The impacts of climate change on Th

The impacts of climate change on Thailand — namely prolonged droughts, decreased agricultural and fishery yields, violent flooding,sea level rise and health-related issues — are already serious and will likely create or exacerbate a number of additional problems during the next few decades. These include water management challenges,heightening of class-related tensions, a flood of new immigrants and refugees, damage to the tourism industry and conflict with China over dam-building. While the government has begun framing policies to bothadapt to and mitigate climate change, its response so far has beenlimited due to shortcomings in both the planning and implementation processes. Thailand’s ongoing political crisis also diverts decision-maker’sattention away from this issue. In the coming decades, Thailand’sinstitutional structure and political economy will hinder its capacity to address climate change and, while these capacities will improve asthe country democratizes, it will still be limited. Consequently, climatechange will retard the country’s growth and enormously strain thecountry’s political system, state and society.