Watershed Management with Special Reference to Thailand’s Forests

Abstract

Thailand is presently engaged in perhaps the most progressive national and economic development of her entire history. The conservation of soil and water will play a vital role in this development. The storage dam, leveling out some of the wasteful highs and inadequate lows of natural stream flow plays an important part in soil and water development. Ultimately however, as history has repeatedly shown, it is what happens to the countries watersheds that determines the nature and quality of stream flow. The objective of watershed management is to meet problems of land and water use, not in terms of anyone resource, but on the basis that all resources are inter-dependent and therefore must be considered together. Practical watershed management will be achieved only to the extent that it rests upon a thorough understanding of the fundamental natural processes which govern the behaviour of soil, plants and water.