National park or treasure? On Monday, the Thai government is expected to re-submit its application to list Kaeng Krachan National Park and its adjacent forest complex as a Unesco World Heritage site at the Extended 44th session of the World Heritage Committee meeting convened in Fuzhou, China. This national park has been marred with notorious reports of conflicts between state park officials who resorted to heavy-handed measures to evict indigenous Karen villagers from the forest where they had settled for more than a century. If Thai delegates achieve their goal, Thailand will just get another World Heritage site. After all, having World Heritage status means the notorious Kaeng Krachan National Park must be treated as a treasure of mankind, and not just a tourism booster.

Source: Bangkok Post July 23, 2021 21:56 UTC