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A 1993 satellite photo survey showed that forest areas in
Thailand had diminished to only 13.35 million hectares of
about 26 percent of the country's total land area. Thus, during
1973-1993 deforestation had claimed about 8.8 million hectares.
Most of the devasted forest areas are located in the Northeast,
the North, the upper part of the Central Plains and the West;
where there was extensive slash-and- burn agricultural practive
by villagers and illegal log poaching.
In view of the depletion of forest resources
and the government's restrictions on cutting, the growth rate
of forestry output declined from an annual average of 2.61
percent during the Second Five-Year Plan (1967-1971) to 0.25
percent during the Fifth Five-Year Plan (1982 -1986). The
Royal Forest Department undertook various reforestation projects
in various areas of 607,492 hectares in 1980, 648,512 hectares
in 1987 and about 1,000,000 hectares in 1993.
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FISHERIES
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Thailand's fishing industry is dependent on marine catches.
Fish from natural fresh waters, commercial fish farms, and
irrigated paddy fields account for less than 10 percent of
the total catch. The remainder comes from the sea.
During the fifth Five-Year Plan (1982-1986)
fishery output increased by an annual average of 2.45 percent
as compared with the 4.49 percent per year during the Fourth
Plan (1977-1981), 3.4 percent per year during the Third Plan
(1972-1976), and 18.6 percent per year during the second Plan
(1976-1971). Depletion of marine resources during the Sixth
Five-Year Plan (1987-1991) reduced fishery output so much
that the government is effectively enforcing regulated fishing
to ensure sustainable yields for both present and future generations.
An alternative which the government has undertaken to encourage
the production of fish helps to expand freshwater fish farms
to offset declining marine catches. Towards this end, about
45 freshwater fishery stations have been set up.
To overcome the effect of 200-mile economic
zone, the government has promoted private joint fishing ventures
with foreign countries aimed at alleviating the problem of
limited fishing sources, in addition to private joint ventures
in the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Australia,
India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. further expansion of
such joint ventures holds bright prospect.
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MINING
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The mining industry in Thailand is dominated by tin. However,
with later developments, the output of other minerals such
as fluorite, gypsum and lignite has become more prominent.
In addition, significant increases in the output of a number
of other minerals such as iron, antimony, manganese and lead
have been achieved. During the Third Five-Year Plan (1972-1976),
new mineral deposits were found and output expanded to include
tungsten (wolfram and scheelite), barite and zinc. The value
of zinc production rose from 377.4 million baht in 1984 to
1974 million baht in 1993. Mineral output in Thailand to a
significant extent depends on foreign demand as domestic consumption
remains low.
During the past decade, the mining sector
expanded slowly. Its share in the total Gross Domestic Product
remained fairely stable at about 2.5 percent.
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