Forestry in Thailand is constrained by several factors. Coincident with Thailand's rapid economic growth in the 1980s and 1990s, its forest resources became severely depleted. Logging in natural forests has been banned, but the forests remain under pressure from encroachment, illegal logging, fire and other agents. The Royal Forest Department, the government agency responsible for forests, has a long history of forest management and remains reasonably well resourced. Plantations, especially of rubberwood, and imports are now supplying the country's thriving downstream-processing timber industry. The huge importance of tourism to the Thai economy provides an excellent incentive for strong measures to improve forest protection.

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