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dam-l LS: Thailand tries to assess dam impact on teak forest
ENVIRONMENT, October 1, 1999
Thailand trying to assess
impact of proposed dam on
largest teak forest
By JASON TOPPING CONE
© Earth Times News Service
A unique study project is trying to develop a method of
quantifying the ecological impact of a
proposed dam in Thailand in economic terms. The researchers,
from Resources for the Future
(RFF) and a Thai university, have been studying the proposed
Kaeng Sua Ten dam, which
will flood one of the largest natural teak forests in Thailand.
Since 1997, with funding from the government and the Ford Foundation,
Suthawan Sathirathai of
Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University has been working with RFF's R. David
Simpson and Roger A.
Sedjo as they attempt to put an economic value on loss of genetic
diversity, the value of the forest as a
recreation spot and the potential income from eco-tourism.
The social scientists also have considered the economic value of
non-timber forest products such as
mushrooms and bamboo shoots that are collected by local people and
provide an economic "cushion"
for laborers and agricultural workers who often are without work during
economic hard times.
The study is attempting to give a methodology for analyzing values that
have previously been ignored,
Resources Magazine said, adding that those values should be considered
in other Southeast Asian
projects as well.
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