Abstract:
The research aims to 1) study the environmental problems and environmental management of Baan Eua Arthorn Community in the Northeast; 2) create and develop criteria for Baan Eua Arthorn Community, 3) analyze the confirmatory elements of Baan Eua Arthorn Community, and 4) assess the development of the environmental management criteria based on the perspective of the people in Baan Eua Arthorn Community. It was a mixed method research. The research area was Baan Eua Arthorn Community in the Northeast where the 6 communities with the highest number of resident were selected study. The research had 4 steps as following: the 1st step was to study the environmental problems and issues of community environmental management, set up specific sample groups from related people for a total of 30 persons who were part of the community management committee and representatives of residents in the community. The instrument used was unstructured interviews. The 2nd step was to develop the community environmental management criteria using research papers to draft them and by defining the elements and indicators based on opinions, and checking the suitability of the criteria by interviewing experts in community environmental management. The criteria were developed using the draft criteria presented to the People Forum which had a total of 60 participants consisting of 42 members of the community management committee and 18 community representatives. They worked together to improve the proper criteria by using the interviews and questions to organize the People Forum. Then 9 participants from each community verified and evaluated the criteria. The 3rd step was to analyze the confirmatory elements of the community environmental management criteria by using a sample taken from 4,911 households in 6 communities. The sample size of 354 was determined by the Krejcie and Morgan Table. The instrument used was a 5 rating scale questionnaire with a confidence value of 0.95. The 4th step was to assess the environmental management criteria based on the perspective of the people in Baan Eua Arthorn Community by using a sample of 346 participants taken from 3 communities totaling 3,522 persons. The size was determined using the Krejcie and Morgan Table. The instrument used was a 5 rating scale questionnaire with a confidence value of 0.93. The results were analyzed by content analysis, percentage, average, standard deviation, and the confirmatory elements analysis was done using social science statistic program. The results of research: 1. The public areas around that area were covered with weeds and garbage Wastewater treatment did not meet standards, and the drains were clogged. As for the environmental management problems, there was a lack of participation from the people in the community in terms of cleanliness, water treatment system management, garbage management, and also a lack of coordination with organizations and the community. 2. The development of the criteria for Baan Eua Arthorn Community through the participation of community committee and the community representatives had a total of 7 elements and 52 indicators. The assessment and improvements done by the experts added 8 elements, and 60 indicators to the criteria. The added elements concerned sufficiency economy. Then the developed criteria were taken to be organized by the people forum to improve the suitability criteria of 8 Elements and 62 indicators. Verification and evaluation lead to criteria with 8 Elements and 51 indicators. They had the following aspects 1) physical; 4 aspects, 2) energy management; 4 aspects, 3) water usage; 8 aspects, 4) cooperation; 6 aspects, 5) quality of life; 10 aspects, 6) service; 7 aspects, 7) garbage management; 6 aspects and 8) sufficiency economy; 5 aspects. 3. The community environmental management criteria had a relationship with 8 elements of the criteria. This was shown by the relatively high positive correlations, with coefficients ranging from 0.014 to 0.759, at a statistically significant level of 0.05. The 7th element, garbage management and the 8th element, sufficiency economy, had the highest correlations. The elements analysis was consistent with the empirical data at the highest level. This were represented by the corresponding index consisting of Chi-Square 203.89 with 157 degrees of freedom, a Relative - Chi-Square 1.80 P-value of 0.06, a Comparative Fit Index of 0.991, a Tucker-Lewis Index of 0.990, a Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation of 0.02, and a Standardized Root Mean Square Residual of 0.03. 4. Checking the suitability of the developed environmental management criteria according to the perspective of the people in Baan Eua Arthorn Community revealed that all 8 elements had a good level of suitability for all the indicators. The highest level was for the service aspect, and out of 51 indicators, there were 45 indicators at a good level and 6 indicators at an average level.