Khok Kham salt pans, covering approximately 13,700 hectares in Samut Sakhon Province along the Inner Gulf of Thailand, represent one of the most important shorebird sites in the country. The landscape comprises an extensive mosaic of traditionally managed salt pans, aquaculture ponds, tidal canals, mudflats, and remnant mangrove forests shaped by tidal flows and riverine inputs from the Chao Phraya basin. These habitats support internationally significant congregations of migratory waterbirds, including the Critically Endangered Spoon‑billed Sandpiper and the Endangered Spotted Greenshank, along with numerous other threatened and Near Threatened species, making Khok Kham a priority site within the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.

The salt pans provide essential provisioning and cultural ecosystem services through salt production, fisheries, and nature‑based tourism, supporting livelihoods that depend primarily on salt farming and aquaculture. Importantly, traditional salt production creates shallow wetland habitats that are highly compatible with shorebird conservation. However, expanding settlements, industrial activity, wastewater pollution, and climate‑related risks are placing increasing pressure on site integrity. Strengthening integrated site management, improving water quality and waste management, restoring mangrove buffers, supporting wildlife‑friendly salt farming, and developing well‑managed ecotourism offer key opportunities to sustain livelihoods while safeguarding this globally significant wetland.

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