Status and Priority Capacity Needs for Local Compliance and Community-Supported Enforcement of Marine Resource Rules and Regulations in the Coral Triangle Region

Combating illegal and destructive resource exploitation in the Coral Triangle is central to ensuring the long-term effective management of fisheries, marine protected areas, and climate change adaptation efforts. This article presents results of an investigation of the perceived level of local compliance and enforcement with marine resource rules and regulations and evaluates the effectiveness or potential for community-supported enforcement efforts in the Coral Triangle region. The findings are consistent with those of the literature on compliance and enforcement that any compliance and enforcement system must not only use deterrence, but also be perceived by fishers as being legitimate, fair, accountable and equitable and the need for developing a personal morality and a social environment that supports compliance. There is an opportunity to strategically build on shared value and cultural norms that can promote collaborative fisheries management as a mechanism to increase compliance through non-coercive efforts. Strengthening the long-term capacity for consistent delivery of local support to marine management and enforcement will increase local compliance rates through time.     

Evaluation of road-rail interaction in Thailand

The main line of the State Railway of Thailand to serve the Northeastern region of the Kingdom was built in 1900 to the town of Korat and subsequently extended to its northern extremity at the Laos border. The Friendship Highway, a modern highway parallel to the railway and serving the same transportation corridor, was completed in 1958 as far as Korat. In 1965 the northern extension of the Friendship Highway was opened to Nong Khai, the northern terminus of the railway.The effect of the nearby and parallel highway on freight traffic - for upland crops, vegetables, rice, kenaf, and forest products - is shown in terms of tonnages dispatched by the railway and in relation to the production of those commodities. Passenger traffic originating on the Northeastern railway line is analysed. Statistics indicating the shift in modal split between road and rail, for both freight and passengers in the Kingdom, are presented for a six-year period. An estimate of the loss in revenue for the Korat-Nong Khai segment of the railway has been made for both originating passengers and certain classes of freight traffic. Clearly demonstrated is the unceasing trend toward road haulage of freight and the use of highway buses by intercity passengers. This paper is intended to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem rather than to suggest definitive solutions.