A Strategy of Environmental Education for Participatory Management in Tham Phet-Tham Thong Forest Park, Nakhon Sawan Province

Abstract

     The purpose of this research was to establish the Strategy of Environmental Education for Participatory Environmental Management in Tham Phet-Tham Thong Forest Park, Nakhon Sawan province with 3 specified objectives: 1) to study the current environment of the communities surrounding Tham Phet-Tham Thong Forest Park, 2) to assess the levels of learning capacity and participatory behavior on environmental management of the public in the communities, and 3) to synthesize the strategy of environmental education that leads to participatory environmental management in Tham Phet-Tham Thong Forest Park. The study collected data from 396 questionnaires and obtained data from 10 participants by structured interview as well as from 33 people who joined the Appreciation, Influence and Control (AIC) workshop. The results revealed a score of 86.41 percent that the environmental situation in the community was most likely to have problems. With regard to the cultural environment, most community members adapted themselves with the social context. The overall learning was graded at a high average level of 3.43 with 0.57 standard deviation. The level of participatory behavior of the community members was high (average 3.44 with 0.61 standard deviation). However, some aspects—participation in environmental management, finance and supplier or equipment donation, biodiversity assessment, development of the forest park area becoming a tourist attraction, and learning source together with occupational promotion supporting environmental quality—were related to environmental learning and behavior at a moderate level with an average of 3.22 and 0.58 standard deviation. Therefore; the strategy of environmental education for participatory environmental management in Tham Phet-Tham Thong Forest Park includes various factors: a philosophy which emphasizes the sustainable coexistence of the community and forest park and a vision that focuses on learning and managing the forest park with community participation, analysis of both the internal and external environment, environmental education, and occupational promotion and environmental quality projects which support learning, participation and management for sustainable living of the people in communities.