To mark Earth Day, CNA looks at Thailand’s first low carbon tourism destination and what it means for sustainable development.
KOH MAK, Thailand: Nestled off the coast, in the Gulf of Thailand, Koh Mak feels something like an odd sibling.
Beach fronts with golden sand remain mostly undeveloped. Electric golf carts carry families along tidy streets in near silence. The 7-Elevens, Starbucks and cheap cocktail bars so ubiquitous throughout Thailand’s tourist hotspots are entirely absent.The coastline along Koh Mak remains underdeveloped for tourism.
It was one of three locations awarded the prize in Thailand, along with Mae Hong Son's Ban Huay Pu Keng and Sapphaya in Chai Nat province.Tourists arrive at a pier on Koh Mak. Taking on low-carbon ambitions was a natural journey from the way locals have managed the island for more than a century. There is a halcyon feel to life here. It is not by accident.The ancestors of the current generation of residents on Koh Mak purchased the island and relocated here in the late 19th century from Ban Koh Po, now part of Cambodia. Since then, progress has been purposefully sedate.
It was the arrival of motorised jet skis about 20 years ago that prompted fierce debate among residents but eventually emboldened the community to make a prolonged stand against activities that would disrupt its peaceful existence. Pak Kanjanapak spent three years on the island before deciding to start his own resort - Little Moon Villas.
“At the beginning, we were afraid that the guests might not like the glass bottles because we produce the drinking water ourselves. But the guests were so happy with what we did.” He added: “I always tell my friends to come to Koh Mak and to ‘live a retro lifestyle’. You can come back to the slow life with the sea, the air and food.Locals want to keep the land and waters around the island as pristine as possible. For DASTA, receiving the international award on Koh Mak was recognition of years of work that had been otherwise difficult to measure or quantify.
Locals acknowledge that their approach may have come at the expense of pure profit - a reality that may not be plausible in other places.
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