Let’s not slide into mayhem

The landslides that struck communities in the northern region this month — and the isolated deadly landslide on Phuket Island last month — are not entirely natural disasters. They are glaring examples of man-made tragedies that could have been avoided, or at least mitigated, if governments and officials had paid proper attention to land use in mountainous areas.
It should be noted that mountain land with slopes steeper than 35 degrees is legally classified as public property under the supervision of state agencies. Private and commercial activities in these areas are banned and treated as criminal offences.
The proliferation of resorts built on mountains in Phuket, Phu Tab Boek in Phetchabun province, and the construction of a temple with a giant religious structure on Phuket Island — where the deadly landslide occurred — raises the question: What are the officials doing?
The same question applies to the mass plantations being developed on mountain tops in northern regions. Large-scale cultivation on higher ground has expanded not only in Thailand but also in neighbouring countries like Myanmar and Laos. While such cultivation has economic value, doing so in ecologically sensitive areas like mountainous terrain imposes significant environmental and community costs. Without forests, accumulated rainfall, as seen recently, easily turns into flash floods and landslides that race down hills, carrying plants, mud, rocks, and even trees with them.
So, what steps must the government and agencies take to address this growing problem? This weekend, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is expected to visit flood-hit areas in the North, where she will need to demonstrate her commitment to addressing the flood crisis. The key question is whether her policy will follow the same old playbook of building dams and floodwalls or whether she will think outside the box.
It is hoped that she will adopt innovative approaches, as climate change has altered weather patterns, rendering old strategies outdated. To start, Ms Paetongtarn must provide communities living in high-risk areas with disaster warnings and basic evacuation plans. Recent floods have shown that help from central and local administrations often arrives too late.
In the long term, officials must act swiftly to remove infrastructure, such as illegal buildings or even bridges and roads, that obstruct rivers and flood flow. The recent flooding in Mae Sai district was also a result of a river being blocked by illegal structures.
Finally, the government cannot turn a blind eye to problematic land use in mountainous areas. However, it must proceed cautiously, as the issue is more complex than it appears.
On the one hand, there are influential trespassers who commercialise public mountain land by building resorts or growing crops on a major scale; on the other, there are traditional forest dwellers, who have been allowed to stay on condition that they do not engage in mass cultivation and help protect the forest. When landslides occur, this group is often scapegoated for environmental issues.
The government must do more to support these communities, both by recognising their role in forest conservation and enhancing their disaster preparedness and evacuation capacities. The government must treat all land users fairly and wisely.
The last thing society wants is double standards, where poor forest dwellers are driven out while powerful land trespassers are spared.