สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 61  providing food, nursery and spawning grounds for many commercial aquatic fauna like fi sh, prawn, and crabs. They also provide habitats for terrestrial animals like birds and reptiles. Mangroves also have other important ecological roles such as providing protection from coastal erosion, sediment stabilization, improving water quality, reducing the negative effects of strong wind fl ows, dispersing energy of tidal waves and reducing global warming by acting as a carbon sink. Unfortunately, mangrove forests in Thailand have been heavily depleted during the period of 1980-2000 due to conflicting development purposes, in particular shrimp farming. However, the country has properly formulated the national mangrove policy which includes rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable utilization of mangrove resources. Current efforts have created a trend towards improvement, which is favorable for the mangrove ecosystem. At present intensive management plans that have integrated ecological and economical approaches are being implemented to restore the endangered mangrove ecosystem. With these efforts, it is expected that mangroves in Thailand can be preserved in the long run so that the young generation and the nation as a whole can reap its various bene fi ts. This paper provides a detailed description about mangroves in Thailand, the ecosystem goods and services it provides and the current status of mangroves in Thailand. The paper concludes with discussing various approaches and strategies for the sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems. Mangrove Areas and Distribution The mangrove forests in Thailand cover approximately 1,400 km or 50% of the total 2,800 km long coastline. They are also found alongside lagoons and rivers in inter-tidal zones between low (neap) and high (spring) tide. The total mangrove area of the country has declined drastically with time. Charruppat and Charruppat (1997) found signi fi cant reductions in mangrove area from the period of 1975 to 1996. In 1975, they found through the use of satellite imageries that the total area was approximately 1,954,375 rai or 312,700 ha; in 1996 it was only 1,047,380 rai or 167,580 ha. However, recent surveys done in 2004 by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment found that mangrove area increased to approximately 1,460,622 rai or 233,700 ha, which is about 0.0016% of the total 950 Sanit Aksornkoae