Yet this situation need not lead to the disappearance of the Chao Lay from the world’s cultures. The Thai Government has placed large areas of the Andaman Sea coast and territorial waters under the environmental protection of the Royal Thai Forest Department (Marine Parks Division). There are plans to create a marine biosphere reserve, supported by UNESCO, stretching along the entire length of the coast from the border with Myanmar in the north to Malaysia in the south. Within this large protected reserve, there are further plans to nominate one or more areas as UNESCO World Heritage sites.