Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Natural resources Thailand'

Throughout this thesis I have laid out several factors that have contributed to the sustainability of shrimp farming in Thailand, and if sustainability whilst maintaining production can ever be achieved. To find out the current situation of shrimp farming in Thailand, the history of global and Thai shrimp farming is described. The social and environmental problems of the unsustainable history of shrimp farming in Thailand is then considered. Solutions to these effects conclude that it is up to the consumer to demand for better regulations from the government and the shrimp companies to ensure a sustainable future for shrimp farming both globally and in Thailand.

The literature suggests that a subtle relationship exists for communities between the meaning of water and sense of place, making fertile ground for systematic investigation. The relationship has obvious importance in today’s world, where people’s reliance on water, and the need for reliable supplies, form part of a common discourse in natural resource management. Yet, there has been much less discussion of what water means to people, how it connects with peoples’ sense of place, and what that might mean for the way people interact with their surroundings. The methodology of constructivist grounded theory was therefore appropriate to investigate this issue, and to derive a conceptual framework from the perspectives, the feelings, the experiences, and the actions of local insiders to water and to a place in which they lived. A systematic application of this methodology allowed me to constantly interact with data, create descriptions, and build conceptual frameworks from the ground. This process was conducted in particular settings: at Pok and Pang Jum Pee Villages near Chiang Mai City in the north of Thailand, where people interacted and relied on forests and the Mae Lai Noi stream in that forested mountain area. Two explanatory frameworks were derived from these settings. One sought to understand the constant features of the relationship between water, forests and livelihoods of community members during historical periods, driven by external and internal changes. Another examined the role of Buddhist rituals during, and as a consequence of, these changes, and how the rituals stimulated attitudes to, and actions of, forest and water conservation. The explanatory frameworks enabled the construction of a conceptual framework, proposed to explain the dynamic relationship between meaning of water and sense of place. The conceptual framework shows how a local reciprocity found in this relationship is consistent with the interaction between people, water, and place in the context of local communities. This relationship appears in particular settings and local contexts: in this case, where forest was meaningful as the pivotal physical setting and water was a part of forest. Additionally, economic well-being of local communities relied on both the forest and water, and people’s interaction influenced the nature of both water and forest. Together, sense of place or belongingness to a physical setting (forest) and the recognition of the meaning of water are vulnerable to loss. This responds to changing economic needs in local communities which themselves rely upon ecological conditions and connect with cultural and socio-political circumstances. Leadership plays an essential role, when such vulnerabilities are present, to evoke a sense of place and make explicit the meaning of water, driving the collective requirement for, and actions to protect and manage, water and place. Overall, the conceptual framework presented in this study provides a holistic and systematic perspective for investigating the relationship between the meaning of water and sense of place and may contribute to academic discourse and to natural resource management. This framework, however, requires verification and theoretical saturation in further research to be applicable when explaining the relationship between the meaning of water and sense of place in other settings or situations.

Based on comparative case studies drawn from rural communities in both northern Thailand and southern Yunnan, China, this study associates institutional transformation during the transition period with reformed resource management practices at the local level. Evidence from this study shows that accountable, adaptive and inclusive local institutions equipped with good social capital, clear property rights and strong enforcement, have great potential in establishing locally-adopted resource governance mechanisms. With an ambiguous definition of property rights and weak local institutional capability to claim and practise these rights, the local actors in the rural Chinese communities were hardly able to negotiate with other stakeholders and involve themselves in market-oriented NRM practices as significant players. In Thailand, although local institutions enjoyed a better degree of autonomy and more negotiation power in terms of locally-based NRM practices, customary tenure without official legal protection undermined the local actor’s ability to better benefit from the extension of the market economy and globalization. In both of the two countries, the extension of individualism and opportunism brought forth by market-oriented values and privatization policies threatened the functioning of the local institutions. Rekindling local institutions and integrating with formal decentralized institutional innovations in order to build up a pluralist institutional framework, were critical

Inland water bodies provide important fisheries resources in Thailand and elsewhere in south-east Asia, yet there is limited information on the biology of important species and catch rates in fisheries, and limited assessment of management strategies such as Freshwater Protected Areas. This study has provided important information on aspects of the biology of knifefish (Notopterus notopterus) and catopra (Pristolepis fasciatus), two dominant freshwater fish species in Thailand, as well as catch and effort trends in the trap fishery and the influence of a Freshwater Protected Area (FPA) on fish communities in Beung Borapet, a large freshwater swamp and an international important wetland in Central Thailand (15ºN; 100ºE). Both N. notopterus and P. fasciatus were shown to be the most dominant species using traps in fisheries-independent (18.3 and 23.2%, respectively) and fisheries dependent (31.2 and 22.9%, respectively) studies, and were therefore shown to be important species in Beung Borapet. Female N. notopterus reached maturity at 178 mm TL, while female P. fasciatus reached maturity at about 70 mm TL. Both species spawned throughout most of the year, with peak spawning between June and August when rainfall peaked and water levels were rising for N. notopterus and between April and September when water temperature and daylight length were peaking for P. fasciatus. Furthermore, both species are multiple spawners, with the former exhibiting low batch fecundity (approximately 113 and 864 eggs) and the latter showing high batch fecundiy (approximately 10,000 and 62,000 eggs). The high batch fecundity and the daily spawning of P. fasciatus is would result in a high total fecundity for the species. The sex ratio of P. fasciatus exhibited a slight male bias in fish <100 mm, but this reverse to a clear female bias in larger fish. For both species, growth parameters could not be determined using either cohort analyses from length frequency data, or length-at age data from growth increments in hard structures such as scales and otoliths. The catch composition of the trap and gillnet fishery in Beung Borapet was dominated by five species, namely P. fasciatus, N. notopterus, Oreochromis niloticus, Cyclocheilichthys repasson and Cyclocheilichthys apogon. Traps tended to catch larger fish of more marketable size than gill nets, especially for N. notopterus and O. niloticus. The trap fishery yielded approximately 92 tonnes (2.9 kg/hectare) of fish per year, which was valued at nearly 3 Million Baht (~$US 80,000), which provided an average net income of 83,000 Baht (~$US 2,100) for a fulltime trap fisher in Beung Borapet. Spatial closure management is a strategy used throughout the world for protecting aquatic biodiversity and promoting fish production. The FPA in Beung Borapet contained lower overall densities and biomass of fish than the fished area, but there were inconsistent patterns among fish species. Some dominant species, such as Cyclocheilichthys enoplos and Amblyrhynchichthys truncatus, had higher densities, while others, such as P. fasciatus and O. niloticus, had lower densities in the FPA. Furthermore, larger sizes of only a few dominant species were observed in the protected zone, e.g. P. fasciatus and N. notopterus. The benefits of the FPA for fisheries enhancement and conservation of biodiversity appear to be limited due to observed illegal fishing activities in the zone as well as higher turbidity related to point-source impacts observed in other studies. Management of the conservation zone in the region requires a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches and scientific information to improve the effectiveness of FPAs. Fisheries management needs to focus on both the resources and the stakeholders to minimize conflict among different stakeholders and inform them of conservation issues for their natural resources to promote their participation in the management strategies.

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(地域研究)
甲第12432号
地博第31号
新制||地||10(附属図書館)
24268
UT51-2006-J423
京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科東南アジア地域研究専攻
(主査)教授 速水 洋子, 教授 河野 泰之, 教授 田中 耕司
学位規則第4条第1項該当

Resilience is an essential and highly desired characteristic of a social-ecological system’s ability to adapt and adjust to various stresses and shocks that cause disruption. As social and ecological systems are intertwined and continually experiencing changes and disturbances, a major challenge appears revolving around the ways in which this resilience can be built and investigated. Social-ecological resilience can be defined as the amount of stress or disturbance that a particular system can tolerate, while still maintaining the same functions and identity. This paper uses social-ecological resilience concepts as a research framework, and examines three main themes that allow for the building of water management resilience to occur. These themes include learning to live with change, nurturing the ability to adapt/adjust to changes, and also on creating opportunities for self-organization. Two ethnic minority villages in Northern Thailand were chosen as research sites, in which the village water management practices were studied within a specific time period. Varying degrees of quantity and quality water issues within both villages have brought about stress and disturbances within their water management practices and increased the need to deal with these problems. Research was conducted at a community scale and resilience analysis pertains only to this specific level. Through the utilization of focus groups and interviews, qualitative data was collected and analyzed within a SE resilience context. This paper sets out to explore how social-ecological resilience has been built or not, and to what degree this has occurred within these two villages water management practices. The analysis indicates how complex and interconnected the social and ecological systems are and how the water management practices of these two communities play a role in this complex, dynamic process. Conclusions drawn are not limited to these two communities, but can be applied to the wider Northern Thailand region.

Das Hochland Nordthailands isi ein Beispiel für eine widersprüchliche Situation die entsteht, wenn ein zentralistisches Regierungssystem seine Kontrolle auf entlegene Gebiete ausdehnt und auf traditionellen Wanderfeldbau auftrifft. Auf Regierungsseite zeichnet sich die Politik durch unterschiedliche Interessen der Walderhaltung einerseits und Integration von ethnischen Minderheiten andererseits aus. Die Bergstämme ihrerseits erstreben Landsicherheit um ihre Subsistenzwirtschaft zu sichern. Somit geht es um Mediation und Konfliktresolution zur Überwindung der Dichotomie zwischen Waldschutz und landwirtschaftlicher Subsistenz. Trotz des fehlenden politischen Rahmens, hat es eine Verschiebung zu mehr partizipativen Ansätzen bei der Entwicklung des Hochlands gegeben, zum Beispiel Community Based Land Use Planning and Local Watershed Management (CLM) des Thai-German Highland Development Programe (TG-HDP) in der Provinz Mae Hong Son. Dieses Forschungsprojekt hat den CLM-Ansatz mit GIS kombiniert um jenseits der Demarkierung von Landtypen die Dorfebene mit höheren Planungsebenen zu verbinden, wie die sich etablierenden Tambon (Sub-Distrikt) Administrative Organisations. Vor dem Hintergrund der grundsätzlichen oben angeführten Probleme und auf den CLM-Ansatz aufbauend, wurden Landnutzungskarten digitalisiert um die Widersprüche zwischen zentralistischer Landklassifizierung und lokalen Dorfgrenzen zu überwinden. Durch den Vergleich von topographischen Modellen und Karten mit Dorfbewohnern und Regierungsorganisationen, könnte eine Kommunikationsplattform für die Formulierung von Landnutzungsplänen etabliert werden. Stolpersteine zur partizipativen Planung werden dargestellt und Empfehlungen für eine koordinierte Politik der Hochlandentwicklung ausgesprochen. Bei der laufenden Dezentralisierung werden die neu entstehenden Tambon (Sub-Distrikt) Administrative Organisations (TAO) sich als Schlüsselverbindung zwischen dem Staat und der Gesellschaft entwickeln. Eine Möglichkeit mit den unterschiedlichen Prioritäten der Teilhaber auf Tambonebene umzugehen könnte sich aus der laufenden Umstrukturierung des Landwirtschaftsministeriums (MOAC) ergeben, als Teil der administrativen Reform. Ein Teil dieser Reform auf Grasebene war die Einführung von Technology Transfer Centres (TTC) seit 1998, mit mittlerweile 82 vom Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE) etablierten Zentren landesweit. In diesem Kontext wird der Tambon ein Test für partizipative Landnutzungsplanung sein, sowohl aus der technischen Perspektive mit neuen Technology Transfer Centres, als auch aus der administrativen mit existierenden Tambon Administrative Organisations. Pläne der Vernetzung von TTCs mit TAOs müssen die Bedeutung der Repräsentanz von Schlüsselinstitutionen der Forstwirtschaft und Landentwicklung für Aspekte der Landnutzung berücksichtigen, sowie lokale Verwaltung und Sozialfürsorge für die Registrierung von Dörfern mit klaren und allseits akzeptierten Grenzen. Ein Ansatz von unten müßte sich auf die drei während der Forschung genannten Hauptprobleme konzentrieren, nämlich Reisinsuffizienz, Waldbrachemanagement und Dorfgrenzen. So lange der Zustand der Landunsicherheit weiterhin vorherrscht, werden Bergstämme Strategien zur Beibehaltung von ausreichendem Ackerland anwenden, wie die Deklaration von bis zu doppelt so vielen Hochlandfeldern und die Zwischenpflanzung mit Heckenreihen auf Bracheflächen um zu zeigen, daß dieses Land genutzt wird. Zur Zeit gibt es keinen einheitlichen Planungsansatz, jedoch hat die öffentliche Debatte in Nordthailand ein Stadium erreicht, inklusive der Bergstämmenminderheit, daß der Prozeß der Institutionalisierung weitergehen wird während das Land den Pfad der Demokratie beschreitet. Die Lösung von Problemen und nachhaltiger Landnutzungsplanung wird somit zu einem Testfall für die Umsetzung von guter Regierung auf lokaler Ebene.
The highlands of northern Thailand are an example of a contradictory situation arising when a centralised government system extends its control to remote areas and clashes with traditional shifting cultivation practices. On the government side, policy is characterised by conflicting interests between forest preservation on the one hand, and the integration of ethnic minorities on the other. Hilltribes, on the other hand, are looking for land security to meet their subsistence needs. It is a precondition for them to modify their traditional farming systems or to explore other alternatives to secure a livelihood. The issue has become one of mediation and conflict resolution in order to overcome the dichotomy between forest protection and agricultural subsistence. In spite of a lack of policy framework, highland development has shifted towards more participatory approaches, for example Community Based Land Use Planning and Local Watershed Management (CLM) of the Thai-German Highland Development Programme (TG-HDP) in Mae Hong Son province. This research project combined the CLM approach with GIS in order to go beyond the demarcation of land types and to connect the village level to higher planning bodies like the emerging Tambon (sub-district) Administration Organisations. In light of the fundamental problem of highland development described above, and building on the CLM approach, land use maps were digitised to help overcome contradictions between central land use classifications and local village boundaries. By crosschecking topographic models and maps with villagers and government agencies, a communication platform could be created for the formulation of land use plans. Stumbling blocks to participatory planning are illustrated and recommendations for a co-ordinated policy for highland development are made. In the current move towards decentralisation, the newly forming Tambon (or sub-district) Administrative Organisations (TAO) will evolve as the key link between the state and society. One potential to deal with differing stakeholder priorities at Tambon level could evolve from the current restructuring of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) as part of the administrative reform. A part of this reform at grass-roots level has been the introduction of Technology Transfer Centres (TTC) initiated in 1998, with 82 of them established nationwide by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DOAE). In this context the Tambon will be a test for participatory land use planning, both in terms of a technical perspective with new Technology Transfer Centres, as well as an administrative one with existing Tambon Administrative Organisations. The plans to link TTCs with TAOs need to consider the importance of representation of key agencies like forestry and land development for aspects of land management, as well as local administration and social welfare for the registration of villages with clear and mutually agreed boundaries. A bottom-up approach would need to focus on the three main problem areas identified during the research, namely rice sufficiency, forest fallow management, and village boundaries. As long as this state of land insecurity persists, hill tribes will resort to strategies to keep enough land for agricultural production, like the declaration of up to twice the number of upland fields under cultivation, and the interplanting of hedgerows in fallow areas to indicate that the land is used. For the time being a unified planning approach does not exist, but a stage of public debate has been reached in northern Thailand, including those of minority hill tribes, that the process of institutionalisation will continue as the country follows a path to democracy. The resolution of problems and sustainable land use planning will turn into a testing ground for the application of good governance at the local level.

This study analyses the culture, knowledge and resource use patterns of the Karang tribe in Phong-Luk village, which is located at the Kaengkrachan National Park. The goal of this project is to reveal the culture-based local wisdom of the Karang tribe that is consistent with sustainable environmental resource management and to recommend guidelines for governments to revise existing policies related to the tribe that are relevant with their cultural ways of life. This project is expected to enhance awareness of local wisdom and offer a strategy to relieve the pressure of resource use between the tribe and the national park. The specific objectives of this research were to 1) analyze the local production practices, land utilization practices and belief, and 2) identify and analyze the key issues of local wisdom that are consistent with the conservation and sustainable management of the local natural resources and the environment. Finally, the analysis explored the affects of the existing policies (e.g., national park and development promotion policies) on the tribe's livelihood and the expected impact on the natural environments due to the shift in practices of the tribe. analysis explored the affects of the existing policies (e.g., national park and development promotion policies) on the tribe's livelihood and the expected impact on the natural environments due to the shift in practices of the tribe. This research utilized a qualitative research methodology to study and understand the overall picture of the community. Interview and observation techniques were used to identify the important issues, which included the history and settlement of the community, production patterns, land utilization patterns, belief systems, relationships within the community and government policies. The research indicates that traditional production practices, traditional land tenure arrangements and cultural beliefs provide the tribe a means of self-reliance and environmental sustainability. However, these customary practices and beliefs are being threatened by government policies. Therefore, the recommendations are provided to guide policymakers in ways to incorporate the wisdom of the tribe in future decisions.
Graduation date: 2002

The Thung Yai Naresuan (East) Wildlife sanctuary (TYNE) is clarified as the Tiger Conservation Landscape of Global Priority and also a stronghold for other endangered and threaten species. Although, UNESCO designated this area, the cores of the Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), as a Natural World Heritage Site in 1991, this wildlife has been threatened by habitat alteration, prey depletion, and direct killing. Yet, the information on impact of human activities and wildlife status that is needed to guild forest authorities to develop conservation strategies remains challenging. The goal of this dissertation was to increase understanding of tiger, other main predators, prey status, and also impact of human activities in the sanctuary. In the TYNE, the globally endangered species were observed including Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus), Tiger (Panthera tigris), Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus), Dhole (Cuon alpines), and Malayan Pangolin (Manis javanica). Spatially explicit capture-recapture approach estimated tiger density at 1.4-1.6 tigers/100 km2 and leopard density at 0.7-0.8 leopards/100 km2, which indicates that there might be 27±10 tigers (95% CL range from 11-46) and around 12±4 leopards (95% CL range from 8-19) roaming in the area around 1,596 km2 in TYNE. The large predators like tigers, leopards, and dholes co-occurred in the area with the combination of both spatial and temporal partitioning due to differences in predator and prey activity and low overlap in space use correlated to their prey preferences. Prey availability, human settlement areas, and human disturbance activities are the key limiting factors for their distribution and space-use. The habitat use of tiger and leopard demonstrated that the population distribution was limited in the central to the eastern part of the TYNE, while the local people occupied the west with high disturbance activities. The activities by local people in TYNE were varied and the impacts of the disturbance were complex. Slash and burn, livestock, tree cutting, and poaching appeared to be the major influence wildlife abundance and habitat around the settlement areas. The results of this study stress the need for the further conservation and management to maintain wildlife distribution and populations in the future. Better scientific understanding of wildlife biology, ecology, and social sciences would help to deal with the conservation and management issues facing the local communities and natural resources in Thung Yai Naresuan (East) Wildlife Sanctuary.

Three complicated and interrelated issues are marine conservation, local development, and climate change. To seek insight into the challenges posed by these issues in a particular context, this dissertation focuses on seven communities near marine protected areas (MPAs) on the Andaman Coast of Thailand. The central question was “How can conservation outcomes and community livelihoods and adaptive capacity be enhanced in communities near MPAs on the Andaman Coast of Thailand in consideration of a changing climate?” The objectives were to explore local perceptions of social and environmental change and vulnerability, community opinions of Thailand’s National Marine Parks (NMPs), and the adaptive capacity of coastal communities. Literatures on resilience, adaptive capacity, vulnerability, conservation impacts, sustainable livelihoods, and governance and management frame the research. Fieldwork included Photovoice, interviews, and household surveys. Four stand-alone manuscripts are included in the dissertation: a) “A picture of change: Using Photovoice to explore social and environmental change in coastal communities on the Andaman Coast of Thailand”; b) “Vulnerability to multiple stressors in coastal communities: A study of the Andaman Coast of Thailand”; c) “Why local people do not support conservation: Community perceptions of marine protected area livelihood impacts, governance and management in Thailand”; and, d) “The capacity to adapt?: Communities in a changing climate, environment and economy on the northern Andaman Coast of Thailand”. Broadly, the dissertation offers relevant insights into the complex social-ecological changes being experienced by heterogeneous communities and the multi-faceted and multi-scalar actions required to address increasing challenges. Specifically, it a) demonstrates that Photovoice is an effective method for examining social and environmental change and providing input into community adaptation, conservation, and development processes, b) explores the social-economic and biophysical stressors that contribute to household vulnerability and suggests that multiple stressors, particularly economics and climate change, need to be considered in adaptation planning, c) recommends significant improvements to current NMP governance and management to engender local support for marine conservation, and d) illustrates that communities on the Andaman coast of Thailand are coping with environmental and fisheries declines, reacting to climate change and adapting variably to alternative livelihoods and proposes interventions for improving adaptive capacity.
Graduate
0366
njbennet@uvic.ca