Awareness and Participation of Community in Mangrove Forest Management, Thakham Sub-District, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok

Abstract

The main objectives of the study are: i) to study an awareness of community in mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok; ii) to study the participation of community in mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok; iii) to study the relationship between an awareness and participation of community and mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok. The mixed methods were conducted in this study. For quantitative method, questionnaire was used to collect data from 306 respondents living in mangrove forest community, being randomly chosen from 1,591 population from six communities by Krejcie and Morgan’s formula at 95% level of confidence, while techniques like participatory observation, in-depth interview and focus group with key informants, namely, community leaders, District administrative organization officials, villagers and students in mangrove forest community were employed to gather data for qualitative one. Statistical techniques such as frequencies, mean and standard deviation were used to analyze quantitative information, whereas content analysis was carried out for qualitative data. The findings of this study are concluded as follows:  1. The overall awareness of community in mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok were found at the high level. Out of 15 items, “stop mangrove forest logging and help each other to plant it instead” was ranked at the highest level, followed by “If community people  do not aware of mangrove forest preservation will certainly bring about the problem in the near future”, whereas “The community problem: muddy and toxic contaminated water and soil erosion” was noted the least level. 2. The overall participation of community in mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok were found at the moderate level. Out of 4 aspects, participation in getting benefits was ranked at the highest level, followed by participation in carrying out activities, evaluation and decision making, respectively.  3. The overall mangrove forest management of community, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok were found at the moderate level. Out of 4 aspects, to support learning and create an awareness in mangrove forest preservation was ranked at the highest level, followed by to create cooperation between community and government and concerned parties, to prevent encroachment and destroy mangrove forest areas, and to formulate rules and regulations for controlling community members, respectively. 4. The relationship between an awareness and participation of community and mangrove forest management, Thakham Sub-district, Bangkhunthian District, Bangkok, was found that  an awareness had positive association with participation of community and mangrove forest management with statistical significance at 0.01 level of confidence