Abstract Summary
Several government and private organizations have expended much effort to restore degraded coral reefs in many locations in Thai waters over the past three decades. The projects had a range of objectives, at various scales and different methods. We reanalyzed coral reef restoration projects in Thailand in the last decade, particularly after the severe coral bleaching event in the year 2010. Our objectives were to examine the long-term achievements of selected coral reef restoration projects and propose future restoration initiatives to cope with global change impacts. The high cost and limited scale of restoration projects are still main factors that governments and communities have to prevent damage to coral reefs in the first place. Therefore, the coral reef restoration plans in Thailand highlighted on using passive restoration to reduce negative impacts of tourism, water pollution, sedimentation and fisheries. Provision of designed artificial substrates for natural coral recruitment and attaching coral fragments to PVC pipe frames in the coral nursery area are active restoration methods which have been widely applied in Thailand. The Mu Koh Chang Coral Reef Demonstration Site in Trat Province, Thailand under the UNEP/GEF Project on Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand established a demonstration site for coral restoration for the benefit of tourism, education, public awareness, and research. Natural coral fragments were used and the restoration techniques and methods were simple, using cheap materials available from local communities. The stable hard substrates were also provided for coral recruitment. The coral reef management and restoration project in tourist hot spots in the Gulf of Thailand was initiated and funded by the network of provinces in the eastern Thailand following the 2010 coral bleaching event. The major concerns for future active coral restoration projects are transplantation of high genetic diversity populations, high tolerant species to climate change induced bleaching from shallow reef flats and multi-species. The innovative methods for protection of corals from bleaching, enhancing coral survival rates in the nursery areas and appropriate management plans of resilient sites are also urgently needed.
