Towards Wise Use of the peat swamp forest at Phru Khuan Khreng, Phattalung province, Thailand through the participatory development of a Management Plan for implementation by local stakeholders.

Grant Agreement nr. WGP1 6 GPI 14

Agreement holder: Wetlands International - Asia Pacific

Country/region: Thailand, South-east Asia

Activity period: 01/10/2001 – 30/06/2002

Objectives and results:

Contribute to the development of a comprehensive management plan for integrating development and conservation, and to remove the threats which cause the reduction of biodiversity in the Phru Khuan Khreng peat swamp forest system.
Objective 1: Enhanced capacity of local govt. agencies to better undertake habitat conservation.
Objective 2: Enhanced knowledge and capacity of local inhabitants and nongovernment stakeholders in community based resource management.
Objective 3: Identified options for the expansion of the existing Ramsar site at Khuan Ki Sean to include the entire Thale Noi Non Hunting Area.

Achieved:

See evaluation

Objective 1: Yes

Objective 2: Yes

Objective 3: Yes

The project implemented a participatory project design process with relevant government agencies and local communities around Phru Khuan Khreng. This resulted in identification of key environmental and socioeconomic concerns and led to the development of agreed strategies and co-management activities to tackle these concerns. The process enhanced participation by building the capacity of relevant government agencies to identify and respond to the needs of the local community, and by developing effective planning skills among the local village management institutions. The resulting well-documented report identifies the issues, provides ideas for alternative income generating activities, and presents detailed information on the back ground and past of the Phru Khuan Khreng area, the economics and livelihood of local people, problems concerning resource management and their causes. It identifies in a systematic way possible solutions, and describes the institutional setting, capacity enhancement needs (on basis of a comprehensive training needs analysis), and identifies possibilities for further Ramsar site designation/expansion. As such, the project has been very successful, in enabling the stakeholders to identify the basis for sustainable development and conservation.

The project has further facilitated financing by NC-IUCN of a follow-up project which commenced around the time of the finalisation of the GPI phase1 project. This project will result in a final stakeholder endorsed management plan for the area.