H.E. Prof. Dr.Yongyuth Yuthavong

Introduction

 

Climate change is drawing global attention like never seen before as the world has recently faced a number of unprecedented havocs, including rapidly melting Arctic ice, huge forest fires, and unusual storms in many parts of the world. Recognition of its importance is seen by the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Peace recently to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC, and Al Gore. Recently, the UN Environment Programme issued its fourth Global Environment Outlook, warning that the human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass "points of no return".  A tipping point could occur in areas like India and China, for example, if Himalayan glaciers shrink so much that they cannot supply adequate water to the populations.

Among many of its actions which led to the Nobel Prize, last April the IPCC held an important meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, and announced that global warming phenomenon would change rainfall patterns, intensify tropical storms, and amplify the risk of drought and flooding, not only in Asia, but all over the entire world. Likewise, global warming could also be blamed for natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, which struck Louisiana last year, and Typhoon Chanchu in the South China Sea this year.

Across the world there is a strong consensus that human activities mainly contribute to global warming. Scientists attribute the global temperature rising to the accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases in the atmosphere which are by-products of power plants, automobiles, and other fossil fuel-burning sources. In 2004, Kyoto Protocol was among the first international agreements to declare some tentative steps towards controlling these "greenhouse gases" which are thought to contribute to climate change and global warming.

Asia and Climate Change

 

Among the impacts of global warming in Asia, many Asian mountain glaciers may soon disappear, permafrost is thawing, and worst drought in 100 years happened in some countries. Glacial ice on Tien Shan Mountains, China, was reduced by one quarter in the past 40 years while central and eastern Himalayan glaciers, India, is retreating by about 30 metres per year and may be all lost by 2035. Heat wave struck Andhra Pradesh state, southern India, in May 2002 and resulted in the highest death toll on record.

Rapid population growth and development in several Asian countries will put additional pressures on natural ecosystems. This will also lead to a rapid rise in the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere unless steps are taken to cut back emissions. Recently, climate change has been reported to have a potential to dramatically slash yields of rice - the staple food for most of Asian people. There was strong evidence of a reduction in rice reported to be caused by rising temperatures consistent with trends in global warming. Moreover, coral reef bleaching has been found from many seas and oceans of Asia, including the Gulf of Thailand.  The link between stronger El Nino events and cholera prevalence was also studied in Bangladesh and revealed the evidence that global warming over the last century are affecting human diseases.

Thailand and Climate Change

 

Thai people are becoming increasingly aware of global warming, with the occurrence of flash floods in Uttaradit and other northern provinces, coral reef bleaching in the Andaman seas and unusual weather patterns elsewhere. The best warning of the impact of climate change for Thais could be on rice, the most viral grain farmed by 3.6 million families and the country's largest export. Jasmine rice production in the northeastern region was found falling 45.5 percent between 1994 and 2005 because of increased drought and floods. Rising sea levels caused by melting ice and warming oceans could also hit Thailand's coastal farms, as increased salt levels in the soil made it less productive. Furthermore, many archaeological sites which have withstood centuries of wars and natural disasters might not survive an impact from global warming. For example, recent floods attributed to climate change have damaged the ancient remains of Sukhothai and Ayuthya.

 

In fact, though being medium-size country, Thailand has also been responsible for global greenhouse gas emissions. The nation emits 1.13 percent of the world's net increase of atmospheric greenhouse gasses, 67 million of 5.9 billion tonnes of carbon. In emissions per capita, Thailand emits 1.3 tonnes per head, slightly above the world average of 1.2 tonnes per capita. The increment of carbon dioxide emissions of Thailand could be explained by the rapid economic growth of the country. The GDP shares of Thailand's industrial and service sectors have grown at an accelerated rate. This economic growth has created a growing demand for fossil energy and hence higher emissions of carbon dioxide. Rough estimation indicated that a one percent increase in GDP may induce a roughly 0.9 percent increase in carbon dioxide emissions.

 

The major sources of Thailand's greenhouse gas emissions arise from changing land-use pattern and from increased energy consumption. Deforestation for other use has led to a drastic drop in the amount of carbon stored in standing biomass and soils. Thailand lost forest area very rapidly during the 1960s and 1970s - about 3 percent annually. Fortunately, the current trend shows a slowed rate of deforestation, due to the logging ban in 1988. Rice farming also contributed to global warming through methane production.  However, the main source of greenhouse gas emissions is in energy conversion and consumption processes which produce a large amount of carbon dioxide. Thailand's energy consumption increased at the rate of 4.6 percent per annum during 1981-1986, and rose sharply to 8.4 percent during 1986-88. The projections to the year 2011 indicate that the country's energy consumption will grow at an annual rate of about 6 percent, implying an increasing amount of carbon dioxide emissions. In the foreseeable future, the carbon added to the atmosphere will come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels by the industrial, power, and transportation sectors.

Thai Government's Policies and Actions

The Thai government has announced a commitment to protecting the global climate by participating in many international forums. Thailand has been a Party to "the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)" and "the Kyoto Protocol".  It has also participated in "the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer", and "the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer" (CFC control).

As to carbon emission reduction, Thai government has also hosted important international meetings including: "the Meeting of the Preparatory Committee: the Technical Workshop to Explore Options for Global Forest Management", "the Technical Workshop on Legal Aspects of Global Warming", "the International Conference on Global Warming and Sustainable Development: An Agenda for the '90s", and "the 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Meeting, which significantly marked the adoption of the Summary for Policy Makers of the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.

Concerning the intermediate-term planning to tackle global warming and climate change impacts and vulnerability, as well as mitigate greenhouse gases emission, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, is drafting national strategies and guidelines to address the issue of climate change in Thailand.  The Draft Thailand's Five-Year Strategies on Climate Change (2008 - 2012) outline measures that would need to be undertaken by various agencies, which include:

- Build capacity to adapt and reduce vulnerabilities to climate change impacts ;

- Promote greenhouse gas mitigation activities based on sustainable development; Support research and development to better understand climate change, its impacts and adaptation and mitigation options;

- Raise awareness and promote public participation;

- Build capacity of relevant personnel and institutions and establish a framework of coordination and integration; and

- Support international cooperation to achieve the common goal of climate change mitigation and sustainable development.

To reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the government has carefully planned strategies and measures to efficiently reduce emissions while would not effect the country's energy system. They will ensure a sufficient supply of electricity to achieve the country's targeted growth and

industrialisation, while keeping the level of carbon dioxide emissions low. These include immediate actions to accelerate the implementation of energy conservation programmes, medium-run action measures to switch energy consumption strategies to the different fuel mixes, basically toward extensive use of natural gas and imported hydroelectric power. For a long-term goal, effective plans to increase forest areas are in the make and the possibility of adopting unconventional sources of energy has been explored. Thailand has a vast potential for clean, renewable energies such as modern biomass, wind, and solar. Thus, the Thai government has already set a target of delivering 8 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2011. Currently, there exists enough biomass to power 25 percent of the country's electricity needs. Hopefully, renewable energy sources can provide 35 percent of Thailand's energy supply by 2020.

Also, the government has recently established the Thailand's Greenhouse Gas Organization (Public Organization), or TGO, to deal specifically with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. At this time, Thailand already approved 18 biomass, biogas, and landfill-gas CDM projects.  Our approach for greenhouse gas emission reductions through CDM project focuses on the energy sector, the first priority of Thailand's climate change strategy.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has also been conducting activities to promote reducing global warming. As the capital of Thailand, Bangkok is a major source of greenhouse gasses with 30 to 50 percent of total energy consumption concentrated in the city. The BMA recently has launched a campaign to promote the use of cloth bags instead of plastic, to reduce waste and require no additional energy to get rid of the used plastic bag. Normally, plastic bags that shoppers bring home mainly end up in landfill, with only a few being recycles. Everyday 1800 tonnes of plastic bags (21 percent of all 8500 tonnes of garbage) were collected in Bangkok. If the use of plastic bags is reduced, about one million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted in Bangkok would be cut per year.

Conclusion

On the World Environmental Day of this year, 5 June 2007, the Prime Minister, General Surayud Chulanont, presided over the ceremony on cooperation in reducing global warming. His speech was under the theme "Stop Global Warming with Sufficient Life Style". The Prime Minister indicated that, from the development prospective, climate change is partly the result of the faulty vision of development which only focused on exploitation of the nature but ignored impact to the environment.

Luckily, Thailand has adopted the practice of sufficiency economy, as advised by His Majesty the King, as a main pillar of government policy. Along with a competitive economy with the private sector as the main engine, sufficiency economy provides a middle path for social and economic development based on moderation in life style and sustainability of the natural resource and environment. The principles of sufficiency economy will be applied to the issue of climate change and global warming. The country is ready to join the world community to solve the problems at all levels, such as through suitable laws or measures, especially the cleaner mechanism for development. That includes: efficient use of energy, recycle of energy, reduction of emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, alternative transportation, reforestation and environment conservation in general.

As for the world at large, it is late, but not too late, to reverse the harmful trends on the environment.  For example, the action of the world community to try to reduce the ozone hole has been successful, with the international action to phase out the ozone-damaging chemicals.  Similar actions, from international collaborations, can prevent or even reverse the rapid onset of global warming. ASEAN, comprising 10 countries in Southeast Asia will discuss environmental problems in its summit meeting in November, and issue an ASEAN Declaration on Environmental Sustainability. However, the problems are very grim and of such unprecedented proportions that they will need concerted actions over a long time, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, energy conservation, use of alternative energy sources, and use of innovative technologies to capture the greenhouse gases.  These are some actions that will need to be taken rapidly on a large scale worldwide, in order to meet the challenges from climate change successfully.