Current land use and changes in land use over time in the coastal zone of Chanthaburi Province, Thailand

Abstract

A land use planning study was conducted in the coastal zone of Chanthaburi province in eastern Thailand. Its objectives were to quantify land use in the coastal zone and to investigate changes in land use practices between the years 1953, 1975 and 1991 for the smaller, Ao Ko Nok, area. Current (1991) land use in the coastal zone of Chanthaburi province was dominated by prawn aquaculture developments (45·3% of the land portion of the study area). Rice paddies (24·5%), fruit orchards (14·2%), mangrove forests (6·1%) rubber plantations (4·9%) and upland forests (3·5%) were the other major terrestrial land uses within the coastal zone. While relatively few changes in land use were noted for the Ao Ko Nok study area between 1953 and 1975, dramatic changes had occured by 1991. Prawn ponds, which were nonexistent in the Ao Ko Nok study area in 1975, covered 31·4% of the land portion of the study area in 1991. Much of these prawn pond had been built on land formerly occupied by mangrove forests. The rate of deforestation of mangroves in the coastal zone, estimated through analysis of data from the Royal Forestry Department and the current land use quantified during this study, increased from 500 ha per year in the late 1970s to over 2 300 ha per year for the years 1989–1991. If the present rate of forest destruction continues, soon none will be left.