IN FOCUS: Livelihoods, environment on the line as Thailand pushes for new industrial park
The Thai government has thrown its weight behind a large industrial city project in a coastal area in southern Songkhla. But it is opposed by locals who fear a devastating impact on their hometown.
CHANA, Thailand: For Khairiyah Rahmanyah, the sea is life.
She was born and raised by the water, like many children in Chana. The sea outside her home is shallow but abundant. It is a rich source of seafood and home to rare marine species.
Sea turtles have been spotted here, and so have pink dolphins – the endangered Indo-Pacific humpback species.
The sea of Chana has nurtured her family and generations before them. It is the lifeblood of thousands of residents in this coastal district of Songkhla in Thailand’s remote south.
Pichayada Promchertchoo