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Having Thailand's marine national parks made world heritage sites may save them from destruction

The Sea of Cortez, which separates the Baja California peninsula from the Mexican mainland, is hailed as one of the most unique and diverse seas in the world. Its clear blue waters boast playful sea lions, dolphins and whales, and serve as home to more than 900 species of fish.

Showing a video presentation on the Sea of Cortez as a prelude to a seminar on the Andaman Sea and the bid to nominate it as a marine world heritage site might seem odd for the uninitiated. But for the organizers of the seminar, Kasetsart University's Faculty of Fishery and Think Earth, and for those present who have explored the waters of the Andaman Sea and seen the beauty of its underwater world, it was a most appropriate introduction.

It showed that the Andaman Sea could hold its own when compared with one of the most beautiful seas in the northern hemisphere. Located in the Indo-Pacific, which contains the highest diversity of marine life in the world, the Andaman Sea has a whole range of marine ecosystems, ranging from mangrove forests and sea-grass beds to coral reefs inhabited by a wealth of colorful marine fauna. Even the late Jacques Costeau, one of the world's most famous marine explorers, was quoted as saying that the coral reefs around the Similan Islands were outstanding in their beauty and diversity.

The Similan group of islands is one of Thailand's 17 marine national parks in the Andaman Sea. These marine parks and one protected area are scattered in the provinces of Ranong, Satun, Trang, Phangnga, Krabi and Phuket, and are managed individually rather than as one whole entity.

This lack of proper management, coupled with destructive tourism, lack of proper control on coastal land development, unabated construction of infrastructure to accommodate tourists, land grabbing and illegal fishing are slowly but surely destroying the coral reefs and some of the islands that comprise the marine parks. Phi Phi Don, which is part of the Had Nopparat Thara Marine National Park, for example, is all but overtaken by hotels, diving operators, and shops and restaurants catering for tourists.

In a bid to save other islands from the same fate, a concerned Dr Songtam Suksawang, director of the National Park Research Division in the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, wants to propose Thailand's marine national parks as world heritage sites. "We need to find new guidelines for better and more effective management in order to save our national marine parks," he said in an interview. "Otherwise they will be gone in 30 years.

"Thai laws seem to be strong but are in fact incapable of preserving our marine national parks," he added. "If they are named world heritage sites, hopefully everyone will look after them and Thailand will gain a name for herself in the field of conservation."

Gaining a place on the World Heritage List, however, is easier said than done. "Even though a site may have national or regional significance, it does not mean that it will make the World Heritage List," Dr Marc Hockings, vice-chair of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Commission on Protected Areas, said at the seminar. "The World Heritage List is meant to be a select list of sites of outstanding universal value, and the IUCN and other advisory bodies are very rigorous in their evaluations to make sure that only the most exceptional sites will be listed."

He explained that once a nomination is received by the Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Centre, it is forwarded to the IUCN Programme on Protected Areas, which arranges a field inspection of the site and consultations with local government officials, local NGOs and local communities.

The nomination documents and the results of the field inspection and consultations then go to a specialist network of over 100 independent reviewers, who will be working in conjunction with UN advisory bodies. Their assessments will be brought together for discussion by the IUCN World Heritage Panel, a small group of experts who, after deliberations, will recommend to the World Heritage Committee whether or not the site should be included in the World Heritage List.

Compared to other types of protected areas, world heritage sites are at the tip of the pyramid and considered the "flagships" of conservation, Hockings said.

"Therefore, before preparing the nomination document, you must first make careful evaluation of the site or sites that you want to nominate," he advised. "Be objective in your assessment and review real and potential threats to the property.

"Comparative analysis needs to be global in scope. You must compare the property to similar places in the world that share the same values or illustrate similar geological, biological or ecological processes, including properties already on the World Heritage list. If the property does not rate highly when compared with other similar properties elsewhere, then you should consider whether you should go ahead with the nomination or not."

One of the criteria for nomination is that a site must have outstanding universal value, Hockings said. "Its natural significance must be so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of importance for present and future generations of all humanity.

"A property must also satisfy the conditions of integrity and/or authenticity," with effective boundaries that insulate it from the effects of development in neighboring areas.

Last but not least, "it must have an adequate protection and management system, to ensure that its outstanding universal value is maintained over time".

There's no doubt in the mind of Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat, deputy dean of Kasetsart University's Faculty of Fishery, who shared the forum with Hockings, that at least some of Thailand's marine national parks have outstanding universal value. The Similan Islands and Tarutao are now on the list of Asean Heritage Parks, and at a World Heritage marine biodiversity workshop held in Vietnam last year, Thailand's Surin Marine National Park was recognized as having significant components of outstanding universal value and further studies were recommended to determine if a nomination for World Heritage listing should be prepared.

Thon said that preparing the nomination document would require a budget of 10 million baht, but it would be money well spent. "The Andaman Sea has a most diverse ecology and marine life. Even if only some of our marine national parks are named world heritage sites the benefits to Thailand would be enormous," he said.

"The country is now earning billions of baht from tourism. Its earnings would increase tenfold, but even if it is only doubled it would still be a lot of money."

Hockings, who spent 15 years with the Queensland National Parks Service in Australia as manager of the Great Barrier Reef, which is a World Heritage site, said that in the case of the Great Barrier Reef, "tourism indeed provides a much more substantive economic benefit to the country than the other forms of use or exploitation of the site, such as fishing.

"But it has to be carefully managed," he added. "At the Great Barrier Reef we have zoning, where only certain areas are allowed for tourism. The area in the Andaman Sea that you are looking at is not as big as the Great Barrier Reef and if tourism development is allowed across the area then there is a potential cause for concern. Getting the balance between tourism and conservation and getting the boundaries right is very important."

Hockings was the principal author of the IUCN's best practice guidelines on evaluation of management effectiveness in protected areas. His recommendations gave food for thought for both Songtam and Thon, who agreed that a lot needed to be done before they could even start preparing the nomination document.

Hockings said that the World Heritage Committee and IUCN have been very concerned over the last few years "that not only the sites meet the criterion of outstanding universal value but also that the list does provide a representation of the key ecosystem types that exist around the world. There has been an attempt to make sure that the list is balanced, and that it is not just dominated by one particular type of environment."

Hearing this, and buoyed by Hockings' assertions that marine protected areas represent less than one per cent of oceans compared to terrestrial protected areas of more than 12 per cent of land surface, they are determined to go on with the nomination when the time is ripe.

Meanwhile, it is the duty of every Thai to protect our marine national parks, if not as world heritage sites, then as a heritage of great importance for present and future generations of Thais.

By NORMITA THONGTHAM Bangkok Post , May 31, 2008

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