Mu Koh Chang Coral Reef Demonstration Site: Lessons Learned and Challenges

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

Background

located in Trat Province, the eastern part of

the Gulf of Thailand

comprises of 60 islands, approximately 16

km

_{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

•

Storms

•

Coral predators

•

Coral Diseases

•

Coral bleaching

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

Causal Chain Analysis:

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.

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.

Outcome

Growth of sustainable ecotourism, adequate income of local tour guides

- 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

Development of a sustainable ecotourism program

Carrying capacity study for tourism in Mu Koh Chang

-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

- An economic valuation of the benefits of coral reefs can provide information for the design of coastal area management plans.

- 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.

“If the Park increases its entrance fee to _______ Baht per visit, would you still choose to come to Ko Chang?”

- a visitor’s willingness to pay the entrance fee was estimated as 161.52 Baht per visit.

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

Outcome:

-

Growth of sustainable ecotourism

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.

- Limited demonstration areas where they can be easily controlled and managed for the benefit of ecotourism, education, raising public awareness, ecosystem restoration and research

-

increase the survival of natural coral fragments that might otherwise have had low survival because they were susceptible to being buried.

-

recruitment.

An underwater snorkeling trail with underwater notes on coral reef organisms and best practices for

Snorkeling Trail

-

Control behavior of divers

-

Dispersion of divers

-

Determining appropriate diving route, such as over two meters in depth

-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.

UNEP GEF SCS

“Mu Koh Chang Demonstration Site”

Thailand Research

Fund Mu Koh Chang

National Park

Designated Area for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA)

Mu Koh Chang

Trat Province Office

Tourism Authority of Thailand

Institutions involved in management

of Mu Koh Chang

 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.

 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.

 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.

 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

Good practices

Dissemination of Experience on Sound Scientific Information for Tourism Development

Good practices

Dissemination of Experience on Sound Scientific Information for Tourism Development

Marine Biodiversity Research Group,

Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok 10240,THAILAND Tel/Fax: +66-2310-8415

E-mail: thamasakyeemin@hotmail.com, thamasakyeemin@yahoo.com