Thailand: Competing Institutional Roles
Like most countries, the implementation of international environmental commitments in Thailand involves various government ministries, including the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment (MOSTE), the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and the Ministry of the Interior (MOIN). While these ministries and others participate in the National Environment Board (NEB) and its various sub-committees, MOSTE, MOAC and MOIN occasionally have competing institutional and jurisdictional roles with regard to policy implementation. While MOSTE and, in particular, its Office for Environmental Policy and Planning (OEPP), oversee the preparation of environmental policies, MOAC has jurisdiction over Thailand's natural resources, such as forests, land, water and fisheries, and is the lead agency for implementing policies.
To provide an example of competing institutional roles, the OEPP is Thailand's national focal point for Convention on Biological Diversity and the secretariat for the National Committee on Biological Diversity (NCBD). As lead implementing agency, however, MOAC chairs the NCBD and, according to some observers, assigned less importance to biodiversity policy making than OEPP.
Source: Danish Cooperation for Environment and Development (DANCED). Thailand-Danish Country Programme for Environmental Assistance, 1998-2001. Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Environment and Energy, Copenhagen.
