THE WORLD CONFERENCE ON ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION

2005 The World Conference on Ecological Restoration 47
dictable environment of the future, (2) dynamic nature of ecological communities with multiple trajectories,
and (3) interconnections of landscape elements for ecosystem functions and structures. Long-term
and explicit goals, monitoring, and evaluation criteria are also essential for sustainability of restored
ecosystems. This paper will present a theoretical framework for applications to this new paradigm.
Keywords: restoration ecology, sustainability, paradigm.
The water pollution prevention behaviors in Bangkok
R. Choiejit 1 , R. Teungfung 2
1 Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Science, Srinakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand.
2 Department of Social Science, Faculty of General Education, Rajamangala University of Technology, Nonthaburi Campus.
Thailand
This paper intended to review and examine the participation behaviors in the water pollution prevention
in Bangkok and its vicinity. The participation behavior concerning water pollution prevention among various
stakeholders including personal and community levels were examined. The results showed that personal
factors such as sex, age, level of education, occupation and other individual characteristics influenced
the water pollution prevention for the residents of Bangkok and its vicinity who living nearby the
Chao Phrya river and other major canals. Residents of Bangkok and its vicinity had very high levels of
the knowledge, attitude and perception toward the water pollution problems due to the effective water
quality concern campaigns distributed by the mass media, particularly the television and radio. However,
the levels of the participation behaviors were low in action for both personal and community dimensions.
This indicated that there was a quite difference between people’s thought and behavior in reality. Longer
time spent on their own businesses, household tasks and less attention to the practice of local residents
were main causes of low levels of personal participation behaviors on the water quality concerns. A lack
of local community leadership and/or the ineffective existed local community leader coupled with the ineffective
co-ordination and public relation among various agencies such as local community organization,
government and non-government agencies were the main causes of the failure in practices regarding to
the environment conservation under the basis of the sustainable development. To achieve the high levels
of the participation behaviors in the water pollution prevention under the basis of the sustainable development,
this paper suggests that local community leadership development and community organization
development programs should be emphasized. Revising of laws and official regulations were done also to
support the local community to cope with the environmental problems effectively and systematically.
Keywords: Water pollution prevention behavior in Bangkok.
Conservation of dolphins – a tool for sustainable development and management
of protected wetland in bihar: a case study in vikramshila sanctuary
Choudhary S.K., S. Dey and S. Dey
VBREC, University Deptt. Of Botany, T.M.Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur-812007
Conventional wisdom suggests that people living in one of the poorest and politically unstable regions of
the Asian subcontinent should be more concerned with economic security than with conserving wildlife.
But in the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS) of Bihar, India, a local group of conservationists
from Bhagalpur University together with the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society, U.K. in association
with local community has initiated a project to turn a 60km segment of middle Ganges from a
Sanctuary that till recently existed only on paper into one that provides meaningful protection for river
dolphins and other aquatic fauna. It has also helped in the restoration of the ecology of river Ganges and
its fisheries, leading ultimately to sustainable development and management of the Sanctuary. The Sanctuary
was designated in 1991 and is the only protected wetland in Asia established specifically for
Ganges river dolphins or ‘Soans’ Platanista gangetica gangetica. Vikramshila sanctuary has a rich biodiversity.
In addition of Ganges river dolphins, our survey team has recorded gharial crocodilians Gavialis
gangeticus, Smooth coated otters Lutragale perspillata, a variety of hard shell turtles, 76 numbers of fish
species, 2 species of crustaceans and 135 species of birds. Bird species include 32 species of migrants
including Greater Adjutant Storks Leptoptilos dubius, species that had never before been recorded in the
Ganga Basin. In May 2002, we found nesting sites of Small Indian Pratincoles (Glareola lacteal), Indian
Skimmers (Rhynchops albicollis), Indian River terns (Sterna rantia), little terns (Sterna albifrons) and river
lapwings (Vanellus indicus), on a sandy mid-channel island near Bhagalpur. We also documented rich angiospermic
vegetation along the river bank and in the flood plains, including 36 species of dicots and 15
species of monocots. Thousands of fishermen and farmers families live adjacent to the river and depend
on the river-resources for their livelihood. The biodiversity in the Vikramshila Sanctuary is threatened
today. The aquatic wildlife including dolphins are particularly vulnerable to the human activities because