Kingdom of Thailand

Reviving the Economic Miracle

Grand Palace: One of the many famous tourist spots in Thailand.

With its warm hospitality, flavorful cuisine, ancient traditions, vibrant culture, beaches, and hill resorts, plus the shops, entertainment, and historic buildings of Bangkok, the capital city, Thailand is well known tourist destination in the subregion. It lies at the heart of the Southeast Asian mainland, bordered by Myanmar to the west, the Lao PDR and Cambodia to the east, and peninsular Malaysia to the south. Within its land area of 513,115 km2, the country consists, apart from peninsular Thailand, of four main upland tracts in the west, north, northeast, and southeast surrounding a large central plain drained by the principal river, Chao Phraya.

Nearly four fifths of the population of about 62.9 million (in 2001) are rural. Thailand's main natural resources are agricultural, particularly in the bountiful central plain (and to a lesser extent the Khorat Plateau), which produces a substantial surplus of rice. Its abundant arable land, water, forest, fish, and wildlife resources have provided the raw materials for the impressive economic growth achieved over the last 40 years. However, as the manufacturing and service sectors expand, the relative role of primary production is declining.

Thailand's rapid economic development over the past 4 decades has strained environmental and natural resources. In fact, the damage to the environment will need to be repaired and improvements made to ensure that further economic development is not constrained.

The substantial opening of uplands in the late 1950s shrank the forest cover from about 50% of the land area in 1961 to about 29% in 2000. The resulting changes in the use of land, including the loss of forest cover, inevitably reduced species diversity and abundance. In some areas, soil erosion has approached 30 tons per ha per year and has affected one third of the land, damaging the watersheds and, consequently, the supply of freshwater. Intensive fishing, an activity in which Thailand ranks among the top 10 countries in the world, has severely reduced the country's highly diverse and naturally productive coastal resources, driving its fishing fleet deeper into international fishing areas. Tourism, while bringing many economic benefits, has increased the stress on coastal ecosystems, threatening or degrading the islands, estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass beds, and sandy beaches. Rapid growth of industrial and agroindustrial production has caused serious air, surface, and groundwater pollution in the urban areas. Solid waste disposal problems are increasing as cities and consumerism continue to grow.

The good news is that Thailand has reached or is nearing the income level at which, as the experience of more advanced countries suggests, a strong national consensus favoring environmental protection emerges. It is hoped that this will increasingly influence the environmental debate. Already, environmental control measures are starting to show results. Bangkok's air quality is improving: benefits have been realized from the tenfold reduction in curbside lead concentration since unleaded gasoline was introduced in 1992.

Natural resources will likely remain the primary source of livelihood for most of the Thai people, who will continue to live in rural communities well into the 21st century. Population growth, coupled with ambitious export-led growth targets, industrialization, and rising per capita consumption, may almost double the demand on natural resources in the next quarter century. To meet this demand, to double the current stock and flows of infrastructure, food and commodities, manufacturing, and services-the management of natural resources and environmental systems must become much more efficient, equitable, and sustainable.

Facts and Figures

Source: Greater Mekong Subregion Atlas of the Environment