Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Disaster struck as preparation fell short
News, Nuthasid Rukkiatwong, Published on 03/12/2025
» To understand the devastation in Hat Yai, we need to refrain from finding excuses and culprits and start looking at the factors that led to this catastrophe.
Rising heat needs urgent response
Oped, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Published on 24/11/2025
» 2024 was the hottest on record globally. In Asia and the Pacific, Bangladesh was the worst-hit country, with about 33 million people affected by lower crop yields that destabilised food systems, along with extensive school closures and many cases of heatstroke and related diseases. Children, the elderly and low-wage earners in poor and densely populated urban areas suffered the most, as they generally had less access to cooling systems or to water supplies and adequate healthcare. India, too, was badly affected, with around 700 heat-related deaths mostly in informal settlements.
Mitigating flood misery
Oped, Editorial, Published on 10/10/2025
» This week, the general public breathed a sigh of relief after the Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) expressed confidence that there is no risk of future rounds of flooding reaching 2011 levels. That epic event has gone down as perhaps the worst floods the nation has faced in modern times.
Land bridge a disaster in waiting
Editorial, Published on 22/06/2025
» The Southern Economic Corridor is cataclysm in the making -- set to scar the Andaman Coast and Gulf of Thailand in one sweep. It will disrupt ecosystems, cripple tourism, and erase local livelihoods in exchange for enriching investors. It must be stopped.
Confronting the global water crisis head-on
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Johan Rockström & Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Published on 23/03/2023
» The world's water crisis can no longer be ignored. Unless we manage water properly, we will neither tackle climate change nor meet most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Finding heritage-based fixes for floods
Oped, Montira Horayangura Unakul, Published on 27/10/2022
» Whenever floods ravage Thailand, we hear many calls to enlarge drainage channels, construct new riverside barriers and build more pumping stations. But despite years of heroic engineering work, floods keep wreaking havoc.
The need for locally-led climate actions
News, Pakamas Thinphanga, Published on 09/05/2022
» The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes how climate change is already causing widespread disruption, affecting natural and human systems across the globe. The effects of global temperature warming up above 1.5°C through intensified extreme weather events are unavoidable and irreversible. A strong message of the IPCC report is to act now.
Buffaloes return to Ban Boonrueng
Oped, Paskorn Jumlongrach, Published on 16/09/2020
» In a vast area of wetlands in Ban Boonrueng village, located in Chiang Rai's Chiang Kong district, the return of buffaloes signifies the resilience of what was a disappearing swamp forest in the northern province.
Soft power needed
Oped, Postbag, Published on 12/09/2020
» Re: "Thammasat bans Sept 19 rally", (BP, Sept 11).
Damming Isan's last free-flowing river for cash
News, David JH Blake, Published on 25/07/2019
» Something distinctly rotten is afoot along the northern periphery of Isan. The Songkhram River, the last river with a slight semblance of natural flow and connectivity with the Mekong River, is threatened by one of the least transparent bureaucracies, the Royal Irrigation Department (RID), and a handful of wealthy private interests. That is because the RID's plan to dam the river in Nakhon Phanom, which has been stalled, now looks like it might materialise.