PHUKET needs saving. The tropical holiday island needs saving in lots of ways. Talk to anyone on the island, resident or visitor, and they will have an issue that they believe is the most critical potential disaster for Phuket.

We could name a few ourselves. The truth is, though, that Phuket most needs saving from itself. The really damaging elements boil down to two essentials: greed and prosperity.

As a reader reminded us today, outsiders see it even more clearly when striking comparisons with the rest of the world. The influential National Geographic magazine, with its global viewpoint, puts the Andaman (and Phuket) at 51 on its list of 99 coastal destinations, under the headline 'Facing Trouble'.*

As more and more people are beginning to realise, help must come quickly to preserve the natural treasures of Phuket and the Andaman, or Thailand's most precious tourism destination will be lost forever beneath millions of trampling sandals and swim fins.

Even resort owners are worried about the explosion of accommodation and commercialism along the Andaman. Tourists come to see greenery and beauty, serenity and charm, and increasingly they see road shows of shophouses and in-your-face urban developments that are only a marginal variation on the cities they are trying, briefly, to escape.

The signs are obvious: Phuket will grow and grow and grow into a sprawling metropolis. Only if the neighboring green provinces of Phang Nga and Krabi are kept green and natural can the Andaman remain a leading green tropical island tourism destination.

So far, although the Foreign Ministry has shown concern about the way tourists are treated on Phuket, the Thai government has evidently ignored the key issue of how to save the Andaman.

Without national intervention, without local action, without a slowing in development and a strategy for the future, Phuket and the Andaman coast will rapidly become a hopeless case. We give it 10 years, no longer, before an irreversible decline begins.

In Phuket's immediate neighborhood, a man who could help bring about change, the new Governor of Phang Nga, believes the natural virtues of Phang Nga are best sold in a big billboard campaign. Nearby, last time we asked, the relatively new Governor of Krabi was not even prepared to meet with Phuketwan reporters to express his views about the future of the province.

The sad portents of the region's environmental degradation and disaster are easy to see. At the same time, the opportunity is there for a rescue: the men of the moment must now stand up to be counted.

Phuket Governor Tree Ackaradecha can now make an impression on Phuket's future in a long-lasting, constructive fashion. His predecessor, Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob, did that by creating the quarterly meeting with honorary consuls that allows Phuket's leaders to meet with the leaders of the expat/tourist community.

In the absence of national government action to save Phuket and the Andaman, Phuket and the Andaman simply has to save itself. Governor Tree can initiate that process.

The three key provinces need to be viewed as a whole, to orchestrate a plan for the future that removes the elements of competition and greed, and that serves the best interests of tourism and Thailand.

Outside help, if it comes at all, is likely to arrive too late. Phuketwan urges Governor Tree to meet with his governor counterparts in Phang Nga and Krabi as soon as possible to begin the urgent process of saving Phuket and the Andaman for future generations.

*The same astute reader points out that it's worse than we thought. Phuket ranks 76 out of 99 on the National Geographic list, level with China's Hainan on 51 points. In a strange coincidence of timing, Governor Tree was due to leave Phuket today for Hainan to talk about a ''sister city'' relationship.