Why does Thailand rank ninth for the risk of harmful effects from climate change?

     According to the Global Carbon Atlas (2020) data, the quantity of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the world’s greenhouse gas emissions was approximately 33,805.10 million tons. The five countries emitting the most greenhouse gas included China, the United States, India, Russia, and Japan, respectively. Thailand was ranked 24th in the global rankings, with greenhouse gas emissions of 258 million tons of carbon dioxide (equal to 0.76%). Even though Thailand is a small country that creates less than 1% of the harmful pollutant, it was ranked ninth among the countries that would suffer from the effects.

    Germanwatch, a department that monitors global climate change, has managed the global climate risk index map showing how each country is affected by climate change by analyzing the data from the past 20 years to obtain the frequencies of disasters, the number of deaths, property losses, and economic losses. Even though Thailand has had large economic losses due to air pollution and climate change, the country has had no explicit plans or measures to deal with global climate change, causing Thailand to be in the ninth place among the  countries at risk.

     According to the report “Blue Carbon Conference 2022: Carbon Dioxide in Marine Areas: Promoting Business Transactions to Net Zero and Ecosystem and Communities,” a conference supporting business party alliances to solve the climate change problems in the target areas, most regions of Thailand have suffered effects from climate changes. Provinces located on coastlines, Bangkok, and river basin provinces in the center of the country risk the submergence of the land and flooding from seawater. The North and the Isaan (northeastern) regions of Thailand will face the risk of droughts, wildfires, and landslides. Additionally, agricultural products and coastal fisheries will lose both plants and animals, affecting the biodiversity and natural resources, and, in turn, losses in natural resources are tourism costs, because Thailand sells the beauty of its natural resources. Furthermore, it is expected that within at least the next 10 years, this chain effect will become greater and affect more parts of Thailand and the region.

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