List of forest parks of Thailand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forest parks (Thai: วนอุทยาน, RTGS: wanutthayan) in Thailand are protected areas set aside for conservation and protection from development owing to their natural scenic value that are too small to be declared national parks.[1] The forest parks are managed by the fourteen protected areas regional offices and two branches.[2] Thailand's forest parks fall under IUCN Category V, Protected Landscape. There are a total of some 117 Forest Parks in Thailand, 91 are published in the Government Gazette, covering a combined land surface of 1,751 square kilometres (676 sq mi), which is about a 0.34% of the total area of the country.
Since the first protected area was established in Thailand, their capacity to achieve their purpose has been under multiple challenges. As other protected areas such as national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, forest parks are not free from severe threats such as land encroachment, illegal logging and poaching.[3]