11. THAILAND

Title of the Project
Demonstrating Ecological Mangrove Restoration at Krabi Estuary RAMSAR Site

Summary
Most mangrove restoration projects fail due to the lack of consideration for the hydrology of the restoration site and only involve planting Rhizophora sp. nursery raised seedlings or propagules.  If mangrove planting projects succeed they usually result in mono-culture plantations with low biodiversity. 

Presently, in Southeast Asia there are huge areas of abandoned shrimp ponds that could be returned to mangroves by restoring the natural hydrology.  This project will demonstrate the Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) methodology, which ensures that disturbed hydrology is corrected first.  Both WI and MAP are well aware of the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach with full community involvement in the entire process is required to ensure sustainability. Also if human and animal grazing pressures on mangroves are too high then these too must be reduced and this often involves assisting people with supplementary livelihood options.   

 
The project output will be a healthy, bio-diverse, restored mangrove with an empowered community that can act as a catalyst for other mangrove communities.  This EMR demonstration site will then be used as a field training site for future EMR training workshops which will help ensure a higher rate of success amongst those wishing to restore mangroves.

Key Activities
Phase I: Oct. 2007-December 2008
• Consultations and information collection with all stakeholders including communities, government agencies, NGOs and shrimp farm owners
• Community capacity building (field study trip to Koh Yao Noi)
• EMR training (Six Step Method) for community, NGOs & Mangrove Management Unit
• Field site study, hydrological reference site study
• Production of Ecological Mangrove Restoration plan
• Implementation work – debris clearance, site grading, channel dredging etc 
• Supplementary livelihood development programmes
• Krabi estuary network development

Phase II: Monitoring and evaluation (January-September 2009)
• Site work M&E and correction of channels where necessary
• Supplementary livelihood follow-up
• Livestock exclusion fencing maintenance
• Using the BTC site conduct study tours for other villages. Encourage BTC-CG to lead restoration efforts in the other villages using their work as a model
• Provide further technical assistance where necessary
• Monitoring, evaluation, time lapse photography of restoration sites

Phase III: On-going maintenance at Ban Taling Chan (Oct. 2009-Dec 2012)
• Replication and up scaling EMR to other sites
• Livestock exclusion fencing
• Monitoring, evaluation, time lapse photography
• Channel maintenance (removing silt from channels that become blocked. Removing volunteer mangroves growing in the middle of a channel)

Note: This a 5 year project, but only Phase I and Phase II (2 years) will be covered by this proposal.

Contact Info

Mr. Asae Sayaka, Director
Wetlands International-Thailand Programme
P.O. Box 95, Kor Hong Post Office
A. Hat Yai, Songkhla Province 90112
THAILAND
Tel/Fax: +66-74-429307
E-mail: <asae-s@psu.ac.th>, <asaesayaka@yahoo.com>