Althoughi t has been suggestedt hatB uddhismh as been zvo-optedt o arguet he
case for a moree nvironmentallfyr iendlya pproachto development"(R igg 1995:1 2),
the severity of the environmentaclr isis and its link with developmentin Thailand
cannot be denied. As will be explored below, the monks are responding to the
consequenceso f environmentadle gradationon ruralp eoplea ndt heirq ualityo f life.
The debatess urroundinegn vironmentalismar ei nherentlyp olitical,i nvolvingc ontrol
over and access to natural resources (especially land, forests, and water) and the
causes of rapidd eforestationa nd othere nvironmentaplr oblems.T he focus here is
on deforestationb ecauseo f its relevancet o the ruralp eoplew ith whomt he monks
work; deforestation, however, is only one element of a complex environmental
situationi n a rapidlyc hangingn ationale conomy.
The rateo f deforestationin Thailandis highert hani n any Asianc ountrye xcept
Nepal (Hirsch 1993:2) and possibly Borneo. The official figures given by the Royal
Forest Department( RFD) indicatet hat in 1961 (when the currentd rive toward
economicd evelopmenst eriouslyb egan),5 3 per cent of the nationw as coveredi n
forest.B y 1986, this figured roppedto between2 5 and2 9 perc ent. Nongovernmental
organization( NGO) estimatesp lace the currentf igure as low as 15 per cent
(Hirsch 1993:26-27; Pinkaew and Rajesh 1991:22-23; Trebuil 1995:68). These
H1gurerse presenta decreasef rom approximatel7y5 per cent forest cover ln 1913
(Hirsch 1993:27)