Presentation (PDF File)

Mu Koh Chang Coral Reef Demonstration Site:
Lessons Learned and Challenges
Thamasak Yeemin, Sittiporn Pengsakun, Chaipichit
Saenghaisuk, Wanlaya Klinthong, Makamas Sutthacheep
Marine Biodiversity Research Group, Faculty of Science
Ramkhamhaeng University, Thailand
Association of Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Education, Thailand
http://www.thaicoralreef.in.th
Background
located in Trat Province, the eastern part of
the Gulf of Thailand
comprises of 60 islands, approximately 16
km2 of coral reef area
declared as a national park in 1982
established as a special administrative zone
for sustainable tourism development since
2002
selected as one of the demonstration sites
for coral reef subcomponent under “The
UNEP/GEF Project on Reversing
Environmental Degradation Trends in the
South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand”
Threats on Coral Reefs
 sedimentation from infrastructure development
 impacts from expansion of tourism business
 unskilled divers
 illegal fishing
Threats on Coral Reefs
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•
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Storms
Coral predators
Coral Diseases
Coral bleaching
Causal Chain Analysis
Causal Chain Analysis:
Root Causes
lack of awareness
greed
lack of ecological knowledge
failure of coordination among institutions
inappropriate tourism management
inadequate numbers of government staff,
researcher and site manager for coral reef
management
inefficient law enforcement
poverty
degradation from natural disturbances
Activities
1. Public awareness and education
 Producing brochures, posters and permanent notice boards for
raising awareness on coral reefs.
 Training courses of marine ecosystem and its sustainable
utilization for local students, tour guides, tourism businessmen
and local communities.
 Broadcasting knowledge of coral reef ecosystem on local radio
and television and web site.
 Producing coral reef ecosystem conservation handbook for
schools, universities, local libraries, stakeholders and involved
institutions.
 Developing education media on biodiversity and distribute
them to schools and communities.
2. Networking among agencies
 Establishing networks for coordination between
government institutions and local communities.
 Establishing the mooring buoy committee to manage all
mooring buoys.
 Meeting or seminar among NGOs for cooperation of
resource management including publishing newsletters.
 Establishing international coral reef information network for
exchange marine biodiversity data.
3. Sustainable tourism development
• Study carrying capacity for tourists.
• Diving trails including underwater notes on coral
reef organisms.
• Establishing local guide center and encourage local
guide activities.
• Installation of additional mooring buoys.
• Academic supports for local communities and
private sector to encourage public participation for
coral reef management and conservation for
ecotourism.
• Encouraging local people and tourism organization
to clean up coral reefs.
• Study to determine tourist fee for coral reef
management purposes.
4. Capacity Building
Training for coral reef protection volunteer
groups.
Establishing networks between coral
protection volunteer groups and government
agencies for patrolling.
Training the trainers for local communities.
Encouraging research fund and study visit
for coral reef management to researchers,
government officers and NGOs.
5. Sustainable livelihoods
• Training of alternative livelihood for illegal
fishermen (e.g. mariculture).
• Socio-economic study in local
communities that use coral reef as a
fishing ground.
• Publish and distribute information
concerning fisheries and coral reef
conservation.
• Encourage establishing artificial reefs.
6. Improvement of site management to
support coral reef rehabilitation
• Monitoring coral reef conditions (ecological and
socio-economics aspects) and mapping additional
coral reef areas.
• Demonstration project of coral reef restoration by
using coral fragments and natural recruitment.
• Monitor and control land-based pollution.
• Training and assign particular staff from relevant
agencies to research on coastal development.
• Build-up coral reef and marine organism database by
using GIS.
• Support researches on mariculture of economically
important marine organisms.
Development of a sustainable ecotourism program
Outcome
Growth of sustainable ecotourism, adequate income of local tour guides
Activities
- Carrying capacity study for tourism in Mu Koh Chang
- Study to determine tourist fee for coral reef management purposes
- Establishment of Local Guide Centre
- Demonstration project of coral reef restoration
- An underwater snorkeling trail
- Installation of additional mooring buoys
Carrying capacity study for tourism in Mu Koh Chang
A Study at Koh Yak Lek
-Physical Carrying Capacity
→ 128 tourists at one time
-Facility Carrying Capacity
→ 212 tourists at one time
→ 6 boats or 18 speed boats at one time
-Psychological Carrying Capacity
→ 204 tourists at one time
- Ecological Carrying Capacity
→ Limit of Acceptable Change (LAC)
Study to determine tourist fee for coral reef
management purposes
“If the Park increases its entrance fee to _______
Baht per visit, would you still choose to come to
Ko Chang?”
- Employed CVM (contingent valuation
methods : technique that allows the value of
environmental goods and services to be
estimated by asking people directly ) to
determine an entrance fee for visiting reef
sites at Koh Chang National Park.
- a visitor’s willingness to pay the entrance fee was estimated as
161.52 Baht per visit.
- An economic valuation of the benefits of coral reefs can provide
information for the design of coastal area management plans.
Establishment of Local Guide Centre
- Supports of the Local Guide Centre
- Small fishing boat tours to coral reefs and mangrove areas, also local
fishing folk ways
-Increasing local fishermen income
-Improvement of awareness on coral reef conservation for all members
Outcome:
- Growth of sustainable ecotourism
- Adequate income of local tour guides
Klong Son
Fishing Trips
Demonstration project of coral reef restoration
- Benefit for ecotourism, education, raising public awareness, ecosystem
restoration and research.
- Involvement of Local communities, government agencies, private sector and
NGOs.
- Natural coral fragments were used in order to increase the survival of natural
coral fragments.
- Providing artificial substrates for coral recruitment.
Key ideas:
- Limited demonstration areas where they can be
easily controlled and managed for the benefit of
ecotourism, education, raising public awareness,
ecosystem restoration and research
- Natural coral fragments were used in order to
increase the survival of natural coral fragments that
might otherwise have had low survival because they
were susceptible to being buried.
- Techniques and methods used in this project were
kept simple, use cheap materials available in local
areas and providing hard substrate for coral
recruitment.
An underwater snorkeling trail with underwater notes
on coral reef organisms and best practices for
snorkelers
Snorkeling Trail
- Control behavior of divers
- Dispersion of divers
- Determining appropriate diving route, such as over two meters in depth
- Recreation + Education + Raising Public Awareness
Installation of mooring buoys
-Installation of mooring buoys were conducted by co-operation of Mu
Koh Chang National Park, local diving operators, local fishermen,
universities and NGOs with supports of UNEP / GEF / SCS Mu Koh
Chang Demonstration Site
-Established a mooring buoy committee to decide setting plans,
control and maintain mooring buoys for long term uses.
Institutions involved in management
of Mu Koh Chang
Designated Area for
Sustainable Tourism
Administration (DASTA)
Mu Koh Chang
National Park
Trat Province Office
UNEP GEF SCS
“Mu Koh Chang Demonstration Site”
Mu Koh Chang
Thailand
Research
Fund
Tourism Authority
of Thailand
Lessons learned and recommendations
 Encouraging local people and tourism organizations to
clean up coral reefs was successfully carried out for
cleaning the reefs and raising public awareness on
coral reef conservation.
 Several coral reef restoration projects have been
conducted however the high cost and limited scale of
restoration puts the onus on government and
communities to prevent damage to coral reefs in the
first place.
 The local administrative organization, the Designated
Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public
Organization), the provincial governor, the resort
owners and the government policy have to play major
roles to control land-based pollution and implement
pollution monitoring programs.
Lessons learned and recommendations
 The ecological and socio-economic monitoring
programs should be appropriately planned and
implemented.
 Encouraging coordination among government
agencies, private sector, NGOs, and local
communities during planning, operation and
evaluation phases to strengthen co-management of
all activities in the area and to reduce any obstacles
of the project implementation are very crucial.
Lessons learned and recommendations
 Management of diving behavior is very important.
 Establishing diving trails at particular sites is an
effective tool to reduce diving impacts on coral
reefs.
 Establishing a local guide center and encouraging
local guide activities play a major role for raising
public awareness and reduce impacts from tourists.
 A mooring buoy committee should be established
from representatives of relevant stakeholders. The
mooring buoy installation can be a significant tool
for systemization of diving activities.
Lesson learned and recommendation
 The provincial governor (chief executive officer)
can establish a special committee for coral
reef conservation.
 Mu Koh Chang Demonstration Site for coral reef
subcomponent under the “UNEP/GEF Project on
Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the
South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand” provides a
good opportunity for information exchanges and
transferring lessons learned to other sites.
Good practices
•
Coral reef management plan in Trat Province
•
Financial sustainability of the activities
Good practices
Dissemination of Experience on Sound Scientific
Information for Tourism Development
Mu Koh Chang Coral Reef Demonstration Site
Good practices
Dissemination of Experience on Sound Scientific
Information for Tourism Development
Mu Koh Chang Coral Reef Demonstration Site
Marine Biodiversity Research Group,
Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok 10240,THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66-2310-8415
E-mail: thamasakyeemin@hotmail.com, thamasakyeemin@yahoo.com
www.thaicoralreef.in.th