MAP’s mangrove conservation and restoration project at Thung Yor, Thailand

      Thung
Yor is a small village located in Krabi Province, southern of Thailand. Some
of the village area is mangrove forest which is connected to the Andaman Sea by tidal streams. Most of
the villager’s main occupation is in agriculture with a supplementary
livelihood from coastal small-scale fisheries.  So, due to their dependence on the fishing the villagers have placed a priority on the conservation and restoration of mangroves.

     The
community joined MAP to undertake a CBEMR project with the objective to restore 2
hectares of abandoned shrimp ponds back to mangroves.  The site consists of 3 ponds as seen in the
Google Earth image above with little or no tidal exchange, especially pond #2 and
#3 which was were waterlogged with few mangrove seeds entering the ponds and the
condition was not suitable for mangrove growth.  Pond #1 remained very wet as the pond drained through the sluice gate and by the time the pond was drained the tidal starting to come back up due the semidurnal tides. ( 2 high & 2 low tides in 24 hr) 

Under CBEMR the priority is to restore normal
tidal flushing.  The community wanted to
rehabilitate the mangroves but the traditional planting method
would not work in this situation due to the disturbed hydrology. MAP introduced
the concept of Community-based
Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) which was a completely new approach for
the community but they trusted MAP and are determined to learn.

    Some members of Thung Yor took part in a CBEMR training
workshop and field study tour (8-9 March 2017) to visit other CBEMR sites to learn the theory of this
new restoration process. A restoration plan was developed for the site,
following a full field survey including measuring the surface strata height of the
pond bottoms using an auto-level.  The hydrology
improvement started by using a backhoe to make a drainage channel in pond #1 and
breaching the earthen dyke for better drainage at the old sluice gate location
(lowest point).  The objective is to have rapid drain down of the pond similar to the nearby mangrove. The channel dug within the pond followed
the water drainage pattern looking much like a natural winding stream rather a straight canal.
 

The result was good tidal exchange which
allowed mangrove seeds to enter into the site with each tide. Mother nature facilitates mangrove seeds to be
dispersed everywhere in the ponds and the species start growing in the zone which is best suited for them.  Seeds that end up in an
in appropriate location do not fair well, die, or are out-competed by more
favourable species for that location.  This
is a process of natural selection and results in a natural mangrove ecosystem
rather than an even aged man-made plantation.

     Following just two months of
normal hydrology exchange we undertook our first monitoring using time-lapse
photos and the results were fantastic with many volunteer seedlings growing on
the restoration site. Moreover, there are many different species of seedlings
such as Rhizophora apiculata, Xylocarpus sp., Avicennia sp., Acanthus sp., Ceriops
sp., Bruguiera sp. etc.

Note: The Thung Yor CBEMR project supported by
Synchronicity Earth and MAP is part of
           SE’s Regeneration Portfolio.  http://syncmain.wpengine.com/?post_type=partner&p=14495