PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
IN
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AND THAI
FOLK WISDOM
By
Dr.Alexander Shytov
is
the Act on Tambon Council and Service (2537 B.E.) which was promulgated
three years before the new constitution of Thailand. This Act provides
for more authority and functions for a local entity, called tambon, which
unites several villages.(27) However, the process of decentralization
is still far from completion, particularly in the area of enforcement
of local community rights, and there is still much to do to provide a
clear legal framework for public participation.
Generally speaking, public participation can take two basic forms: the
first one is through the direct participation of every individual who
is affected by the outcome of environmentally important decisions. The
disadvantage of this type of participation is that it depends on the activity
of private individuals. If this activity is low there may be no public
participation at all. If this activity is too high the efficiency of administrative
process is endangered.
The second type of public participation is through the mechanism of local
government which, in a way, filters and consolidates the claims and the
interests of all individuals in a particular locality. Such type of participation
can be effective only if: firstly, the autonomy of a local government
is guaranteed; secondly, there is a significant degree of proximity and
accountability of the local governors to those people they represent;
and thirdly, even though the most significant issues are decided by State
organs the participation of the local government is ensured through clearly
defined rights and duties of the participants. The second type has advantages
since it makes the administrative process of deciding environmental issues
much more orderly than it would be in the case of granting the rights
to every interested person. The first type of the participation should
still be maintained in case of default by a local government to take significant
part in the process.
The reality of Thai administrative process is that both types of participation
are asserted on the highest constitutional level, but they are not enforced
and specified in detail on the lower levels of the regulatory mechanism
of deciding environmental issues. The future will show what particular
type of public participation Thai legal system will uphold. Dr. Kobkun
Rayanakorn in her conversation with the author, indicated that the main
problem now is that the Thai public still does not have a clear vision
of what public participation is about. The perception of public participation
can vary: it can be presented as a mere political manipulation to the
identification of public hearing with a referendum, while in the Western
legal systems it is conceived as a procedural safeguard. In Thailand,
public hearing becomes a hot issue where different conflicting interests
meet each other. There is always a desire of those in high position to
retain for themselves as much power as possible, and if the local communities
must acquire a greater power to manage and protect their environment,
then it will only occur through the struggle for their autonomy.
In this context, Thai folk wisdom can provide certain guidance for public
participation in environmental protection. Firstly, it contains certain
values which must be accepted as primary in deciding the complicated issues
of environmental protection. The values of harmony with nature and the
community, as well as mutual care and brotherly love can be seen in many
Thai folktales commented on in the book Thai Folktales and Law(28) . As
said previously, the main conflict in Thai politics is between the desire
of economic prosperity at the expense of the environment on the one hand,
and the folk culture of dependence on the clean environment. Therefore,
Thai folk wisdom favours conservation of the environment much more that
the economic goals of receiving as much profit as possible.
Secondly, apart from substantial values related to the protection of the
environment and the discouragement of greed, Thai folk wisdom contains
certain moral principles which can help lawyers when developing the procedure
of public participation. Firstly, public participation in environmental
protection is not only a right, but also a duty of every individual. Therefore,
the process of participation should be constructed in such a way as to
encourage people to fulfill their duty. Secondly, taking into account
the folk ideal of social solidarity, it appears that Thai ethics requires
public consensus in the decisions affecting environment. That would affect
and slow down many economic projects, and therefore would not have much
popularity with the government. If the government is a democratic government
which must adhere to the will of common people, and not satisfy narrow
and selfish interests of a certain class, then it must choose either to
be democratic and be with common people or to be authoritarian and be
with the rich and greedy for profit.
CONCLUSION
The
environment is usually understood as the natural conditions of land, air,
and water in which people, animals and plants live. Then, all kinds of
biological life are added, and finally, the cultural environment crowns
the concept. However, since the era of industrialization in the West spread
from the XIXth century onward, the Western mind-set has a tendency to
draw a sharp line between culture and nature. In contrast, Thai folk culture
does not appear to know the sharp distinction between natural and cultural
environment or at least, not yet.(29) The majority of the Thai population
is still living in the countryside, and the overwhelming number of those
who are counted among city inhabitants are those who live in Bangkok.
The rest of the country is very different. The fundamental question which
the whole Thai society faces is whether this folk culture-in-nature way
of living deserves the protection of law, and if so what legal instruments
and procedures can be employed to achieve this goal.
The main conclusion of this article is that the Thai legal framework of
public participation is not yet clearly established. Since fundamental
changes which occur in Thailand as a result of population growth, urbanization,
deforestation and consumerism are causing, or are about to cause deep
social conflicts, there is an urgent need to find a working model of public
participation which can assist in resolving environmental problems. It
may be that the Western model of public hearings is not able to solve
the problems which Thailand faces, and possibly Thailand needs to find
other mechanisms of public participation. Thai folk moral principles can
provide an alternative to the highly detailed and adversarial process
of public participation in the West. Thai folk wisdom stands for the shift
from an adversarial system of antagonistic rights and duties, to a system
of cooperation of the State, local communities, educational and religious
institutions, NGOs and private individuals as the only effective option
to unite everyone in the cause of protecting the environment.
_______________________________________________________________________
(27)
For Thai text of the Act see: http://203.152.23.33/html/fslaw.htm
(28)
Shytov A. Thai Folktales and Law. Chiang Mai, Acts: 2004.
(29)
See: Culture and Environment in Thailand. - Bangkok: A Symposium of the
Siam Society, 1989. |