Although data are not readily available for all the ecosystem services of the forests, available data showed that the forest area for soil and water protection ranged from 35 percent in Viet Nam to 96 percent in Thailand. In Thailand, for example, severe floods in the southern part of the country in 1989 forced the government to take more serious forest protection measures. A Cabinet resolution on 17 January 1989 resulted in a timber-harvesting ban in the country followed by various policies to support SFM, forest conservation and forest protection.