Specialists from Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Program meet Phuket government officers

On 8th February 2011, Sak-anan Pkatong, a lecturer of the Biological Department, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, led specialists from Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Program (BOBLME) to explain the program to the related government officers in Phuket.

The information from these specialists will be used to plan a Andaman region development strategy under the support of BOBLME. There are 8 countries participating in BOBLME consisting of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.

Chai–Anan said all the member countries had problems with declining mangrove forests, pollution from oil and boats, etc. Most of the problems were the result of economic growth in the region and also climate change. Some problems were local, while many were global. This project allowed governments, of the member countries, to understand changes in the bay and manage their area to cope with problems and sustain development. In 5 years, there were 16 projects done. He advised that Phuket would benefit from the information from the specialist in planning environment management and coping with global warming.