“I don’t like being a banker.” Turning back on 40 years of hardship, crossing over to the path of conservation of Nan forests

“In the last few years, my life has changed. I’ve been able to escape from what I was forced to do and do what I enjoy. But without my 40 years as a banker, I wouldn’t have been able to do as much as I do. That is, without my first 40 years, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing now because I didn’t have the knowledge, I didn’t have the credibility, I didn’t have the funding to support me.”

at "Lamsam's Command Room" On the 9th floor of the Phahon Yothin Head Office of Kasikorn Bank. Santi Wiriyarangsarit Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board Journal of Finance and Banking honored by Bantoon Lamsam, Emeritus Chairman, Kasikornbank The father's office was opened to welcome him.

The stressed image that Bantoon Lamsam used to see from his role as a banker for more than 40 years has changed to a face full of happiness. Bantoon said with a smiling face that he has kept the equipment in this office the same as when his “father” (Bancha Lamsam) worked in this office, including the computers and telephones from that era.

Currently, in the position of “Emeritus Chairman” of Kasikornbank, Banthoon said that it is just a “nickname” that he received, but now he is not managing the bank anymore, he just works at this building.

“In the last few years, my life has changed. I’ve been able to escape from what I was forced to do and do what I enjoy. But without my 40 years as a banker, I wouldn’t have been able to do as much as I do. That is, without my first 40 years, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’m doing now because I didn’t have the knowledge, I didn’t have the credibility, I didn’t have the funding to support me.”

Banthoon said that in the past 4 years, after turning his back on his banking career, he has chosen to move forward to become a conservationist and developer in Nan Province, a small province that he visited during a library donation event to a school 15 years ago and felt that Nan was a good place to live, leading to his moving and registering his household and becoming a full-fledged Nan person.

Decided to turn my back on
Things that are forced to be done

Bantoon Lamsam, Emeritus Chairman of Kasikornbank and Vice Chairman of the Nan Forest Conservation Foundation under Royal Patronage He talked about the reasons for deciding to leave his role as a banker and turn his back on management work. He said that there were 3 reasons for leaving. The first reason came from meeting investors around the world every year. There was always one opinion from foreigners: "Is a CEO too old?" This was something he heard every year. So he asked back, "How old is considered old?" They said about 67 years old, which at that time he was 66 years old. Furthermore, they also said that if he was not a CEO, he should not be the chairman of the bank.

“Although that opinion cannot force a decision, I am personally exhausted because I have been here for over 40 years. The second reason is that I believe that the existing team is replaceable. The team is capable. The bank’s board of directors looks good. The women in the team who run the bank are people who like working in banking. Unlike me, I don’t like working in banking at all. But I have to do it. If I liked working in banking, I would have stayed here for a long time.”

The third reason was that the Nan issue came up just right. I thought I would go to Nan to find a quiet, peaceful place, but it turned out that the issue of forests was involved, which was just a factor leading to the failure of the state and the people who could not solve the problem, until it escalated to the failure of management between the state and the people, until human life did not progress and the forests disappeared.

Banthoon also said that 15 years ago, he traveled to Nan Province with a project to donate a small library and felt that it was a nice place to live and wanted to come and live here. He learned that there was someone who had already lived here before him, namely Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, and that she was aware of the problems in Nan's forests. This was the origin of the beginning of the "Nan Forest Conservation Project", which aims to understand the underlying causes of deforestation and forest encroachment, and to track mathematical data.

“When I was ordered to go and see why the Nan forests were disappearing, I was just tired of my banking job at the time, so I started going to the area to find out why the villagers had to cut down the forests. The villagers told me that there was no place to farm because everything was illegal. They only had this much knowledge. There were no water sources. The villagers were in poverty because when the area was illegal, the government budget could not be provided. This made the people of Nan feel like second-class citizens.”

The issue of Nan and the loss of the Nan Riverine forest is a very complex problem with many dimensions involved in human life, making it impossible to solve the problem simply because, for one thing, the land has been illegal for a long time, meaning that people are unable to have legal land to earn a living, which is a major issue.

“The place where the villagers have lived since the time of their grandparents, hundreds of years ago, suddenly became a protected forest. It was awkward that they became illegal people by default. In fact, they did not encroach on the protected forest, but the protected forest was declared to cover the community where they had lived before that.”

 Clearing protected forests to satisfy the "capitalist world"

Banthoon also said that about 20 years ago, the trading mechanism began to enter Nan. When there was a demand to buy, there were also those who wanted to sell. It was a capitalist world. When there were buyers, they wanted to grow more until they started encroaching on forest areas. From just trimming a rai or two, it started to grow more. Importantly, no one said anything until others saw that it would make them rich and started doing it too. In the end, Nan's agricultural society was dragged into the vortex of the capitalist system. Villagers grew corn because there were buyers. When they planted and planted and there was not enough, they cut down trees in the forest reserve to grow corn.

“In just 15 years, 28% of the forest has disappeared because the total area of ​​Nan Province, 7,601,930 rai, is a reserved forest area according to the National Reserved Forest Act of 2507, 6,435,792 rai or 85% of the entire area of ​​Nan Province. But in 2558, the reserved forest area was 4,564,996 rai or 1,870,796 rai of forest has disappeared or 28% of the total reserved forest area.”

Banthoon also said that the world of capitalism has a lot of power, making the problem of forests a problem that is a global problem. Capitalism has such pressure that it can change government policies to respond to the issue of livelihood in exchange for votes because people look at the short-term result, which is the issue of livelihood, more than the long-term result. If it is left like this, the forest will lose to people.

“People encroach on the forests of Nan to grow low-quality crops like cassava. But that reflects that people are poor and have to make a living like this. And secondly, it reflects that the state is poor and thus teaches people to make a living like this.”

To solve Nan's problems, many disciplines must be involved, including forestry, hydrology, agriculture, and commerce. But first, we must start with political science and law, which must be completed first because if the rules are not clear, "politics", which means the politics of land allocation, is not clear, nothing can solve Nan's forest problems.

For political science and law, the government must solve the problem, not the private sector or the people because there is no way to solve it. Only the government has the power to solve it like that. Whoever is the government must view this problem as a problem for Thailand.

“Therefore, there must be a new negotiation under the rules that everyone understands and must be comprehensive. It’s not like giving to some and not to others. How can those who don’t get it feel good? Because the area is also a protected forest. Why can this person work in a protected forest? Why can’t another person?”

Banthoon also said that the solution to the Nan forest problem is a delicate matter in both legal and political terms. However, if it is not systematically implemented, the final result will not be fair and the problem will not be truly solved. Another aspect that must be addressed is the limited area that makes it difficult for villagers to make a living because the things that Nan Province produces have low economic value, such as growing corn, which is animal feed corn that does not generate much income. And there is no place in the world where corn is grown on the mountains. Most corn is grown on the plains, which is special because Nan does not have any plains.

“When we plant them on the mountain, it’s like exchanging the Nan River’s headwater forests, which filter 40% of the Chao Phraya River’s water mass, for plants with low economic value. This is an unwise exchange for Thailand. We need to solve this by finding something else to do in this limited area.”

However, if we analyze the satellite figures collected every year, in the beginning, we saw that 10,000 rai of trees were cut down per year. But when they were cut down, no one said anything, but they cut down more. Until the time before it was seriously discussed, 250,000 rai of trees were cut down per year, which was the result of the failure of the government and the people.

The opportunity to solve the problem of the Nan River headwater forest is that, first, the government must understand the problem of why the situation has continued until it is like this. Second, the government must be courageous as the person with the authority to administer the country. The government must be courageous in trying out different forms of management than before because the old way has proven to be ineffective.

“If we still stubbornly persist in the same old ways, it’s like fooling ourselves into believing that tomorrow will be better, even though it’s never been better in the past. This is because it’s a management structure that doesn’t really understand the assumptions of this world.”

The third issue is the ability to learn rapidly from all parties involved, which will allow the limited area of ​​Nan Province to have high yields that can support the lives of the people of this province and can be an area that does not create pressure to cut down forests as in the past.

“Therefore, having these three points should be like a blessing that we ask the gods and angels that if we can do it, there is a very high chance that we will be able to solve the problem.”

The origin of “Nan Sandbox”

Banthoon also said that one of the plans of the Rak Pa Nan project was to organize a seminar on Rak Pa Nan, which had been held for 5 consecutive times, bringing together community leaders, civil servants, and academics. However, when it passed, it was found that the problem could not be solved because the problem was a legal matter, so the law had to be amended. Therefore, they began to approach the government, namely the government during the time when General Prayut Chan-o-cha was the Prime Minister, and invited him to Nan Province.

“Can you believe that 80 years ago, Nan became a province in the Ministry of Interior system? This is almost the first time that a prime minister of the country visited Nan Province. Nan was seen as the last in line and did not receive any attention.”

After the initial negotiation with the government and having to spend a long time following up on the matter, by introducing mathematical methods into the negotiations, that is, Nan's forest area is 72% left, and what should people living illegally do? This led to the allocation of forest land according to Nan Province's law under the Nan Sandbox, that is, 72% must still be a forest with trees, 18% must return to being a forest with large trees by allowing the planting of economic crops under large trees, and another 10% allows the planting of economic crops to the fullest, but they must be more useful than corn, but still maintain the status of a reserved forest by law.

“Nan Sandbox is not a government agency. There is no budget provided. Instead, we sit down and discuss and apply mathematics, which is using the proportion of areas based on satellites and using the first principle of area allocation. In the area negotiations, we reached an agreement that the headwater forest must have 100 trees per 1 rai, which is an initiative to create area standards.”

The second point is making a living. If we continue in the old way, people will not have enough income to support themselves, so they will cut down forests to increase their area and use political lobbying to guarantee crop prices. This is a common practice in Thailand and does not help solve the problem because knowledge does not improve and people do not become richer.

“When talking about Nan Sandbox, we talk about the proportion of 72-18-10, and if successful, we will get back 90% of the upstream forest area, but that hasn’t happened yet.”

YAYA (Ya Ya), a new identity of Nan

Banthoon added that those who would think of a capitalist model must come from the world of capitalism to understand the problem. Since Nan is squeezed by the situation of the area, it is not an open area and must plant 100 trees per rai, causing the area to grow cash crops to not have much sunlight and must be crops that produce high-priced products. When produced, a portion of the profits must be shared back to the villagers so that they do not have to go back to growing corn on ten rai again. The problem is that there are only a few rai of planting area but there is enough to eat and use.

If we look at the megatrends of this world, what will be the trend is health products that come from plants (Plant Base) and medicines. In the history of the world, medicines came from the forest, from plants. From that point, it was the origin of the project to make medicines from plants to replace chemical medicines, without side effects, passing international standards, but not herbs, so a new term was coined: YAYA (medicinal grass).

the word "Medicinal grass" It comes from the word "Yao Chao" (藥草 – Yàocǎo) in Chinese means medicinal grass. If you try searching for words that mean plants with medicinal properties in English, you might find the word Medicinal Gras.

In addition, a new brand will be created to be a product of Nan that can only be found in Nan. If you want to buy it, you have to come here, just like wine. When the name Bordeaux is mentioned, you will immediately know that it is a wine production area. This project has received cooperation from the medical sector through leading universities in the country that have participated in the research and have received project consultation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as cooperation from the Ministry of Public Health.

The establishment of relations between the government and private sectors is important on the basis of working together to create benefits for both parties in the country, making relations between the government and the people or the government and the private sector something that cannot be neglected. Because if everyone does not cooperate, everyone will lose together.

“Nan is a loser in the capitalist world, 100 percent, but it is in the first-class watershed forest of Thailand, which has had its consequences. It has been recorded that you should not think that those in poverty are the losers, because those in poverty can pull those above down and destroy them as well.”

Banthoon said that Nan people are aware of Nan forests and development plans, but ultimately they need to go back and build good relationships with the people, which is approached through public health projects through the Nan Forest Conservation Foundation under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

“There is nothing better than helping with illnesses. And so that during the development, people will feel good about the country that their lives still have meaning, so we have developed all 170 public health centers in Nan Province, including rooms for doctors, which will be gradually completed in every location.”

In this public health development project, the new accident and emergency building for Nan Provincial Hospital has been renovated under a budget of 1,300 million baht by the Rak Pa Nan Foundation, which has upgraded modern medical equipment and will be completed in early 2568. This is one of the inequality reduction projects that will allow the poor to access modern medical technology comparable to private hospitals.

In addition, there is a project called Nan City Arts and Culture Hall and Eastern Lanna Arts and Culture Learning Center on the site of the old Nan Provincial Hall, which is under construction on an area of ​​over 8 rai, with a value of over 1,000 billion baht, and is expected to be completed in another year. The project aims to provide 1 children in Nan aged 10-18 to enhance their knowledge of language, music, and sports, which are sorely lacking in Nan. This is another way to close the gap in inequality, with the goal of making children think about what they will do when they grow up. This project is to provide children with a foundation and instill in them the spirit of knowing that as Nan people, life has hope.

“In the future, Nan will be a conservation area, with tourism, health products that will be unique to Nan. It will be a city with culture. In the next year, people will flock to Nan because they want to see what will happen to Nan, which has developed rapidly.”

Follow and read other columns. Available in the February 2568 issue of Finance and Banking Journal. Issue 514 In digital format: https://goo.gl/U6OnIi

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