 homes for chief justices, and 13 apartment buildings for court officials.

Teerasak said yesterday that the proposal came after his group’s meeting on Thursday with senior military officers in the northern region.

“The civic sector would like to reclaim part of the project area that is built on the original forest and clearly affects the ecological system – and not the entire project area,” he said.

The area the group wants to reclaim does not cover the part that houses the new office building of the region’s Appeals Court and most of the apartment buildings for court officials, the activist added.

He said the proposal was meant to find a “peaceful solution” to the dispute.

In its open letter, the group called on the judiciary to also take into consideration the possible hostile feeling of many local residents towards state agencies that could result from the project if the construction continued.

It noted that the project clearly encroaches on the “buffer forestland” of the national park – disputing an earlier statement by Office of the Judiciary secretary-general Sarawut Benjakul that other state agencies also have their projects in the adjacent land plots.

The group warned that the controversial project could encourage other agencies to expand their projects to encroach into buffer forestland.

The series has been a massive hit, sparking a mania among Thais to visit the Ayutthaya Historical Park where scenes for the soap opera were shot and have their photos taken in classical costumes from those times.

So many people are flocking to Wat Chaiwattanaram within the park that its visiting hours have been extended into the evening.

His Majesty the King joined in the nostalgia for what are widely regarded as “the good old days”, inviting citizens last month to an “Oun Ai Rak Klai Kwam Nao” (“Love and Warmth at Winter’s End”) festival in the Royal Plaza.

More than a million people donned the clothing of a bygone era.

Now the government wants to keep the ball rolling, promoting Thai culture and nationalism as a match for the Bt100-billion “Thai Niyom Yangyuen” (“Sustainable Thainess”) programme it launched earlier this year. Government officials have been encouraged to wear clothing made of Thai fabric during work hours, though the move has drawn complaints that those who don’t comply face discrimination.

The Culture Ministry and Tourism and Sports Ministry dived into the “creative economy” concept with the goal of celebrating “Thainess”. Anyone wearing traditional Siamese attire has been admitted to national museums and historical parks during Historical Thai Heritage Conservation Week, which ends today.

The TV series has been the talk of the town since its debut on BEC World’s Channel 3.

The series, which will end later this month, is about a kind-hearted woman, “Kedsurang”, whose soul is transported back in time to the Ayutthaya period to live inside the body of a beautiful woman called “Karaked”. Karaked was initially a wicked woman, who plotted a murder and was cursed.

“It’s been an interesting phenomenon – it’s got the younger generation watching TV soaps again,” notes Asst Professor Yukti Mukdawijitra, a lecturer at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Sociology and Anthropology.

“It reflects nostalgia, a yearning for the past, especially for ‘the good old days’. But the belief that the past was better than the present has been linked to biases in memory.

“It shows the mental illness of our society,” Yukti says. “Today we’re living in conflict, especially on the political front. Watching comical and fantasy soaps can temporary heal people’s hearts. In reality we remain divided, and the fantasy is that we are united.”

The show’s history is woven into a contemporary plot and features a modern, liberated woman as its heroine, touching on issues of feminism and democracy, but it is also steeped in nationalism and conservative attitudes. Due to the series’ massive popularity and the government’s endorsement of it as a valuable vehicle for preserving traditional Thai attitudes, Channel 3 is working on episodes for a second season.

And the Culture Ministry is planning to co-produce similar historical dramas evoking Thainess.

The whole “phenomenon” has its critics. It’s been pointed out that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s Niyom Thai effort bears a striking resemblance to the Rath Niyom (State Customs) cultural mandates issued by his predecessor of the 1930s through 1950s, the dictatorial Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram.

“Nationalism and conservativism are political tools to unite the nation,” says Yukti, “but the revival of Thainess cannot solve society’s root problems. Democratic election is the key.”

THE YOUNG AMERICAN backpacker Richard found his way to Bangkok, arriving in Khao San Road bustling with backpackers, before venturing further to a so-called paradise, where he joined the neo-hippie lifestyle pursued by a number of adventurous tourists who arrived before him.

It’s Maya Bay on Phi Phi Island, famously chosen as the so-called paradise setting for the popular 2000 film, “The Beach”, featuring Leonardo DiCaprio starring as Richard.

There, Richard found peace as he sat on the beach, looking into the distance past the deep blue turquoise sea of the nearly deserted bay.

Such is the serenity of the beach and the bay that has been showcased worldwide, that it has ever since earned fame and an endless procession of tourists.

But now it is in danger of being ruined. Recent years have seen such a flood of tourists that the beach has now exceeded its capacity.

This led to the recent notable action by the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation (DNP), to close the bay in order to give nature a chance to revive before it is too late.

“The location is critical in the sense that it has become a symbol because it is world famous,” said Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a member of the national marine and coastal resources committee that advises the department. “If we can do this here, we can do this elsewhere as well.”

Thon, a marine ecologist who has frequented almost all of the islands in the South including Phi Phi, firmly grasps the overload these islands face due to the constant increase in the number of tourists.

It’s another chapter in the classic conflict between income generation and sustainable development, this time framed as tourist spending versus sustainable nature. The point is the conflict cannot be resolved in Thailand simply by closing the island to visitors, and Thon knows there will be a number of things to do afterwards.

Thailand still relies heavily on tourism, he said, and it’s one of the prime sectors highlighted in the 20-year national strategy to help drive the country’s GDP.

So far, tourism comprises about 20 per cent of total GDP, with total revenue estimated at around Bt3.3 trillion. This income comes largely from the 40 million foreign tourists; more than 70 per cent tend to visit the country’s popular marine locations, Thon noted.

This has caused several popular marine spots to become crowded with foreign tourists who wish to appreciate their beauty, particularly the three main attractions in the Had Nopparat Tara-Mu Ko Phi Phi marine park, where Maya Bay is located.

About 4,000 tourists and 200 boats daily travel into and out of Maya Bay, said Thon.

Some 5 million tourists will this year visit Maya Bay and the other two critical marine parks – Similan and Ao Phang-nga – with an increasing portion coming from China.

This number, Thon noted, was greater than the total number of tourists visiting countries like Chile and the Maldives.

“These three parks alone see some 5 million tourists, which is more than the number visiting some countries. This is something that we need to understand first – the tourists and the income they would generate.

“On the other hand, our national parks were created to serve educational purposes. It’s impossible for them to receive such a huge number of tourists. I’m talking about our management now, that is no longer valid for the situation,” said Thon.

Recognising the heavy pressure on the ecosystem from the growth in tourist numbers, the national marine and coastal resources committee decided to call a meeting over a week ago to discuss the situation.

It decided to close Maya Bay for four months from June to September, an action that Thon calls a strike.

“It’s the way that we will rebalance what is at stake,” said Thon.

Giving nature a chance

Songtham Suksawang, director of the DNP’s National Parks Office felt relieved after the first critical step was taken.

As the office’s director who oversees 150 national parks nationwide, of which 26 are embattled marine parks, Songtham conceded that the department clearly felt the pinch about a year ago. As reported by the department’s study team, Songtham had learned about some damage done to the bay by tourists.

The beach sand had become tightly packed due to the weight of the loads of tourists who were roaming on it, with other parts eroding and leaving tree roots exposed.

If left unattended, the damage would have become irreparable, Songtham said, and that’s the reason why a meeting of the committee was called to discuss the worsening situation.

The department chief, Thanya Netithammakul, then made the policy clear that income generated by tourists was not more important than sustainable resources.

That policy helped the committee do what was needed and close Maya Bay to give nature a chance to rehabilitate the environment.

According to Songtham, new management approaches will be introduced to Maya Bay.

The number of visiting tourists will be cut by half when it’s reopened, along with the number of boats transporting them to the site.

With those numbers halved, and with the help of technology to help guide stagger the times of arrival on the beach, plus a newly introduced route to the beach, the department is hoping that both the beach itself and the park officials patrolling it, could receive and handle the traffic better than before.

If successful, it could lead to changes at other critically endangered beaches and bays in other marine parks. Meanwhile, the department has hired some university researchers to study potential management approaches, Songtham said. “It’s the challenge of modern national park management – how can we attract tourists to come and enjoy the places while ensuring our resources remain sustainable?” said Songtham.

“We may need to redefine those who come to us as ‘visitors’. Then we could deal with them and guide them better, as our parks are for educational purposes, not purely mass tourism. And as such, we need to equip our visitors with some knowledge.”

For a marine ecologist like Thon, he has hopes that at least the coral reefs could be rehabilitated.

Once the beach is closed, he is planning to lead a small team of marine ecologists to replant and nurture the bay’s coral reefs, with the hope that over the next four months they would grow and once again bloom underwater.

The national strategy committee has addressed the growth and maintenance of the coral reefs as part of sustainable marine and coastal systems.

They want to limit decline to no more than 50 per cent over the next five years, and with rehabilitation reduce that to no more than 20 per cent over the next 20 years.

The health of reefs “are sort of prime indicators that would help lead to other relevant actions”, said Thon.

“We would not be able to protect them all, but we must at least where we can, and with an effort to figure out how we can control tourism to not have as much impact as it is now.”

At a recent meeting on the definition of forest in government policies and plans held at the Forestry Faculty of Kasetsart University, experts and officials from concerned departments of National Parks and Royal Forestry exchanged heated views over the new definition, which was roughly drafted the last time they had met early last month.

According to faculty Asst Professor Khwanchai Duangsathaporn, also a member of the natural resources and environment reform committee, forest is distinctly defined and applied by various concerned agencies, prompting different work results that are not consistent.

For instance, the calculation of the country’s total forested area based on different definitions at different periods in time have shown varying rates of deforestation.

From 1973 to 1998, the forest area was meant to include all types of forests, with canopies not less than five metres and covering no less than 10 per cent of the growing area of five hectares. As interpreted on the map scale of 1:250,000, the country’s forested area shrank to around 17.93 per cent of the country’s total area, or about 57.49 million rai in those 26 years.

However, when the new scale of 1:50,000 was applied from 2000 to 2016, with the definition slightly adjusted to be in line with the international definition, the rate of forest loss declined sharply to 1.57 per cent, or 4.14 million rai, during those 17 years.

The figures prompted contradictory views on the exact forest area to be addressed in national policies and plans.

This is particularly of concern as critical policies and plans concerning the country’s forests have addressed “forest” differently, leading to different targets and goals, and how concerned authorities should work in the future.

For instance, the 1985 national forest policy addressed “forest for conservation” and economic forestry, which altogether should be maintained at no less than 40 per cent of the country’s total area.

The new 20-year national strategy, however, has defined “forest” as part of the umbrella concept of “green area”, with “natural forest” being maintained to reach the target of 35 per cent in the next 20 years.

“Varied” and “hard to understand” was how Asst Prof Khwanchai’s responded to the situation.

“We have various words to call our forests and they are varied and they are hard to understand. This is without mentioning [the impact] when they are applied in our forest laws and enforced against citizens.

“We are trying to find a new definition that people can understand and agree with. This must also be based on academic merit before being applied and implemented in law,” Khwanchai said during the meeting.

So far, the meeting has agreed to base the definition on what was agreed the last time, which was influenced by the international definition of the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020.

However, the definition was slightly tweaked as some participants raised concerns over agro-forestry and rubber plantations, arguing that they should not be considered as “forest”.

Under the FRA definition, forest means land spanning more than 0.5 hectare, with trees higher than 5 metres, and a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent, or trees able to reach these thresholds. It, critically, does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.

However, there are some exceptions for certain types of agro-forestry that it allows to be considered as “forest”. These include Taungya, where crops are grown only during the first years of the forest rotation, and rubber-wood plantations, which became controversial in the Thai context.

The meeting saw a heated debate on the inclusion of agro-forestry, as it was hard to differentiate them from satellite photographs when grown close to the forest. More critically, rubber plantations here should not be counted as forest at all, as they are aimed at sourcing rubber, not wood as defined by FRA, the meeting heard.

So far, it is estimated that rubber plantations cover around 32 million rai, with nearly half of them allegedly encroaching upon forest areas.

The meeting failed to settle the issue, but they were encouraged that they could reach mutually agreeable solutions.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister General Surasak Karnjanarat, who chaired the meeting, said the goal for forest reform needed to be set with a clear target, hence the need for a clear definition on forest.

“Enforcement at present was frustrating, and that’s the reason why academic knowledge was needed to help clear the path,” said Gen Surasak.