Upcoming drought predicted to be Thailand’s worst in several years

Taliesin Verity in Pattaya Daily News (Thailand): As Thailand enters the hot season, experts are warning that the drought which has already affected significant parts of the country could be the worst for several years. This will have a radical effect on agricultural production, related commerce and will also affect the households of the nation in general.

[E]xperts have started issuing national drought warnings, indicating that the drought this year caused by global warming, the worst El Nino phenomenon encountered in the past 10 years and the falling level of the Mekong River could have dire effects for the whole country, with water reserves already at a critically low point and cultivation affected in the Central Region of the country.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Anond Snidvong, Director of the Climate Change Knowledge Management Center (CCKM), warned that this year’s hot season is likely to be prolonged until May, with the hottest period being between March to April, the peak on 22 April, and temperatures are likely to climb to 40-42 degrees Celsius. Dr. Anond predicted that the hardest hit regions would be lower northern part of the country and the central plains including Bangkok. Dr Somkiat Prajamwong, Project Management Office Director of the Irrigation Department, however, is most concerned about the upper North of Thailand and the Northeast.

Water shortages are expected to seriously affect citizens, and particularly farmers nationwide, whose survival depends on their harvest and water supply. Water supply management and individual conservation measures for Thailand as a whole is therefore crucial to ensure a sufficient amount of water throughout the upcoming drought….

Aerial view of a farming area outside Bangkok, shot by F3rn4nd0, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.