Moreover, as one participant said referring to conversations that he had had with people from communities

near several different NMPs: “Everywhere it is the same. The feeling is not good. Management shortcomings were largely seen to extend from these issues with governance. There had never been programs of education or outreach in any of the communities that we visited. Despite this, there was a slightly positive perception (+0.1) that the NMP would increase knowledge of nature and support for conservation (Fig. 3). Yet communities lacked knowledge of rules and regulations, the locations of boundaries, or even the existence of a park because there was little communication emerging from management offices. Access to park management plans was denied to our research team in all but one of four park offices that we visited Trametinib in vivo without a letter from the DNP head office. If it occurred,

enforcement of rules and regulations was seen to be inconsistent – due to minimal and seasonal monitoring find protocol – and inequitable – favoring outside business and landowners and commercial fishers over local people. Participants often discussed how there were no mechanisms for participation in creation or management, for consideration of local values and development considerations, for transparency and accountability, for resolving conflicts, or for integrating local and traditional knowledge into management. The one exception was on Koh Chang, where locals had been consulted extensively during the creation of Mu Koh Ranong. Still it was felt by many participants that park managers did not understand local communities in large part because the “superintendent and assistant superintendent never come out into the park”. This paper makes a contribution to the

literature on the impacts of conservation and MPAs in a particular context. This study suggests that local perceptions of NMPs, under the jurisdiction of the DNP, are fairly negative in coastal communities in Thailand. Perceived impacts of NMPs on livelihood strategies and outcomes are mixed. Ureohydrolase Fishing and harvesting livelihoods are generally seen to be negatively impacted by NMPs except in cases where rules were misunderstood or not applied. Participants felt there were no impacts or negative impacts for plantation owners or laborers. NMPs were seen to lead to marginal employment or monetary benefits from tourism for most except for a select elite who would gain significantly. There was perceived to be little potential for benefit from employment in NMP management. Negative impacts were seen to stem from reduced access to or lack of development of social, cultural, human, political, natural, physical, and financial assets. Conservation outcomes were perceived to be mostly positive for terrestrial environments and quite mixed for marine environments. Opinions of DNP governance and management were quite negative.