Thailand observes World Forest Day

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives' Royal Forest Department on Wednesday organised an exhibition here to display Their Majesties King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit’s initiatives on reforestation and forest conservation, as part of the country's observation of the World Forest Day, which falls annually on March 21 as designated by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to the department's Director-General Suwit Ratanamane, world forests have been critically threatened, resulting in the escalating global warming problem and repeated floods. In Thailand, Suwit said, overall forests account for some 40 per cent of the country's total area and have been illegally encroached, leading to frequent arrests of the encroachers by local forestry authorities. Suwit acknowledged that deforestation is a major cause of critical smog in the Thai north currently, as fires set after trees were fallen ended up into expanding wildfires, suggesting that all parties in the society share responsibility against deforestation, covering providing immediate tip-offs on suspicious actions to authorities concerned. (TNA)