A socio-economic impact assessment of COVID-19 on the island’s tourism sector revealed that small tourist boat drivers are amongst the most affected and vulnerable segment of the population due to the complete dependence on tourism. With an estimated minimum living cost of $500 for individual households on Koh Tao, it is hopeless for small tourist boat drivers to cope with this crisis given that their earnings are nil or close to zero. To address the impact of the pandemic, the crowdfunding initiative could raise funds close to $100,000 way above the original target, to help 200 vulnerable families in a cash-for-work scheme focused on cleaning the beaches and the waters around the island, recycling the waste collected and mobilizing the local community for biodiversity conservation. The establishment of the Koh Tao Working Group for Crowdfunding has led to a stronger collaboration between Koh Tao Municipality, the locals, the financial sector, NGO, and the UNDP.

RESILIENCE, ADAPTABILITY, AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY

In view of the potential for crowdfunding and the key factors to unlock philanthropic, altruistic, and charitable giving, the innovative crowdfunding-for-nature campaign at Koh Tao responded to the environmental issue, social challenge, and economic crisis during COVID-19. Koh Tao is considered a biodiversity-important and tourism-dependent site that needs innovative finance solutions to finance nature in a time of crisis. Crowdfunding has positively supported local communities and local government by improving access to capital, managing supply and demand, and driving innovation and efficiency. The key result of crowdfunding revealed that the local communities were united with pride and resilience that they can pay back the donors in the form of environmental stewardship. Even though the crowdfunding campaign has already ended, the Koh Tao Working Group for Crowdfunding and the locals have gathered to continue cleaning beaches and sustainably collecting marine debris.

REDUCED INEQUALITIES

The crowdfunding has initiated cleanup activity which helps unify the love of the island. The solidarity of locals showed a great outcome toward the sustainability of Koh Tao’s tourism industry post-COVID-19. BIOFIN has also secured continued support from Krungthai Bank with a fund of $3,100. The taxi boat drivers have received financial support to install trash bins on their boats for waste management. The Koh Tao Women Group members (30 female) were trained in financial literacy and environmentally friendly product development for tourists. For small-scale fisherfolk (30 male, 1 female), financial support from Krungthai Bank was mobilized for the deployment of Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD). Most importantly, the resource mobilization from the Koh Tao municipality fiscal budget has been earmarked for the first time at $1,380 for the creation of FAD. The establishment of local community organizations has led to a stronger collaboration between Koh Tao Municipality and the locals. With meaningful youth engagement, the crowdfunding received a great contribution from the Koh Tao youth group on cleaning beaches. The youth group was well-equipped with the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) to map out the biodiversity resources at Koh Tao. There was a total of 30 youths from the Baan Koh Tao school. The capacity building program has been conducted with a focus on knowledge management and surveying and monitoring skills on biodiversity changes in beaches and coral reef.

GENDER EQUALITY

The Gender Action Plan (GAP) was developed for Koh Tao Island. It helped identify a strategic plan with actions toward gender equality. Against the backdrop of leaving no one behind, an official Koh Tao Women Group was established for the first time with endorsement by the Koh Tao municipality and the strong support of the female Deputy Mayor who acted as the chairperson. Through the gender lens, the women groups (30 female) from three villages were gathered to discuss the goals for strengthening the capacity of the women group towards natural resource conservation and livelihoods purposes. Concrete results have been achieved as follows: 1) promoting Koh Tao’s good reputation and strengthening the whole of society through working with other local communities, 2) formulating a work plan on livelihoods, security, health, values of the elderly population, and the actions for environmental protection; and 3) Co-creation of the business model on income generation for local female by selling environmentally friendly products.