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November 2008

Country Profile Thailand

Thailand Flag In terms of land area, Thailand is about as big as France. It has a constitutional monarchy similar to that of Great Britain, although the centre of power lies with the military which took over the government for more than a year in September 2006 following a bloodless coup. Although a democratically legitimated government (the People’s Power Party, or PPP) was installed in February 2008, the country has yet to quell ongoing unrest: in September, strong protests by the opposition (the Democratic Party) resulted in a state of emergency being declared for Bangkok and the introduction of a new PPP government. Violent protests erupted once again on 7 October.

Thailand’s integrity and stability is threatened by attacks from Muslim separatists and the hard-hitting military in the south.

The southern region also faces climatic and environmental risk in that the annual monsoons cause severe flooding and soil erosion. Bangkok faces problems such as how to tackle the mountains of waste, along with air and water pollution. Its tropical, humid climate and contaminated drinking water increase the risk of bacterial and viral disease. A further burden on people and the environment comes from the use of pesticides in agriculture, the most prominent example being the destruction of the mangroves by shrimp farms. The country’s 3,210 km long coast is at multiple risk from rising sea levels and tsunamis.

The situation looks better as regards the economic balance in the ‘Panther’ state: a change in its economic structure and promotion of foreign trade have resulted in economic growth (4.8 percent in 2007), less foreign debt (5.3 percent of GDP in 2007) and increasing direct investment (US$ 80.83 billion in 2007). However, some 49 percent of the population works in agriculture and rice remains the country’s key export commodity.

Thailand is a founding member of ASEAN, is an APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) state and has signed free trade agreements with Australia (2005), New Zealand (2005) and Japan (2007). It enjoys close relations with the EU, with participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and the planned free trade zone between the EU and ASEAN. The EU and Germany largely engage in economic and technological cooperation with Thailand. German development cooperation activities in the country are somewhat unusual, focusing on eco-efficiency in small and medium-sized business.

The Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO) has served as the Thai DNA since 2007. It is an arm of the Ministry for Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE), which was founded in 2002. The TGO Committee comprises five representatives each from government and industry. It gives preference to projects on energy generation, waste management, transport and industry. All ten of Thailand’s CDM projects (875 kCERs/year) were registered in or after June 2007. The Annex I states involved are Great Britain with four projects, and Denmark and Japan with three projects respectively. Five emission reduction projects focus on biomass energy, three on methane capture and use, and one each on landfill gas and industry. With a CDM pipeline containing 68 projects, Thailand’s CDM market is dynamic despite its immaturity and lack of diversification. Given that 23 of the 38 projects already approved by the DNA involve methane capture and use, agriculture stands to play the dominant role in Thailand’s CDM sector.

While Thailand is a well-developed country, the future of its CDM market remains uncertain despite the encouraging signals being received. On the positive side, the country’s modernisation efforts will boost consumption and energy use, thus opening up a number of opportunities for CDM activities. The down side is the uncertainty that remains regarding the balance of power between democracy, the monarchy and the military. Another problem is the country’s poor environmental awareness despite the growing climate-related risks it faces and the international-level cooperation activities already in place.

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