Damrong Phidet, chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), said he has asked Deputy Agriculture Minister Natthawut Saikua to revise the law and force farmers who grow rubber and oil-palm trees to register their plots and provide ownership documents to the authorities.

He made this proposal after talking to Natthawut, Nakhon Si Thammarat Governor Wiroj Jiwarangsan, Office of the Royal Development Projects Board deputy secretary Kowit Pengwanich, and representatives from the Agricultural Land Reform Office and Provincial Royal Irrigation Office Area 15 about ways of controlling wildfires in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Patthalung.

He said huge fires in protected peat swamp forests were caused to make way for large rubber and oil-palm plantations in the South. Local people start fires to destroy large swathes of forests before occupying the land.

After touring on a helicopter to inspect the protected forestland in the South, starting from Prachuap Khiri Khan, Damrong said he had discovered that more than 90 per cent of the forest area had been destroyed by rubber and oil-palm plantations.

"The forest reserve areas are only visible on maps," he said.

Kowit, meanwhile, added that HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn had expressed concerns over the large forest fire that is currently raging in the protected peat swamp area and has told the DNP to install a system to maintain the water levels at the Pa Pru Kuan Kreng peat swamp forest.

To date, more than 1,300 of 1,997 rai of peat swamp forest in the Royal-initiated Pak Phanang River Basin Development Project has been destroyed by fire.

The local DNP office is now planning to recover the damaged forest areas by building barriers along 13 kilometres and planting trees in the peat swamps. Moreover, the DNP will also mark out 62,616 rai in Boh Loh forest area in Nakhon Si Thammarat province as non-hunting areas.

The DNP office said Malaysians had hired Thais to become their nominees and own 1,000 rai of land in Khuan Khreng peat swamp forest in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The authorities are checking their land-ownership documents. Some party list MPs, politicians and businessmen have allegedly been found involved in trespassing forestland so officials are also checking their land-ownership documents.

Visit www.nationmultimedia.com to watch the video clip titled "Fire Torches 15,000 rai of Peat Swamp Forest".