Tropical coastlines are regions of extraordinary productivity and host a diversity of
interlinked ecosystems which are vital for humanity, including mangrove forests. These
environments provide a clear example of how societies and natural ecosystems interact
to form complex ‘social-ecological systems’. Yet, although humans depend on
mangrove forests in so many ways, these ecosystems are proving to be highly
vulnerable under increased human pressures. This research focuses on the rapid social
and ecological change brought about by the expansion of shrimp aquaculture in coastal
mangrove areas of Thailand. Like in many other parts of the world, the intensification
of shrimp aquaculture along the coast of Thailand over the past few decades has come
with high social and ecological costs, including widespread conversion of mangrove
forests, negative biophysical changes, and loss of coastal livelihood. The overarching
aim of this research was to show how studying shrimp farming in mangrove areas as a
social-ecological system can advance understanding of some selected drivers of resilient
social-ecological systems, and how they are related. Integrating approaches from the
natural and social sciences, the research draws on mixed methods combining
biophysical sampling of mangrove ecosystem change, semi-quantitative household
surveys, and qualitative participatory approaches.
The first research chapter of this thesis (Chapter 4) assesses the influence of
mangrove to shrimp pond conversion on ecosystem carbon storage on the southern
Andaman sea coast of Thailand. The assessment was based on field inventories of forest
structure and soil carbon stocks in mangrove forests and abandoned shrimp pond sites.
While the results showed that mangrove conversion for shrimp farming results in a large
land-use carbon footprint, the observed pattern of mangrove recovery in abandoned
shrimp ponds demonstrates the high resilience capacity of mangrove forests. The
second research chapter (Chapter 5) analyses shrimp farming diversity along the Gulf of
Thailand coast. The research examines shrimp farmer behaviour in relation to
production intensity, and its embeddedness in the wider socio-economic context of
shrimp farming households. Shrimp farming intensity was found to be associated with a
combination of technical, social, and ecological factors, and a range of different
combinations of variables were important in influencing the adoption of farming at a
particular intensity, relating to subjective culture and values, risk perceptions, and
socio-economic conditions. The final research chapter (Chapter 6) uses participatory
methods to explore the different forms of knowledge and perceptions of ecosystem health and ecosystem service delivery among mangrove-dependent communities on
Thailand’s Andaman sea coast. The communities were shown to have high dependency
on mangroves and hold a wealth of local ecological knowledge. Strong cultural and
religious links among user-groups have facilitated greater communication and social
cohesion and this could have a positive effect on community resilience by enabling
collective synthesis and use of their ecological knowledge. The research also shows
how periods of abrupt environmental change can bring coastal communities together,
creating opportunity for self-organisation, environmental education, and capacity
building, which plays a significant role in the sustainability of natural resources,
livelihoods and social resilience.
This thesis generates important contributions to the study of social-ecological
systems and provides new findings that are relevant to inform sustainability and natural
resource management decisions. The findings of this research are also timely to inform
implementation of Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-
2021), which calls for developing environmentally-friendly coastal aquaculture, and
encouraging community forest management though creating participatory networks of
forest restoration and protection
