MAP-Asia hosts field school students from York University, Canada

Between May 26-29, 2015,
the Mangrove Action Project (MAP)-Asia hosted 17 students from the Geography
Department at York University, Toronto, Canada. The field course abroad which
took place in Chiang Mai and Krabi provinces was led by Professor  Peter Vandergeest, who happens to be one of
MAP’s advisors,  and Dr. Tubtim Tubtim, who was the
local course coordinator. The objective of the visit was to learn from
communities on Klang Island, Krabi, Thailand about community-based
environmental conservation and development.  Jim Enright, MAP-Asia coordinator presented of
the Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC)
project which MAP has been implementing the Community-based Ecological Mangrove
Restoration (CBEMR) concept under this project.  EPIC investigates the role that healthy
ecosystems play in reducing disaster risk and supporting community-based
adaptation to climate change.  The goal
is to find and promote nature-based solutions rather than solely relying on
hard infrastructure which is not only expensive but provides no goods unlike
mangroves. The students were also taken to visit one of the CBEMR demonstration
sites at Ban Klong Kham, Krang Island, Krabi so they see the demonstration site
first-hand.

Students were taken on a boat tour of the mangroves while a
local community mangrove conservation expert, Bang Non, explained the mangrove
history stating at the end of the charcoal concession period the local mangrove
landscape appeared red rather than green like today, as so much vegetation had
been removed the red soils were exposed. 
He also the mangrove importance for local livelihoods in Krabi River
Estuary, which is now a RAMSAR site.  

One of the course exercises involved the students
researching topics in small groups by going out and finding local resource
people to interview through a translator. 
The students split into 4 groups and interviewed a local government
authorities and community members from 3 villages on the island. The different
topics they selected to study were 1). mangrove and shrimp aquaculture; impact
on natural resources and livelihoods, 2) tourism development; benefits and
impacts to local communities, 3) erosion; the causes and projects/activities
dealing with problems and 4) natural disaster preparedness. 

The field course was a great opportunity for MAP to
disseminate the CBEMR methodology to students from different region who most
experienced mangroves for the first time!