While a police probe continues into an illegal waste site in protected forestland of Sa Kaew’s Wang Nam Yen district, local residents say they were left in fear of hazards to their health and the environment.

LANDOWNERS will be able to cut down up to 171 “reserved” and “rare” timber species growing on their properties without having to seek permission from the authorities, once an amendment to the Forest Act is published in the Royal Gazette in the next two months.