Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Wild elephants on the edge of existence
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 13/04/2014
» ‘Stop the truck and turn the lights off now!” shouted 57-year-old Somporn Mee-im to his colleague, Mai, driving the pickup.
Paving a piece of paradise
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 27/10/2013
» Dech Khieonarong is one of many residents of Tak's Umphang district who cheered when the government announced it was reviving a plan to construct a new road from Khlong Lan to the remote town in the midst of a protected wilderness. Weary of traversing the 164km of arduous road with, by his count, more than 1,000 hairpin curves, he volunteered to head a committee of locals to push for the construction of the ''new'' Khlong Lan-Umphang road, a large part of which was actually constructed more than 40 years ago by the military as part of its efforts to suppress communist insurgents. The military managed to cut 115km of road through the deep forest inside Mae Wong National Park, 30km from Umphang in the 1970s. The military backed off on completing the road to Umphang because of objections that it would compromise the Western Forest Complex. Over the years the military road fell into disuse and is now overgrown and impassable in some places.
When a ranger falls in the forest
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 31/03/2013
» On the evening of March 14 in the deep forest of Pang Sida National Park, a ranger was shot dead in an encounter with a group transporting illegally logged Siamese rosewood. At the same time in Bangkok 300km away, international conservationists were wrapping up a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which gave greater protection to the tree which is rapidly disappearing from Thai forests.
Lab leads charge in smuggling struggle
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 10/03/2013
» As organised wildlife smuggling syndicates adopt advanced tactics to evade police, authorities say the latest forensic technology has helped put officers back on the front foot.
DiCaprio blasts Thai ivory sales
News, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 20/02/2013
» Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has urged Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to ban every type of ivory trade.
Thailand at the centre of rising illegal ivory trade
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 13/01/2013
» 'They are all authentic elephant ivory,'' a middle-aged retailer of crafted ivory ornaments told a group of visitors at her shop in Nakhon Sawan's Phayuha Khiri district last week.
Koh Samet's serenity shattered by development and disputes
Spectrum, Piyaporn Wongruang, Published on 23/09/2012
» As we arrive at the exclusive five-star beach resort on the southern tip of Koh Samet a young security guard approaches us and asks us where we think we are going.