Protection of mangrove forests in Klongkhon
Links:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/08/08/get-dirty-wet-and-muddy.html
/b]
http://www.highlightthailand.com/main/detail_content/Green-Tourism-at-Khlong-Khon/171.html
If you are interested in nature protection at Thailand's coast, have a look to the mangrove-forestation projekt in Klong Khon near Samut Songkhran about 90 km's southwest of Bangkok - makes much fun too !
GPS: Khlong Khon Samut Songkhram 13.334706, 99.965241
You find mangroveforests at tropical flatcoasts - they have several irrecoverable functions:
1) They are an ecologic system which only can exist at such flatcoasts and only if there is enough influence of the tides and suspended load. The trees are standing in the water with their stilt and aerial roots and slow down the water current of the tides. So the sedimentation is enforced and the coastline slowly grows seaward - so the forest enlarge themselves their habitat. An ecological "law" generally is that the number of species is extremely high where where two ecosystems come together. Here it is the terrestric and marine system - species of both live here plus a lot of specialists which only can live here. Two examples are the mudskippers and the fiddler crabs...
2) Mangroves are the livelihood of the local population - they eat mangrove products themselves and sell it on the markets..
3) Mangroveforests are irrecoverable for coast protection - like the dunes in the Netherlands which are rigorously protected. Very important they are at tsunami-endangered coasts respectively they could be important if they still would exist. Tenthousands could have survived the tsunami-desaster in 2004 in Sri Lanka and Indonesia if there still would have been the original mangroves. That's not an estimation, that's the result of the calculationfrom geobotanic and coast protection experts !!
And here we are at the central problem:
Worldwide mangroves are destroyed with increasing speed - in Africa or Southern America like in Asia. There are two main reasons for that:
- more and more coasts are "developed" for tourism ( in Thailand for example the southern part
of Ko Chang)
- the muddy soil is an ideal precondition for the construction of shrimp bassins -the aerial pics I took 2004 nearby Trat, the other one in National Park (!!) Sam Roi Jot 2008.
What can we do?
I fear not so much. But perhaps an increasement of ecotourism could help to protect the local mangroves. If they can earn money by that they have a good reason to continue...
And for us it's a funny trip!
Links:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/08/08/get-dirty-wet-and-muddy.html
/b]
http://www.highlightthailand.com/main/detail_content/Green-Tourism-at-Khlong-Khon/171.html
If you are interested in nature protection at Thailand's coast, have a look to the mangrove-forestation projekt in Klong Khon near Samut Songkhran about 90 km's southwest of Bangkok - makes much fun too !
GPS: Khlong Khon Samut Songkhram 13.334706, 99.965241
You find mangroveforests at tropical flatcoasts - they have several irrecoverable functions:
1) They are an ecologic system which only can exist at such flatcoasts and only if there is enough influence of the tides and suspended load. The trees are standing in the water with their stilt and aerial roots and slow down the water current of the tides. So the sedimentation is enforced and the coastline slowly grows seaward - so the forest enlarge themselves their habitat. An ecological "law" generally is that the number of species is extremely high where where two ecosystems come together. Here it is the terrestric and marine system - species of both live here plus a lot of specialists which only can live here. Two examples are the mudskippers and the fiddler crabs...
2) Mangroves are the livelihood of the local population - they eat mangrove products themselves and sell it on the markets..
3) Mangroveforests are irrecoverable for coast protection - like the dunes in the Netherlands which are rigorously protected. Very important they are at tsunami-endangered coasts respectively they could be important if they still would exist. Tenthousands could have survived the tsunami-desaster in 2004 in Sri Lanka and Indonesia if there still would have been the original mangroves. That's not an estimation, that's the result of the calculationfrom geobotanic and coast protection experts !!
And here we are at the central problem:
Worldwide mangroves are destroyed with increasing speed - in Africa or Southern America like in Asia. There are two main reasons for that:
- more and more coasts are "developed" for tourism ( in Thailand for example the southern part
of Ko Chang)
- the muddy soil is an ideal precondition for the construction of shrimp bassins -the aerial pics I took 2004 nearby Trat, the other one in National Park (!!) Sam Roi Jot 2008.
What can we do?
I fear not so much. But perhaps an increasement of ecotourism could help to protect the local mangroves. If they can earn money by that they have a good reason to continue...
And for us it's a funny trip!