International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy

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Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy

Received: 24 January 2016    Accepted: 01 February 2016    Published: 02 March 2016
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Abstract

Environmental Policy is a major mechanism for the government to drive the public administration on environmental management. In Thailand, some citizens were significantly affected from the inadequacy of Public Participation in Environmental Policy and leaded to widespread conflicts about their interests in society. Although the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B. E. 2550 (2007) attempted to broadly open the opportunities on Public Participation in the environmental management but the interest conflicts were still existed. This article studied on Thailand Environmental Policy, especially examined the Citizen Participation Practice in the Environmental Policy Formulation which would contributed the further development in public administration aspect. The current national environmental policy, the Environmental Quality Management Plan B. E. 2555-2559 (2012-2016), was selected as the case study and analyzed to examine Citizen Participation Practice under the policymaking context by the principle of citizen participation “Perceptions of Stakeholders and Planners: the ladder of citizen participation” and the concept of environmental policymaking in government. Related documents and researches, environmental laws and regulations, and policies were reviewed, analyzed and synthesized for appropriately conducting in the study. The results were found that Thailand had an appropriate framework on citizen participation in the Environmental Policymaking Process regarding the provisions of constitution but it was limited by the provisions of older laws and policies which were enacted before the 2007 Constitution was promulgated. All of Citizen Participation Practices were located in the category of Tokenism, where the citizens became involved but only to certain extent. This is not meaningful in term of citizen control which should be appropriately conducted in the democracy society. Thailand did not have Citizen Participation Practices in the category of Nonparticipation and the current national environmental policy open an opportunity for amendment on Environmental Legislation. These findings were benefit to the better development of Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy, which would be opened the participatory opportunity on the interest conflict resolution in the future.

DOI 10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11
Published in International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy (Volume 4, Issue 2, March 2016)
Page(s) 24-33
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Thailand Environmental Policy, Citizen Participation Practice, Policymaking Process, Public Participation

References
[1] The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B. E. 2550 (in Thai), August 24, 2007, Royal Gazette, Thailand. Vol. 124.
[2] ThaiPublica News (Online), 2015, Statistic of the administrative cases concerning environmental issues that citizens sue the Public Agency through the Administrative Court of Thailand between 2011-2015 (in Thai). Retrieved on October, 10, 2015 from http://thaipublica.org/2015/03/14th-anniversary-admincourt/.
[3] Thailand Environment Institute (TEI); King Prajadhipok’s Institute (KPI); Sustainable Development Foundation (SDF), 2007, The Access Initiative (TAI) Assessment in Thailand: Synthesis report on “Good Environmental Governance: Public Participation Indicators for Thailand’s Sustainable Development (Third Assessment) (Synthesis report under the Project Policy Strategy on Tropical Resource Base under the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand): Thailand Environment Institute (TEI).
[4] The Government Public Relations Department, 2013, Thailand's Constitutions Moving from Representative Democracy to Participatory Democracy. Retrieved on October 10, 2013 from http://thailand.prd.go.th/ebook/review/content. php ?chapterID=61.
[5] Sutthiprasid, Ganniga, 2011, Evolution of Thai Environmental Law, Administrative Court of Thailand: Trimester Newsletter. Vol. 2, April – June 2011. Retrieved November, 30, 2014 from http://www.admincourt.go.th/00_web/environment/newsletter 02.htm.
[6] Jane, Roberts, 2004, Environmental Policy, London: Routledge (an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group).
[7] Chaisomphob, TAWEEP; Sa-nguanmanasak, JATURONG; and Swangjang, KANOKPORN, 2004, Role of Public Participation in Planning Power Plant Projects in Thailand, Thammasat International Journal for Science and Technology Vol. 9; No. 1; January-March 2004.
[8] Cogan, Sharpe and Hertberg, 1986, "Citizen Participation", Chapter 12 in The Practice of State and Regional Planning, edited by So, FrankS. II, Hand, Irving, and McDowell, Bruce D., American Planning Association, p. 283-308.
[9] Arnstein, Sherry R., 1969, A Ladder of Citizen Participation, Journal of the American Institute of Planners (JAIP), Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1969, pp. 216-224.
[10] Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) Thailand, 2013, Environmental Quality Management Plan (in Thai). Retrieved on October, 30, 2013, from http://www.onep.go.th/index.php?option=com_content& view =article&id=2761&Itemid=173.
[11] The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), 2011, The Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan B. E. 2555 – 2559 (A. D. 2012 – 2016) (in Thai), Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, Bangkok, Thailand.
[12] Enhancement and Conservation of National Environmental Quality Act B. E. 2535 (in Thai), 1992, Royal Gazette, Thailand. Vol. 109.
Author Information
  • College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

  • College of Public Administration, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China; The Public Opinion Researching Center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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  • APA Style

    Prukkanone Kittisak, Wang Guohua. (2016). Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, 4(2), 24-33. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11

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    Prukkanone Kittisak; Wang Guohua. Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy. Int. J. Environ. Prot. Policy 2016, 4(2), 24-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11

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    AMA Style

    Prukkanone Kittisak, Wang Guohua. Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy. Int J Environ Prot Policy. 2016;4(2):24-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11,
      author = {Prukkanone Kittisak and Wang Guohua},
      title = {Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy},
      journal = {International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy},
      volume = {4},
      number = {2},
      pages = {24-33},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijepp.20160402.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijepp.20160402.11},
      abstract = {Environmental Policy is a major mechanism for the government to drive the public administration on environmental management. In Thailand, some citizens were significantly affected from the inadequacy of Public Participation in Environmental Policy and leaded to widespread conflicts about their interests in society. Although the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B. E. 2550 (2007) attempted to broadly open the opportunities on Public Participation in the environmental management but the interest conflicts were still existed. This article studied on Thailand Environmental Policy, especially examined the Citizen Participation Practice in the Environmental Policy Formulation which would contributed the further development in public administration aspect. The current national environmental policy, the Environmental Quality Management Plan B. E. 2555-2559 (2012-2016), was selected as the case study and analyzed to examine Citizen Participation Practice under the policymaking context by the principle of citizen participation “Perceptions of Stakeholders and Planners: the ladder of citizen participation” and the concept of environmental policymaking in government. Related documents and researches, environmental laws and regulations, and policies were reviewed, analyzed and synthesized for appropriately conducting in the study. The results were found that Thailand had an appropriate framework on citizen participation in the Environmental Policymaking Process regarding the provisions of constitution but it was limited by the provisions of older laws and policies which were enacted before the 2007 Constitution was promulgated. All of Citizen Participation Practices were located in the category of Tokenism, where the citizens became involved but only to certain extent. This is not meaningful in term of citizen control which should be appropriately conducted in the democracy society. Thailand did not have Citizen Participation Practices in the category of Nonparticipation and the current national environmental policy open an opportunity for amendment on Environmental Legislation. These findings were benefit to the better development of Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy, which would be opened the participatory opportunity on the interest conflict resolution in the future.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy
    AU  - Prukkanone Kittisak
    AU  - Wang Guohua
    Y1  - 2016/03/02
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    JO  - International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy
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    AB  - Environmental Policy is a major mechanism for the government to drive the public administration on environmental management. In Thailand, some citizens were significantly affected from the inadequacy of Public Participation in Environmental Policy and leaded to widespread conflicts about their interests in society. Although the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B. E. 2550 (2007) attempted to broadly open the opportunities on Public Participation in the environmental management but the interest conflicts were still existed. This article studied on Thailand Environmental Policy, especially examined the Citizen Participation Practice in the Environmental Policy Formulation which would contributed the further development in public administration aspect. The current national environmental policy, the Environmental Quality Management Plan B. E. 2555-2559 (2012-2016), was selected as the case study and analyzed to examine Citizen Participation Practice under the policymaking context by the principle of citizen participation “Perceptions of Stakeholders and Planners: the ladder of citizen participation” and the concept of environmental policymaking in government. Related documents and researches, environmental laws and regulations, and policies were reviewed, analyzed and synthesized for appropriately conducting in the study. The results were found that Thailand had an appropriate framework on citizen participation in the Environmental Policymaking Process regarding the provisions of constitution but it was limited by the provisions of older laws and policies which were enacted before the 2007 Constitution was promulgated. All of Citizen Participation Practices were located in the category of Tokenism, where the citizens became involved but only to certain extent. This is not meaningful in term of citizen control which should be appropriately conducted in the democracy society. Thailand did not have Citizen Participation Practices in the category of Nonparticipation and the current national environmental policy open an opportunity for amendment on Environmental Legislation. These findings were benefit to the better development of Citizen Participation Practice in Thailand Environmental Policy, which would be opened the participatory opportunity on the interest conflict resolution in the future.
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