Waterscape Habitats in Thailand: Art of Survival vis-a-vis Climate Change (original) (raw)

Living with Floods: Moving Towards Resilient Local-Level Adaptation in Central Thailand

Through political ecology and pragmatism, this thesis aims at capturing the complexity of flood hazard and the expansion of the range of choice. Empirical data suggest that although the locals view flooding as an unwelcome normal occurrence, changes in people’s lifestyles have altered how they perceive flooding. Elements such as political conflicts and climate change have, additionally, weakened local response mechanisms. In its attempts to deal with flooding, even after the 2011 Mega-Flood, the government has been inclined towards resorting to technological fixes and policies meant to generate wealth for offsetting losses. Social, political, historical, and cultural aspects have been ignored. Participants, however, incorporate these elements into their responses. By engaging with the participants, it became apparent that to expand the range of choice and to strengthen resilience, it is important to encourage preparedness, promote traditional knowledge, highlight the role of religion, and enhance the role of local government.

Why indigenous knowledge can help climate change adaptation | Urban World

2011

Thailand experienced its worst floods in over 50 years in October and November 2011. But locally-evolved, traditional practices of designing, planning and building human settlements proved their resilience. The paper explains how Thailand’s cities and villages live within a waterscape and are well adapted to climate change.

Past floods and anticipating futures : Thailand and its post 2011 flood responses

2016

Deltas across the world are increasingly researched. Such research is often justified by saying deltas are victims of climate change, and focal points of population and economic growth. Such research then, informs long term planning. While we research deltas too, we shift emphasis, even though we think it will bear on planning. In this abstract, we discuss one delta, the Thai Chao Phraya delta, home to Bangkok. This sinking delta too faces drought and floods, and rapid urbanization. In its brief history, Bangkok and its surroundings transformed from a sparsely populated region where people had no roads but travelled through the Chao Phraya river and a dense system of canals, to a global megacity filled with highways and skyscrapers. The speed of development arguably has contributed to many local problems, and it has added dimensions to a delta that is increasingly complex.

The Urban Political Ecology of the 2011 Floods in Bangkok: The Creation of Uneven Vulnerabilities

This paper uses an urban political ecology analysis to question the discourses used by Thai government leaders about the causes of the 2011 floods in Bangkok and the solutions that they have proposed in response. In contrast to their argument that the main causes of the floods in Bangkok were climate change and nature, I argue that the causes of the 2011 floods are compound. They are a result of human-nature interactions: while Thailand did receive heavy rainfall that year, a number of human activities interacted with this heavy rainfall to create the floods. During the past few decades, local political elites have risen to power and profited the most from Bangkok’s urbanization activities while changes to the physical environment of Bangkok have made those living there more vulnerable to floods. These activities include massive land use change and concretization which have drastically increased run-off, over-pumping of groundwater, and the filling of canals. Further, both the local and national government’s overreliance on antiquated and poorly maintained infrastructure made the city more vulnerable to the 2011 floods. In 2011, human decisions, particularly by politicians, about where to direct and block water heavily influenced which groups were most vulnerable. As a result, the inner city was protected at the expense of those living in the city’s peripheral areas. Analyses of disasters in urban areas need therefore need to consider how discourses, socio-political relations, and ecological conditions shape governance practices of disasters.

Transformation of Local Living: Buddhist Thai Communities and Vernacular Houses around Songkhla Lake Basin

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012

This research has explored the relationships between community ecosystems and ways of life in the context of modern development, especially how these relationships are manifested in the changing physical characteristics of communities and their vernacular houses. Using qualitative methods and a holistic approach to study tradition and change, three Thai-Buddhist communities around Songkhla Lake Basin were selected for comparative study. Data were derived from documentary sources, direct and participant observation, in-depth interviews and architectural drawings. It was found that differences in local micro-ecosystems underlie differences in people's adaptability to transformations, in both cultural and physical characteristics, but that kinship ties, their Buddhist beliefs and local traditions reinforce sense of identity.

Adaptative strategy to mitigate impacts of repetitive flooding of residents in Thailand's Ayutthaya province

Journal of Water and Climate Change, 2018

This research investigates the socio-economic, behavioral, and psychological consequences of repetitive flooding on the residents of Ayutthaya's four flood-prone districts. The study also examines the individual-level adaptative strategies adopted by the local residents to coexist with the flooding. The findings revealed several challenges encountered by the flooded households. In addition, most of the respondents expressed a preference to live out the floods in their residences rather than relocating to a makeshift shelter. The ability to live through the floods was largely attributable to the architecture of their residences whereby the houses are raised a few meters above the ground with the living quarter on the upper level, which is the most prominent adaptative strategy. Other adaptative strategies included, e.g., the ownership of a flat-bottom boat and pre-flood stocking-up on basic necessities. Furthermore, in light of the residents’ preference to live out the repetitive...