Publication of the first-year Sea Guardians Impact Report 2024-2025
TSWA and ChangeFusion have officially published a summary report on the first year, covering 15 communities, 24,987 rai and 6 MOUs, with endorsements from independent marine scientists.
Translated from Thai · reviewed by the CF team
In August B.E. 2569, the Sea Guardians Project published the report "Sea Guardians Annual Impact Report 2024-2025", providing a comprehensive summary of its first year of work. It covers 15 communities in 4 provinces, 24,987.25 rai under management, 6 MOUs with 58 agencies, 19 LMMA assessment criteria that the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources has taken forward for further development, and new economic ventures in 7 communities.
The report also includes endorsements from independent marine scientists who supported the Project's scientific work. They point to Sea Guardians’ strength in investing in rigorous science grounded in local contexts, particularly ecological monitoring and citizen science. This work helps communities move beyond good intentions towards evidence-based management, and links grassroots conservation with national and global goals, including area-based conservation targets under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It shows that communities are not merely recipients of conservation outcomes, but are the main drivers of conservation themselves.
The report also records reflections on values that cannot be seen in the numbers.
"We can clearly see that the numbers of fish, crabs and shrimp have increased and are now greater than before. Many young people have started returning to fishing because they see that our marine resources are recovering. This was especially true during COVID-19. The community feels proud that these achievements came from our own collective efforts, without relying much on external support." – Duangphon Jumphonwong, member of the Khon Khlan community