Theerapat said that the department is surveying forest zones to be allocated under the scheme. The land might be taken from areas that were illegally occupied until recently. It might also include forest land on which villagers already live or expired palm and rubber concessions.
“The exact amount of land has not been calculated yet, but it will not be more than five million rai,” Theerapat said, adding that land rights will be issued to whole communities rather than individuals. Once land ownership is issued to communities, they will not be able to transfer it to outsiders, Theerapat said.
According to Theerapat, the 1998 resolution was originally made to address problems with forest land encroachment. He estimated that 600,000 villagers had settled in the forest before 1998.