Fig.7 Mudflat at Leeled Sub-district Fig.8 Seedlings of Lampoo (Sonneratia caseolaris) If the public sea status of the aforemen- tioned area can be preserved, it will help preserve the sea as a source for fishing livelihood for the fishermen in addition to helping increase mangrove forested areas. The community has proposed the establishment of definite community boundaries, including local regulations at the community level. In terms of promoting improved quality of life, the project provided small circulating funds for livelihood promotion to six community organizations such as raising fish in floating baskets, fishery instrument production and seafood product processing. These activities generated income for member communities participating in the project. The aforementioned circulating funds would be repaid to the Ban Don Bay Conservation Network in order to be further allocated to promote quality of life for other communities. Nevertheless, because the establishment of rules, community regulations, including the establishment of boundaries, involves numerous stakeholders, so the project has arranged for hearings of public opinion of local residents in a total of four villages on two occasions. Furthermore, the meeting in each community had selected community leaders in order to participate in the process of providing suggestions for preventive actions against the occurrence of conflicts. In addition, the aforementioned issue was submitted to the collaborative meeting of committee of project directors by inviting related agencies, professionals and legal experts to attend and offer advice. Bio-rights constitute a financial innovation for sustainable management of natural resources, the environment and biodiversity by placing importance on and relieving the issue of poverty among local residents. Wetlands International has applied the concept of Bio-rights to a variety of biodiversity conservation and poverty relief efforts in Indonesia, Mali and Malaysia by offering micro-credit fund to members in the communities participating in the project in order to develop environmentally friendly livelihoods and generate income for poverty-stricken people while communities carry out activities for the conservation and restoration of natural resources and the environment at the same time. The “Bio-rights” program to support livelihoods in Ban Don Bay, Surat Thani Province, is slightly different from those “Bio- rights” projects implemented in Indonesia, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Mali because of differences in the social, cultural, and economic contexts of the area. Project staff, BDCN and local communities agreed in a meeting that the micro-credits for supporting livelihoods should be turned into “revolving funds”. A group or community receiving a micro-credit has to clear the loan at the end of the contracting period to keep the funding sustainable. BDCN can rotate the funds to promote livelihoods in other communities, under the same stipulation that there be environmental conservation in 234 Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
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