7/10/09
We arrived in the morning at Kamphuan and had a very successful Q&A session with the Muslim Women, in which we introduced ourselves and shared our stories with each other. They told us about how their religion played in their everyday lives and enabled them to get through the pain and destruction of the tsunami. We also had the chance to buy their hand-made handicraft scarves and batiks, with which they donate a portion to scholarships for students with HIV/AIDS. After having lunch with the women we proceeded to our water-testing lab guided by Rebecca.
In the lab we tested for phosphate, nitrate, pH salinity and ammonia. We analyzed different water trends with these 7 samples, which were collected by the Green Teams at all of the locations thus far on the program. We found that the water in Bangkok is completely disgusting and nitrate is the limiting reagent. Also, the water in the Gulf of Thailand is more acidic than it should be.
7/11/09
Today we went to Ban Talay Nok village. We learned from the youth at the community center about their six sustainability projects that were an organic garden, recycling/composting program, fence and tree improvement, biofertilizer production, mangrove restoration, and their green house competition. For the mangrove program, they were in the process of getting government permission to be able to dig the land to plant mangroves. The planting process will take 11 months and the entire project will take two years in order to determine if the planting was a success. The kids ranged from age four to 20 and it we all thought that it was a good idea to teach about sustainability from such a young age.
We ate lunch at their school and were supposed to help plant trees along the side of the road after lunch, but it was raining too hard to do that. Instead we went indoors and played games with the children in the community center. We then got to make our own soap and used cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the soap to make our own “soap mobiles” on ropes. The women there started the soap making business after the tsunami as a way to support themselves and their families. We met many villagers who were directly affected by the tsunami. There was one child at the center who was one of two survivors at a school that was destroyed by a tsunami, as well as a girl who lost her sister, brother in law, and two nephews. It was a true eye-opening experience for all of us.
7/12/09
Today we were supposed to return to Ban Talay Nok village but we were not able to because of the torrential downpour. Apparently we are experiencing a “tropical depression” which is the same as a tropical storm in the States. If it gets windier it will be classified as a cyclone. There are power outages and insane flooding and the road outside of our resort is basically a river, and the actual river is flowing over a bridge. Wading across to 7-Eleven is the biggest adventure of the day.
Kamphuan: KLC - Kamphuan Learning Center and Mangrove Restoration Project
Project:-Mangrove Rehabilitation and Regeneration for Biodiversity Prapas Beach Ranong Thailand
The project aims to develop an experiential education program involving the local community/estuarine ecosystem stakeholders in directly gathering knowledge and experience in surveying, identifying, propagating, planting, monitoring, and managing a mangrove ecosystem regeneration program located in Prapat Beach Estuary, Ranong Province, Thailand.
A goal is to have a living laboratory for local scientists and community members to learn the benefits of bio-diverse mangrove habitats The community will participate in environmental analyses, create a data base, and regenerate a degraded mangrove habitat with approximately 20 local compatible species of mangroves, encouraging the return of other species that rely on the health of this ecosystem.
The Kamphuan Community Learning Center has been promoting sufficient households since its inception with hopes of creating a sustainable community. One of the greatest services it provides is its leader, Pi Panuwat, who passionately spearheads the project. He teaches computer classes to locals and often aids in translating Thai into English. Another service the center provides is a mere space for community members to meet. This space can be used for locals to organize meetings, host guests, give lectures, sell their handicrafts, and so on. The center is also working on a mangrove restoration project which often replants cleared mangrove forests. KCLC encourages sustainability from all dimensions--ecological, social, economic, institutional, and personal. Sustainability by most definitions involves longevity, which is exactly what threatens the sustainability of KCLC in the future. The center rests on the money it gets from grants and international aid organizations, but the money they receive has a time limit. Often, the time limits are very short and the grants are renewed only if there are tangible results. This is very difficult to demonstrate within the period of a few years, and continued funding may not continue if this is the case. What is important for the continuance of this remarkable center is faith in its objectives and realization in the benefactors' parts that it takes time to see real evidence of sustainability.
-Christina Hughes
Shrimp farming (mariculture) is a big threat to mangrove ecosystems. Increasing global consumer appetite for shrimp is what drove mangroves to their current endangered predicament. Converting mangrove haven to shrimp ponds might mean a smart business move for seafood dealers, but mangrove habitat loss is severe.
ReplyDeleteWhy are mangroves important? These tropical plants are important for the food chain and acts as a buffer against storms in the intertidal zone. They have multiple uses for medicine, food, and building mats as well. Unknown to most people, mangroves are one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world.
As mentioned, the mangroves have the ability to withstand storms, preventing soil erosion and damage. This was clear after the 2005 tsunami hit; coastal villages and areas with mangroves were less damaged compared to those without the natural buffers. According to the Mangrove Action Project in Baan Talay Nok, after the disaster, enthused volunteers and organizations came into affected communities to restore the mangroves. While their philanthropy was appreciated, sometimes they planted the mangroves willy-nilly. By not bothering to learn ecological facts about the mangroves, such as the type and height of soil they can thrive in, and the season in which they can grow, those uninformed volunteers did not plant successful mangroves. Another thing that is important for the prosperity of the newly planted mangroves (but is sometimes overlooked) is the courtesy of asking the local community if the mangrove restoration is welcomed. All that hard work would be wasted if an entire field of restored mangroves were transformed into a rubber tree farm a year later just because they didn’t ask if that was what the locals wanted. Therefore it is very crucial to get the local community involved in the cause. By taking the ecological factors and the community into account, organizations are ensuring the success of the mangroves, preventing replanting in the same area, and cutting down costs.
-Terri Chan