Pavich Kesavawong, deputy director general of the federal government’s climate change and environment department, warned that the town may not find a way to adapt to its current warming path.
“I think we’ve crossed the 1.5 mark [degrees Celsius] already,” he said, referring to the increase in global temperatures compared to pre-industrial levels.
“Now we have to go back and think about adaptation.”
“I imagine Bangkok will be underwater by now if we stay in ours [current] fact.”
Bangkok’s municipal government is exploring measures that include building embankments similar to those used in the Netherlands, he said.
However, “we were thinking about moving,” Pavich said, noting that the discussions were still hypothetical and the issue was “very complex.”
“Personally, I think it’s a good choice because we can separate the capital, government areas and business areas,” he said.
“Bangkok [would] proceed to be the capital of presidency, but move the corporate.
While such a move remains to be a great distance from being adopted as policy, it will not be unprecedented within the region.
Indonesia will this 12 months inaugurate its latest capital, Nusantara, which can replace sinking and polluted Jakarta because the country’s political center.
This gigantic move was controversial and intensely expensive, with an estimated price tag of $32-35 billion.
Thailand is feeling the results of climate change across many sectors, from farmers scuffling with heat and drought to tourism businesses affected by coral bleaching and pollution.
It has closed several national parks in response to recent coral bleaching, and Pavich said more closures are possible.
“We need to protect our nature, so we believe we will take all steps to protect our resources,” he said.
However, Pavich admitted that government efforts to tackle the growing air pollution problem, especially in northern Thailand, haven’t yet yielded results.
Legislation focused on clean air was passed this 12 months, and Pavich said national park officials have stepped up efforts to stop and extinguish fires in protected areas.
“The agricultural sector is a big challenge for us,” he said, referring to the constant post-harvest burning that’s the most important reason for seasonal haze. Improvement just isn’t likely for several years.
To put it bluntly, his department – a part of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment – is pushing Thailand’s first climate change laws, which has been within the works since at the least 2019 but was shelved as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pavich said the laws, which incorporates provisions on every little thing from carbon pricing to mitigation and adaptation measures, would likely come into force this 12 months.
Thailand goals to be carbon neutral by 2050 and net zero emissions by 2065.
