Ecological Mangrove Restoration – Thailand

The Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) Project is managed by our partner Mangrove Action Project (MAP) who have developed a unique Mangrove rehabilitation method to restore Mangrove Forests. This method of Ecological Mangrove Restoration (EMR) supports the idea of returning the natural forest biodiversity that was lost rather than create a tree plantation of one or several species. EMR results in a higher biodiversity of Mangrove Forests.

There have been numerous failures of coastal mangrove restoration projects post tsunami due to planting of inappropriate species, in inappropriate locations, and a lack of understanding of the restoration site itself.

Research in other areas has demonstrated that EMR greatly increases the overall success rate for naturally restoring large areas of degraded mangrove forests. This method is unique in that it places the local community at centre stage in the restoration and management process.

In this project, EMR is taught to Thai people at a community level using a series of practical workshops and training materials in the local language, Thai. The community then use this new knowledge to restore their mangrove forests. At the end of the project, many Thai people will have learnt about EMR and how to implement it at a village level.

Through this project it is hoped that in the future EMR will be utilised by NGOs and Thai government to restore degraded or destroyed mangroves; EMR will prove to be more successful and sustainable over simple planting of several common species; EMR will be used to help restore some the large areas of now abandoned shrimp aquaculture ponds throughout the coastal region of Thailand. This will help restore greenbelt buffer zones against storms.

Timescale – The EMR method is a 3-5 year programme with monitoring continuing for 5 years.