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| นิตยสาร สารคดี: ฉบับที่ ๒๒๑ เดือนกรกฎาคม ๒๕๔๖ | ISSN 0857-1538 | |||
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On the coast of Chana district, Songla province lies a triangular piece of dense forest. Few people realize this forest is the last of Thailand's little known sand dune forests and is soon to be lost forever... Sand dunes such as this one can take up to 10,000 years to form as the process requires just the right combination of wide beach, steady wind speed and direction, fine sand, and bright sunlight. Wave action piles sand onto the beach, then wet sand is quickly dried by the sun and then blown inland where it forms large dunes. |
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Because of shifting sands and extreme conditions on the dunes, the transition from bare sand to forest does not happen overnight but rather in stages. Starting with the hardiest plants pioneering the dunes, each succession gradually makes the environment a little more habitable for the next. Eventually diverse flora and fauna abound. To nature lovers, the coastal dune forest in Chana is home to a rich collection of birds, especially doves, as well as rare beautiful wild flowers, ferns and orchids, including Cyssia (sp?), an ancient fern that was thought to be extinct from Thailand. To local people, the forest is like a big vegetable garden, an herbal medicine shop, a source of firewood and an exciting learning ground where local knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. But not for much longer. |
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Pung, a Sarakadee photographer, carefully captures on film the colors, the stories and the last memories of each little flower and other plant life in this ancient primary dune forest because they will soon disappear when the gas pipeline comes. The Thai Government decided in 1998 to develop the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area to deliver natural gas to Thailand. The decision was made without any public consultation and environmental impact study. And the gas would be delivered from the sea in a 255-kilometer-long pipeline that lands right where the dune forest is. |
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"The gas pipeline will destroy everything," said Niah, a woman growing up in the dune forest. Not only will the forest be cut down, people's traditional way of life is also threatened. The surrounding sea on which the local's livelihood depends will become a prohibited zone according to the Petroleum Act. With the availability of the gas supply there, a gas separation plant, liquified petroleum gas pipe network and energy-intensive industries, such as cement and ceramics, will soon follow. Industrial development will bulldoze the existing simple way of living in Chana. |