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The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 72  forests not only support the mangrove ecosystem but also other related ecosystems as mentioned earlier. Moreover, mangroves help to stabilize shorelines and estuaries by protecting them against tidal bores, soil erosion and large storms such as tsunamis. They also help reduce global warming by acting as a carbon sink (Laffoley and Grimsditch, 2009). Mangrove forests are a coastal treasure and an asset for Thailand’s coastal communities. If mangroves were destroyed, damaged or went extinct, there would be no habitat or food to support the various plant and animal organisms in the area. Their destruction would also effect the livelihoods of coastal communities. Furthermore, the loss of mangrove-related ecosystems would disturb other ecosystems over a considerable area, which could result in large-scale economic loss and socio-cultural change in coastal communities. Mangrove Degradation and Depletion There are various important threats to the degradation and depletion of mangrove forests. An extensive area of mangrove habitat has been destroyed with remaining areas facing increasing threat from anthropogenic activities. There are ten main causes for encroachment into mangrove areas in Thailand, these are aquaculture, mining, agriculture, urbanization, ports and harbor construction, roads and transmission lines, dredging, industry and power plants, salt production and harvesting of forest woods. Of these ten causes, each cause varies in extent and degree of negative impact on the mangrove ecosystem. In 1961, mangrove forests were estimated to cover an area of approximately 2,299,375 rai or 367,900 ha as recorded by Klankamsorn and Charuppat (1982). The area has gradually decreased to 1,954,575 rai or 312,732 ha in 1975; 1,795,675 rai or 287,308 ha in 1979 and to 1,227,675 rai or 196,428 ha in 1986. As per a survey done in 1996, approximately 1,047,381 rai or 167,580 ha (Charuppat and Charuppat, 1997) of mangrove area remains in Thailand. Approximately 50% of the total mangrove area has been depleted due to shrimp farming (Figure 16) particularly on the eastern and southern coasts of Thailand. Mangrove forests along the coastline of the Gulf of Thailand have also been lost, especially in the province of Chantaburi, Samut Mangroves … Coastal Treasure of Thailand