<div>After a court ruled them guilty of causing global warming, 11 villagers have appealed and pleaded for a court fee exemption. The authorities are increasingly using judicial harassment against local people whose traditional homes overlap with national park areas, says an NGO.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 29 May 2017, villagers from Huai Kontha, Phetchabun province, <a href="https://prachatai.com/journal/2017/05/71691">appealed their</a> case before Lom Sak Provincial Court. </div>

<p>The former chief of a National Park has been appointed head of a new park protection unit despite the fact that he is the prime suspect in the enforced disappearance of a Karen rights activist.</p> <p>The&nbsp;<u>Daily News</u> reported on Tuesday, 3 May 2016, that Thanya Netithamkul, Director-General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), announced that the Department recently established a new forest and wildlife protection unit called the Tiger Corps Operation Unit.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Human rights advocacy groups urged the authorities to take actions against the prime suspects of the enforced disappearance of a Karen activist after two years of no progress. &nbsp;</p> <p>On Thursday, 7 April 2016, representatives of 22 human rights advocacy groups, such as Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF), Network of Thailand’s Ethnic Minorities and Human Rights Lawyer Association (HRLA), submitted a joint statement on the enforced disappearance of Porlajee Rakchongcharoen, aka Billy, a Karen human and community rights activist, to the Department of National Parks (DNP).</p>

<p>The Thai authorities revealed a plan to reclaim over 715,066 rai of rubber plantations allegedly growing in protected areas to serve the Thai junta’s forest protection policy. &nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thairath.co.th/content/496826">Thairath News</a>, Nipon Chotiban, Director-General of Thailand’s Department of National Parks (DNP), told the media in early May that the DNP plans to reclaim over 715,066 rai (1,144 sq.km) of rubber farms which were allegedly planted in protected areas nationwide.</p>