Thailand

Written By Care About Climate

Core analysis conducted and presented by Kanokphan Jongjarb and Dr. Duanghathai Buranajaroenkij, PhD from Thailand. August, 2021.

unsplash-image-JN3o7fEikGA.jpg

Executive Summary

Among the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Thailand ratified the Paris Agreement on 21 September 2016. To put forward its best efforts, the government of Thailand has committed to reduce total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 25%, as reported in the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). These non-binding national plans not only confirm the country’s policies and measures to achieve low carbon emissions, but also include the adaptation plan to build a climate-resilient society. In order to cover the proposed targets, several stakeholders such as energy, water, and tourism are involved as key actors. References to gender and youth are minimal. Therefore, this report takes the youth and gender-centered perspective to assess the level of inclusion of women and youth in the Thailand's NDCs. While only one reference to gender responsiveness is found in the adaptation principle of the latest’s NDCs, no reference to youth participation is made. Several political and cultural constraints remain which limit the mainstreaming of gender equality and youth engagement in NDC actions are also discussed in the paper. Ultimately, much more work needs to be done to increase the greater degree of gender and youth integration in climate policy instruments, specifically, strong political will along with effective and coherent policy.

NDC Analysis

  1. Introduction

Thailand remains at risk from the adverse effects of climate variability. According to the recent Global Climate Risk Index, Thailand ranks ninth globally of the countries which were highly affected by climate change during 2000 to 2019 (Eckstein et al., 2019). The nation is faced with extreme weather events of increasing frequency and magnitude, particularly floods and drought. Increasing temperature will lead to greater exposure to riverine, flash, and coastal flooding. In Thailand, flooding has been responsible for tremendous economic and human losses (WBG & ADB, 2021). As an example, the disastrous 2011 flood was the result of unusually high rainfall during the pre-monsoon and monsoon season. This historic extreme event was the world’s fourth costliest disaster in term of economic disruption (Rudari, 2017). The human impacts of climate change in Thailand remain dependent on the adaptation measures adopted, but there is a significant risk that the poorest and most marginalized groups will experience disproportionately greater levels of loss and damage. 

To enhance ambition for the reduction of GHG emissions and improve adaptation capacity to climate change, Thailand has committed to implement climate actions to contribute to reaching the Paris Agreement’s target. The first (I)NDC was submitted in 2016 and a revised NDC submission formulated with several national plans was submitted in October 2020. The country’s NDCs focus both on mitigation and adaptation goals. Several plans for the energy and industry sectors support mitigation efforts to reach ambitious targets including, the Power Development Plan (PDP), the Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP), and the Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP). Adaptation was mentioned for the first time in the NDC as it was introduced as part of the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), outlined with clear objectives, and covering the period of 2020 – 2037. The NAP, using a sector-based approach, identifies six sectors to mainstream climate change adaptation issues across government ministries and other sub-national structures. Other six sectors covered by the adaptation guidelines are: 1) water management (Office of the National Water Resources); 2) public health (Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health); 3) tourism (Department of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Sports); 4) natural resources management (Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment); 5) agriculture and food security (Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives); and 6) human settlements and security (Department of Public Work and Town & Country Planning, Ministry of Interior). 

This paper aims to provide an analysis of Thailand’s NDCs through the lens of gender and youth perspectives. The following section is the analysis of Thailand’s NDCs include emissions, gender, youth inclusion, and other aspects of climate justice. Finally, the conclusion is drawn with key recommendations for improving gender mainstreaming, youth inclusion in climate change, and being prioritized more in the next NDC.

2. Emissions overview

The updated version of Thailand’s NDCs reaffirmed the mitigation target as stated in the first (I)NDCs. The country is committed to reduce GHG emissions by 20% by the year 2030. This target is below the business-as-usual scenario. The reduction of GHG emission is intended to increase to 25%, unconditionally, if the country has sufficiently improved access to technology transfer, financial support, and capacity building to reach their maximum goal. It is important to note that Long-term Lower Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) was referred to as the fundamental enhancement of its subsequent NDCs.

3. Gender 

Thailand has advanced gender equality and women’s rights through several legal provisions that set up national instruments to promote gender equality. One of the significant legal commitments is the Thailand Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 (2015). This law, considered a step forward, achieves gender equality by encouraging government agencies to collect sex-disaggregated data for designing gender-sensitive policies and gender responsive monitoring. Gender training within organization and gender-responsive budgeting in each ministry are also promoted under this act. At the highest level, the Office of Women’s Affairs and Family Development (OWAFD) and the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) have an essential role in promoting gender equality and empowering women by designing gender-sensitive policies and measures and collaborating networks for gender equality. Moreover, Chief Gender Executive Officers (CGEOs), senior officials in every ministry and department who oversee the integration of gender consideration into their programs, and Gender Focal Points are appointed to mainstream gender perspectives in all stages of the government agencies’ activities (OWAFD, 2004).

Despite the effort to mainstream gender considerations in all ministries and departments, gender equality in both NDCs remain limited. While gender equality is not referenced in the first (I)NDCs, the updated NDCs mention gender responsiveness being aligned with human rights in the adaptation component. It explains that the preparation of the NAPs was done with consideration to the fundamental rights and freedoms of human beings with equality, fairness, and non-discrimination regarding socioeconomic inequalities. In particular, the low-income, the elderly, the sick, children, and women should garner increased attention based on their specific needs within the context of emergency response and natural resource management given that they are the most susceptible groups to climate-induced extreme events. However, gender-sensitive indictors and sex disaggregated data are not reflected in the NAP’s sectoral work plan or monitoring and evaluation. Neither OWAFD or MSDHS is among the six sectors of the integrated approach in the NAPs nor does their involvement appear. References to gender and climate change expert are absent as is a system for designating a gender focal point. It is also observed that relevant national gender plans or strategies such as Thailand Gender Equality Act and Women’s Development Strategy 2017-2021 have not formulated with other national plans to meet mitigation targets in the NDCs. 

Implementing gender-responsive plans in Thai national climate policies and related government agencies have faced several challenges. The gender mainstreaming structures and mechanism in place evidently fade due to lack of political commitment from the national to the local offices, especially the arrangement of middle- and lower-level government officers. There is the perception by the administration that the concept of gender equality is a vaguely defined. This leads to uncertainty when translated into practice, for instance gender budgeting (Kusakabe, 2005; Nicol et al., 2021). It is also observed that Thailand’s national gender plans and strategies are likely to center around social assistance, employment, political participation, and promoting understanding of gender equality rather than environmental governance and natural resource management (Resurrección et al., 2018). This challenge is reflected in both NDCs. Gender integration remains underprioritized, especially in the mitigation component. Given that the preparation of the NDCs and the NAP were dominated by engineers and related professionals within male dominated sectors such as water, public works, and planning, as well as energy and transportation, the persistent gender values are still manifested (Andajani-Sutjahjo et al., 2015; Ongsakul et al., 2012). 

4. Youth

It is estimated that there are approximately 12 million individuals between the ages of 10-24 years old. This is a group which holds immense potential for driving the future of the Thai economy and implementing innovations (Davin, 2019). Several national roadmaps strongly emphasize the importance of youth education and essential skill development to adjust to global changes. For example, Thailand’s 20-year National Strategy, 2018–2037 highlights youth education as a pathway to advance economic potential and inclusiveness. It encourages students to learn 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, reasoning, analysis, and collaboration in order to be better able to respond to coming challenges (UNICEF, 2021). In addition, the second National Child and Youth Development Plan 2017–2021 aims to achieve the vision that “Thai children and youth enjoy quality of life, have age-appropriate development, are creative citizens, and are fully engaged as partners in national development”. It underlines a need for an enabling environment for younger generations to be able to adapt with global trends (Thai Health Project, 2020). 

Youth are believed to be positive agents of change through their potential to bring diverse, innovative perspectives to advance ambitious climate action (Bekkers et al., 2020). However, there is no component explicitly addressing the need for future generations to be included in national climate policy or the preparation processes of the NDCs. On the hand, it is evident that young Thais increasingly participate in climate change movements and are willing to participate in government policy-making processes. Based on the research results from UNICEF (2021), social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are popular platforms for most of young Thais to discuss social issues, as well as climate change and environmental degradation among others. As a result, several youth-led Facebook groups were created for sharing movement events, raising awareness, and building networks such as Fridays for Future Thailand, Too Young to Die, Climate Strike Thailand, Trash Hero, and Evironman. It is worth noting that the Fridays for Future movement contributed to the Thai youth movement for environmental causes, motivating greater involvement among Thai youth.  

Youth engagement in environmental programs is still restricted due to weak support from public and private sectors. Based on UNCEF’s research on “Thailand’s ambitious environmental vision needs youth involvement” (2021) it is shown that the Thai youth are not empowered to voice their opinions on policy formulation processes at national level; while inclusiveness of youth is becoming more active and involved on the political stage and dialogues. However, schools in rural and urban areas appear to have a comparatively large education gap. Whereas urban schools have better resources, teaching quality, and access to information, rural schools remain significantly disadvantaged. It has been reported that Thai schools are fundamentally authoritative and conservative and consequently fall short in the development of creative and critical thinking skills (Lertchoosakul, 2021). This leads to constraints around the capacity of youth to initiate climate work and increase engagement in addition to the consultation and planning process around the NDCs. 

5. Civil Society Inclusion

The process of drafting the NDCs uses a participatory approach involving the consultation of several stakeholders. An inter-ministerial working group was formed, and steering committees were appointed. They consist of representatives from relevant sectoral groups, academia, and the private sectors. In a participatory process five stakeholder consultations in five regions preceded a single national consultation (Laopongpith, 2019). 

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

This analysis found that there is no emphasis on the importance of youth and there is only a single reference to gender responsiveness in Thailand’s NDCs. Despite having existing mechanisms for gender mainstreaming and youth development, integrating gender perspective, and supporting youth engagement in the climate policy has encountered a number of hurdles which are largely a result of political and cultural barriers. Consequently, this token effort creates doubt on the potential for transformational changes such as the implementation of inclusive climate policy and reducing inequalities. The following are key recommendations to the National Committee on Climate Change Policy, the NAP’s key six sectors, the Ministry of Education and MSDHS for the improvement of future NDCs and other national climate plans:

  • Provide platforms and channels as part of a participatory environment to enable youth involvement in the development of national policies on climate and the environmental 

  • Establish the National Youth Assembly for Climate Change in public and private schools across the country with sufficient budget allocation to support their activities

  • Support youth-led climate movements and activities to encourage their role as positive agents to raise awareness, as well as initiate solutions and innovations 

  • Emphasize the climate crisis in school curriculums starting from early childhood education

  • Integrate Gender Focal Points and CGEOs into the structure of Thailand’s energy and climate policies 

  • Make sex-disaggregated data available to the monitoring and evaluation processes to better understand gender needs and inform policy development 

  • Use gender analyses and social impact assessments to shed light on the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities and thereby shape the national gender policy framework in NDC planning processes

  • Implement gender budgeting across government agencies that are part of mitigation and adaptation action plans

  • Develop the National Gender Action Plan for Climate Change to create an enabling environment to achieve gender equality and effectively support gender-sensitive climate policy instruments

7. References 

Authors

Kanokphan Jongjarb, Thailand NDC Ambassador: Kanokphan Jongjarb is a gender specialist with more than a decade of research experience working on gender-related projects. Her specific focus is on the gender interface with vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, social protection, and women’s economic empowerment. Kanokphan holds a M.Sc. in Gender & Development Studies from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), and the M.Sc. Program, Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security at the United Nation University (UNU-EHS). Currently, Kanokphan supports gender mainstreaming in agricultural development research projects in Africa with the Center for Development Research (ZEF) in Bonn, Germany.

Care About Climate
Previous

United Arab Emirates
Next

Seychelles