On May 1, 2017, BIOTEC organized a panel discussion on “The process of asking and giving permission to conduct research in the conserved forests” at Thailand Science Park. The discussion aimed to provide information for researchers and interested people about the law and the policy as well as the access and benefit sharing to the natural resources in the area under surveillance of the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).
The main speakers of the discussion were the experienced representatives from the DNP. One of the problems they recognized is now there are many applications to get access to the reserved forests, from both Thai and foreign researchers. To organize these applications, the DNP established the Committee on Consideration of Research Projects in Forests. The purpose of the committee is to manage the procedures of considering the applications to be under relevant law and regulations, and align with national policies and strategies on research. Moreover, the DNP also assigned the Department of Academic Cooperation to coordinate and standardize the procedure of accessing the reserved forests. These two parties are to facilitate the processes of giving permissions to the research applicants.