Thailand Environment Monitor 2000

The "Green" Environmental Agenda Launch: 2000 Number of pages:  26 Download Report:     English (700kb pdf)    Thai Version (1.10mb pdf)

Preface

Thailand’s impressive economic growth over the last three decades fueled rapid industrialization and urbanization, intensified agricultural production and expanded the fishing industry. This growth relied extensively on the country’s abundant and diverse natural resources. Consequently this has caused pollution of air and water in urban areas, degradation of land and water quality and loss of natural 
habitats.

The issues in the “green” environmental agenda are very obvious in the rural areas of Thailand. This is evidenced in the rapid decline in forest cover, which halved over the years to about 25 percent in 1998. However, due to measures taken by government in the late 1980 to prohibit logging have begun to pay dividends in late 1990s, when deforestation rate has substantially dropped to 0.2 percent/year. The rapid felling has led to other environmental problems such as conversion to dryland, sedimentation of rivers, and loss of natural habitats.

Bangkok stands out among the urban centers in Thailand with the most pressing “brown” environmental problems. Foremost among them is air pollution. Through the government’s proactive measures, lead levels have been substantially reduced. However, other pollutants such as particulates continue to pose major  health impacts. Domestic sewage, industrial wastewater and solid and hazardous wastes have shown dramatic rises during  this period of rapid economic expansion, and about a third of the surface water bodies are classified to be of poor quality.

On the “blue” front, rapid increases in demand combined with  water scarcity is resulting in tremendous pressure on Thailand’s water resources. Coastal areas in Thailand have been seriously degraded by expansion of capture fishing, shrimp aquaculture, industry and tourism. Fisheries catch has increased while fishing yields have declined.

In response to these problems, the Government and people of Thailand have launched initiatives to improve air and water quality, reforest degraded land, adopt energy efficient technologies and invest in pollution abatement schemes. To further its strategic objectives, the Government announced a 20 year policy and perspective plan for the environment in 1997. These responses have benefited from information and data obtained through monitoring programs of several national agencies in the country. Data has been published in several reports including “Environment Statistics of Thailand”, “State of Thailand’s Environment”, and “Pollution in Thailand.” Most of the data, however, has been presented in raw form. Thailand will need to build its technical capacity to make statistical outputs more useful in designing targeted policy responses and deciding on investments.

The Environment Monitor presents a snapshot of key environmental trends in Thailand. It is intended as a companion volume to the recently published Environmental Sector Strategy Note (ESSN) titled “Building Partnerships for Environmental and Natural Resources Management”, which sets out the priorities for Bank assistance.

The information contained in this Monitor has been compiled from statistical reports of various Government agencies, contributions from universities, personal communications, and World Bank reports. Using charts and graphs, the Monitor attempts to benchmark trends in various environmental indicators associated with air and water quality, and natural resource conservation. This Monitor will serve to engage and inform stakeholders of key environmental changes. Subsequent issues, to be published annually, will focus on a selected environmental topic of current interest.