Welcome to SEARCA Knowledge Center on Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management in Southeast Asia (KC3)

Thailand

Published on 19 June 2017
“Before, it started flooding after raining for three days. But now, it floods after just three hours of rain,” the 47-year-old said. “After a while, if nothing is done, it’ll be less than an hour before it starts flooding.” As Thailand’s rainy season gets underway, residents in and around Bangkok say they are experiencing more intense and frequent seasonal floods since 2011, when the capital…
Published on 17 February 2017
The report, Thailand’s biggest collection of climate change research, is published once every five years. Its conclusion calls for every sector to take urgent action on climate mitigation and adaptation. Speaking at the launch of the report in Bangkok, co-researcher Atsamon Limsakul, a researcher at the Department of Environmental Quality, pointed out that Thailand would inevitably be affected by climate change. He referred to the…
Published on 14 November 2016
During the Forum, which wraps up on 12 November, experts will also discuss ways to improve water management in order to achieve global sustainable food security. FAO emphasized in a news release that in order to achieve food security, especially in developing countries, regular access to water must be made possible through irrigation. The agency cited irrigation as “a key factor to help transform rural…
Published on 26 September 2016
“While climate change directly affected rice productivity in Thailand, the global economic recession also contributed to a decline in demand,” Thai ambassador Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum told Gulf Times. The El Niño phenomenon has severely affected agricultural lands in many Southeast Asian countries since last year, particularly Thailand, the second largest rice exporter in the world. Chaiyindeepum also cited many emerging rice exporting competitors but stressed…
Published on 4 January 2016
He warned that global warming would result in more severe storms, more frequent drought and floods, and would increase the level of the sea causing coastal erosion and flooding, so it would be very difficult for us to escape the outcome of climate change. Arpa Wangkiat, a lecturer at Rangsit University's Department of Environmental Engineering, agreed, saying that small farmers would be most…
Published on 16 July 2015
The Asia-Pacific region’s forests, which account for almost 20 percent of the world’s forested area, play a big role in fighting climate change because of trees’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2). Studies have shown that strengthening community forest rights can cut CO2 emissions by reducing deforestation, and improve forest health. Trevor Abrahams, secretary general of the World Forestry Congress, said Asia had a…
Published on 6 July 2015
The Buddhist temple of Wat Khun Samut, now a popular tourist destination, was once a central part of a thriving community, long gone after the sea devoured the coastline. Only the tops of a few buildings still protrude from the rolling waters. Every year, from Vietnam to Bangladesh, significant chunks of the shoreline are lost to the sea. In the Gulf of Thailand, almost a…
Published on 6 July 2015
The forum is a lead-up event to the 21st Conference of Parties (COP) - also known as the 2015 Paris Climate Conference - in early December. The director for the Cross-sectoral Corporation Directorate, Larry Maramis, said Asean countries had the ability to follow low carbon development. He also stressed that a shift to lower carbon use was urgently needed to minimise the rise…
Published on 29 June 2015
Permanent Secretary of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry Kasemsun Chinnavaso revealed after attending the meeting that the country’s intention would be proposed to the High-Level Event on Climate Change to be held at United Nations headquarters in New York, the U.S. on June 29th. According to him, Thailand has already achieved a 12% reduction in the gas emission though it is not on…
Published on 29 June 2015
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is a natural fluctuation of ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific that can give rise to El Niño and La Niña, which drive droughts and floods from South East Asia and Australia to the Americas. Financing needs for climate change adaptation -- efforts to adjust to extreme weather and rising seas -- are estimated at tens of billions of dollars…
Published on 3 June 2015 Thailand
Four years ago, this was not the case. But like a flip of a switch, the catastrophic floods of 2011 in Thailand’s Central Plain inundated Nakhon Pathom along with most of its pomelo orchards. Weeks of flooding killed most of the trees, and there were insufficient local saplings to replant. “The floods nearly rendered extinct our province’s unique pomelo gene pool,” recalls Chutima Noinat…
Published on 3 June 2015 Thailand
Twarath Sutabutr, deputy permanent secretary of the Energy Ministry, said the target was achievable with the advanced technology available today and in the future. Energy intensity is in focus as the authorities seek to achieve a more balanced strategy. While supply will be boosted by new investment locally and overseas, the demand side will have to be lowered to ensure long-term national energy security…
Published on 13 May 2015 Thailand
“What we try to promote here is to warn [Thailand] not to repeat the same mistakes as Germany,” said Roland Treitler, project director of improved management of extreme events through ecosystem-based adaptation in watersheds (ECOSWat) of GIZ. He was addressing Thai officials at a forum on German flood protection at the Eastin Grand Hotel in Bangkok. Treitler said green irrigation projects in Germany had…
Published on 16 March 2015 Thailand
Hidden under the house and its wraparound porch are steel pontoons filled with Styrofoam. These can lift the structure three meters off the ground if this area, two hours north of Bangkok, floods as it did in 2011 when two-thirds of the country was inundated, affecting a fifth of its 67 million people. The 2.8 million baht ($86,000) amphibious house in Ban Sang village…
Published on 26 November 2014
Indeed, Thais continue to demonstrate humanity's unmatched ability to adapt. Most businessmen now prefer to remain silent about the economic growth rate this year, which could well fall below 2 per cent. (The International Monetary Fund's forecast is the lowest, at 1 per cent). Along with officials at the Finance and Commerce ministries, they are of the view that it is better to look at…
Published on 15 October 2014
"Perhaps, locals will have to relocate," said Robert Mather, head of Southeast Asia Group and also project manager of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Building Resilience to Climate Change Impacts-Coastal Southeast Asia (BCR). Living on the coast of Trat's Klong Yai district, Papassorn Sunet said she had to elevate her house twice already in the face of soaring seawater level. At a…
Published on 19 September 2014
Dr Natarika Wayuparb, Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management (TGO)'s deputy executive director, said the Kingdom should pioneer new policies by addressing climate change problems at a serious level. "Thailand needs to make a serious attempt to show we have the right policy to ensure [addressing] climate change issues are moved from a local level into an international one," she said. "We have seen good examples from…
Published on 15 July 2014
Most rivers, canals and reservoirs have remained unchanged for decades, merely undergoing periodic dredging under a vast range of agencies - from the Royal Irrigation Department, Interior Ministry and Defence Ministry to local administrative bodies. But in the light of drastic changes in our climate which have resulted in both longer droughts and excessive rainfall, we need fresh investment for water management and improvement works…
Published on 2 July 2014
A floods working group, made up of the government, local companies, civil society and community leaders, has set up closed-circuit television cameras to monitor canals, and has made real-time information on rainfall and water levels available on a website. It has also helped local communities map the city’s water flows, produced a handbook on how to combat floods, and established an insurance fund to help…
Published on 23 June 2014
Robert Mather, head of the Southeast Asia Group for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said climate change was an immediate problem. He said that at the current rate of energy consumption, the average temperature was expected to rise in Thailand and there would be more concentrated periods of rain, which could cause floods, in the near future. The Media Alliance said news outlets…
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