Trat Province has become a hotspot for Integrated Coastal Management in Thailand. To coordinate efforts among various projects and organisations, Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) recently organised a workshop to take stock of available data and information. The data will be shared on DMCR’s online platform and serve as a basis for Marine Spatial Planning in Trat.
Photo: Winai Boonlom/DMCR
Trat Province is one of Thailand’s newly designated Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Bordering Cambodia, this coastal province is acknowledged for being one of the most important habitats for coastal dolphins, especially the threatened Irrawaddy Dolphin, as well as for supporting livelihoods of local fishing communities. While the SEZs are intended to bring economic benefits, they also carry risks of adverse environmental and social impacts. To address these risks, the concepts of Integrated Coastal Management and Marine Spatial Planning become ever more important.
Trat Bay is part of the eastern Gulf of Thailand, linked to Cambodia’s waters and located close to Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary and Koh Kapik Ramsar site in Koh Kong Province, Cambodia. Due to its rich biodiversity and healthy marine ecosystems, Trat Bay and nearby coastal areas have become a center for a number of coastal management projects including IUCN’s transboundary dolphin project and the Mangroves for the Future initiative (MFF).
Marine Spatial Planning has become a proven concept that enables decision-makers and resource users to synthesize complex information from various stakeholders and to promote sustainable use and conservation of critical biodiversity. For this to work, however, a shared platform and collaboration among stakeholders are needed and few places have been able to develop such a platform and to collaborate effectively.
DMCR, IUCN, the Sustainable Development Foundation and Burapha University have agreed to develop such a platform for Trat. The recent workshop took stock of the many ongoing projects, and DMCR will compile the collected data in a central database to make it accessible for further analysis. The platform will be created for government, NGOs and international organisations to work effectively and to foster information sharing through a joint database.
The number of relevant coastal projects in Trat is indeed impressive. At least 19 projects related to marine and coastal resources conservation and sustainable use have been or are being implemented in the province. These include five projects implemented by DMCR, one project from Thailand’s Department of Fisheries (DOF), as well as 13 projects from international organisations, among which are two projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), nine MFF small grant projects, one project led by IUCN and one by the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Education Center (SEAFDEC).
The data gathered will increase understanding of the natural environment, socio-economics and regulations related to coastal resources management and inform the decisions made by the provincial committees formed under Thailand’s new Marine and Coastal Resources Promotion Act (2015) and the new Fisheries Acts (2015).
The workshop has served as a first step to promote Marine Spatial Planning in Trat. This effort will make the ‘Trat model’ an example of smart online database and showcase collaboration among various organisations to make Marine Spatial Planning work for both biodiversity and livelihoods of local communities.
