BIOSPHERE RESERVE, RANONG
In January 2000 there were 368 Man and the Biosphere (MAB) reserves in 91 countries around the world. Ranong is the fourth in Thailand and the only one to include a coastal environment. In 1997, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the Thai government, declared the Ranong Biosphere Reserve.
The Ranong Biosphere Reserve (RBS) is in Ranong Province, southern Thailand, on the west coast of the Peninsula, Thailand ; 650 km south of Bangkok and 300 km north of Phuket. Ranong is Thailand's smallest and least-populated province renowned for receiving the highest annual rainfall. Major agricultures are fisheries, rubber, cashew nuts and fruit. The Ranong Biosphere Reserve embraces 30,309 ha from south of Ranong town to the north of Kapoe district. It is bound on the east by the Ngao Waterfall National Park and on the west by the Andaman Sea. The RBS incorporates a range of diversified natural and disturbed habitats including mangrove forests, evergreen hill forests, open sea, seagrass beds, and urban and agricultural land.
Its natural resources are of great importance to the local people, many of whom are totally dependent on the forests and marine areas for their livelihoods. The RBS's natural resources are also of great importance for protecting the coast and providing a habitat for Thailand's wildife.
These natural resources are also under increasing pressure from overuse and unsustainable development. Major problems are overfishing and the use of destructive fishing gear, forest clearing and degradation and water pollution.
The declaration of the Ranong Biosphere Reserve presents the Thai government with an opportunity to work with the local people to address all of these problems, with the ultimate goal being the sustainable development of Ranong's coastal environment.
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