Although the new constitution will allow people to have a say on environmental issues, the government's lack of commitment and the people's lack of awareness will hamper progress, according to prominent conservationists.

Non-governmental organisations can bridge the gap between the state and the general public but cannot have as much impact on society as the state can, they said.

The statement was made in a recent discussion on "Conservation of Natural Resources and Environment According to the Thai Constitution" at Kasetsart University.

The discussion was one of several discussions held as part of the annual Kasetsart Fair.

Santad Somcheeweeta, deputy permanent secretary of the Science, Technology, and Environment Ministry, and Chulalongkorn University law lecturer Bavornsak Uwanno said Thailand is fully equipped with laws effective enough to protect nature and combat environmental problems.

But Mr Santad said the success of public participation in the authority's environmental projects was only 10 percent.

He blamed it on lack of awareness and NGOs' narrow scope of interest.

He suggested they span their interest to development programmes that prevent instead of correcting destruction.

Thailand Environment Institute Director of Grassroots Action Programme Chamniern Vorratnchaiphan agreed there should be a balance in development and protection work.

But he argued that a lot of work of NGOs went unnoticed not because they had no impact or were too small but because they did not go against the government's policy which would have caused controversy and grabbed public attention.

"Not only does the government lack qualified personnel to educate people, it has a hostile view towards NGOs that we're a threat to national security just because we don't agree with the authorities," added democracy advocate Pibhob Dhongchai.

Both of them called for the state to be fair on the issue of press freedom, claiming that much of the press was indirectly controlled through sponsorship and advertisements.

"The government tries to make NGOs look like a monster. It makes sure the press releases one-sided information.

"It distorts the story or just simply doesn't tell the whole truth," Mr Pibhob said.

"It's easy to see why we have so many environmental problems. How can Thai people become committed to it when the government never shows any enthusiasm? They couldn't care less to learn," Mr Chamniern added.

They concluded that the best way to raise awareness in people was by being clear on all environment-related projects.

The best method was to have a public hearing.