In recent years, the government
has adopted several measures
to reinforce protection in national
parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
These range from local mechanisms
the likes of zoning to
preserve head watershed forests
to international instruments such
as nomination of these protected
areas for inclusion in the list of
World Heritage (i.e. nomination
of Khao Yai National Park). Furthermore,
specific protection has
been provided for critical habitats,
such as mangrove forests
where the enlisted forests enjoy
the equivalent level of protection
as that for national parks. With
the recent ratification of Convention
on Biological Diversity
in early 2004, the government
also initiated a project to introduce
the “ecosystem approach”
in management of national parks
and wildlife sanctuaries in order
to provide inline agencies with
a new approach for maintaining
these protected areas.