24 Years of Thailand to the Ramsar Convention Party: A Management Mechanism for Wetlands of International Importance

Abstract

 For more than 24 years Thailand has been a party to the Ramsar Convention. Currently, Thailand has 15 registered important national wetlands or Ramsar Site. Whereas, in practice, the protection of Ramsar sites in Thailand continues to be a problem. There are many internal factors in each area that are different. The study found that Thailand has a national policy that can be implemented to support its operations and there are many domestic laws that are consistent with the Ramsar Convention. However, Thailand still has some problems in determining the scope of certain wetlands may not be obvious. As well as the problem of running out of the wetlands which may affect the wetlands, the researcher proposes legislation to systematically recreate the wetland buffer zone and in the event of any Ramsar Sites overlap with different types of conservation areas. Local legislation should not be re-established with existing prohibitions to prevent confusion in practice. In addition, the management planning of the Ramsar Sites should consist of 4 principles: 1) sustainable development 2) conservation 3) wise use and 4) Public participation in the management that should be at every stage of the operation.