Country

Thailand

Explore historical and projected climate data, climate data by sector, impacts, key vulnerabilities and what adaptation measures are being taken. Explore the overview for a general context of how climate change is affecting Thailand.

Adaptation

Thailand's adaptation efforts include promoting effective water resource management to mitigate floods and droughts, safeguarding food security by promoting sustainable agriculture, improving health delivery systems, developing early warning systems, strengthening disaster risk reduction and climate modeling capacity, increasing forest cover, safeguarding ecosystems, climate proofing coastal infrastructure, protecting livelihoods of farmers and those involved in fishery, promoting sustainable tourism and increasing awareness among the population about climate change. Thailand underscores that adaptation undertakings of developing countries contribute to the achievement of the global millennium and sustainable development goals.

Adaptation Options for Key Sectors

  • Reduce energy use and maximize the benefits from production activities and consumption, and cause the least impacts associated with global warming.
  • Create development plan for renewable energy, especially biomass and solar energy, energy efficiency plan.
  • Plan for the improvement of a technology foundation for clean technology development.
  • Support and promote livelihoods based on the sufficiency economy philosophy, in order to mitigate global warming and build the people’s resilience and ability to adapt to global warming.
  • Support, promote and participate in activities to enhance carbon sinks through widespread tree planting and by ensuring that these trees are maintained.
  •  Conserve drought-persistent areas and technologies to develop plant species that are resistant to climate variation.
  • Enhance public awareness through formal education and information campaigns.
  • Promote the application of climate scenarios and new analytical approaches, especially in agriculture, water resources and health.
  • The development of science and technology for agriculture is essential, including support for technologies for production whose utilizing is friendly to the environment.
  • Expand forest land to make the forest a net carbon sink again.
  • Provide protection to land and mangrove forests.
  • Increase public awareness and participation, especially by local communities.
  • Focus on technology development.

Gaps and Needs

  • Research constraints lie in general uncertainties of climate scenarios from GCMs as some models remain problematic in assessing uncertainties in climate scenarios. High uncertainties are difficult to work with and to bring about meaningful policy development.
  • There is a lack of comparable socio-economic scenarios, a lack of new impact assessment techniques in key sectors, e.g. annual and perennial crops, water resources and public health. There is also a lack in new and innovative approaches to adaptation analysis; as well as the integration of climate change factors into the development process.
  • Research in systematic observation of climate variables to support Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), particularly ocean observation in Asia and the Pacific.
  • Enhancement of climate observation stations and networks.
  • Development of regional information exchange and communication.
  • Capacity building for short- and medium-term weather forecasts.
  • Capacity enhancement of meteorologists.
  • Development of a center of excellence for Asia and the Pacific.
  • Capacity building for negotiators of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
  • Analytical techniques to prioritize selected adaptation options across different sectors and issues, and to meaningfully convey the message at policy making levels.
  •  Data accessibility/availability.
  • Contribution and standardization of databases. 
  • Indigenous knowledge database.
  • Knowledge and awareness gaps.