CORAL REEF ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN MU KOH

MPA Management – A Case Study from Koh Chang
A regional demonstration site for coral reef management
Thamasak Yeemin, D.Sc.
President, Marine Science Association of Thailand
Marine Biodiversity Research Group, Faculty of Science
Ramkhamhaeng University, THAILAND
http://www.thaicoralreef.in.th
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
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sedimentation from infrastructure development
impacts from expansion of tourism business
unskilled divers
illegal fishing
coral reef bleaching
storms
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
 Produce 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.
 Broadcast knowledge of coral reef ecosystem on local radio
and television and web site.
 Produce coral reef ecosystem conservation handbook for
schools, universities, local libraries, stakeholders and involved
institutions.
 Develop education media on biodiversity and distribute them
to schools and communities.
2. Networking among agencies
 Establish networks for coordination between government
institutions and local communities.
 Establish the mooring buoy committee to manage all
mooring buoys.
 Meeting or seminar among NGOs for cooperation of
resource management including publishing newsletters.
 Establish 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.
• Establish local guide center and encourage local
guide activities.
• Install additional mooring buoys.
• Academic supports for local communities and
private sector to encourage public participation for
coral reef management and conservation for
ecotourism.
• Encourage 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.
Establish networks between coral protection
volunteer groups and government agencies
for patrolling.
Training the trainers for local communities.
Encourage 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.
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, mangrove areas, and learning
local fishing folk ways
- Increasing local fishermen income
- Raising 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.
 attaching branching Acropora spp. with screws to
designed PVC pipe frames in the coral nursery area
- The nursery area was also used for education and raising
public awareness.
Lessons learned: coral restoration
• Selection of restoration method depends on
objectives and area conditions.
• We recommend that coral restoration should
be in small scale for tourism, education, and
raising public awareness with supports of
stakeholders and local communities.
An underwater snorkeling trail with underwater
notes on coral reef organisms and best practice
for snorkeler
Underwater notes
Underwater notes
Underwater notes
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
Trat Province Office
Mu Koh Chang
National Park
Information Network for Management of Coral Reef
Tourism at Koh Chang
Designated Area for
Sustainable Tourism
Administration (DASTA)
UNEP GEF SCS
“Mu Koh Chang Demonstration Site”
(Ramkhamhaeng University)
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.
Lessons 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
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
(Sutthacheep et al., 2012)
The 2010 coral bleaching in Thai waters
 The project showed effective collaboration between scientists,
local communities and local government officials as decision-makers
to integrate scientific data into policy and adaptation practices.
 Artificial reef sites can be used to support ecotourism and
learning rooms for students.
 Capacity building, public awareness and education through
disseminating printed materials and conducting training courses,
workshops and seminars for stakeholders, youth, students and local
government officials can enhance resilience in coastal communities.
Marine Biodiversity Research Group,
Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok 10240,THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66-2310-8415
E-mail: [email protected]
www.thaicoralreef.in.th