Ms Estelle Jones

I am studying modes of governing marine resources and local communities in tropical marine protected area (MPA) management. I am interested in the roles that local stakeholders have in MPA governance in Thailand, how their current levels of participation are impacting on the ecological health of the region and how the resources are, in exchange, supporting stakeholder’s needs. I am also interested in the use of community knowledge for stock management and protection in tropical fisheries and the use of co-management in governing marine protected areas.

Current Research

Modes of Governing Marine Resources? Marine Protected Areas in Thailand

Summary:

The project is an interdisciplinary analysis of a central problem in the management of marine resources – how to protect marine ecosystems whilst ensuring the livelihoods of local communities. An increasingly common solution to this problem is the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs). But how well do different types of MPAs perform in delivering both ecological protection and socio-economic well-being? And more specifically what social factors facilitate or hamper their performance?

The theoretical framework of this research rests on two concepts – governance and social capital. For many writers, there are three modes of governance: state governance (equivalent to top-down coercive government); market governance (equivalent to privatisation of public resources); and community governance (equivalent to participatory local self-rule). In the literature on fisheries management, there are many advocates of these three modes of governance, providing a rich source of arguments for and against each mode. This research will draw heavily on these arguments to help in an analysis of two MPAs in Thailand, one based on the state governance mode, and the other based on the community governance mode. This study will make use of these theories to assess:

the social capital within the stakeholder groups for striking the balance between environmental protection and socio-economic well-being; and
the current and potential future use of top-down and bottom-up political forces to achieve that balance (Gray 2005).
the regions ecological conditions

Supervisors

Prof. Tim Gray and Prof. Selina Stead [Newcastle University]
Professor Donald Mackintosh [Mangroves for the Future Secretariat, IUCN Asia]

Funding

Ph.D. studentship funded by NERC and ESRC (UK)

Project Partner

Mangroves for the Future Project - IUCN Asia Regional Office

Find out about:

MSc in Tropical and Coastal Management

MSc in International Marine Environmental Consultancy (IMEC)

School of Marine Science and Technology