Thailand's dramatic economic growth has caused numerous environmental issues. The country faces problems with air, declining wildlife populations, deforestation, soil erosion, water scarcity, and waste issues. According to a 2004 indicator, the cost of air and water pollution for the country scales up to approximately 1.6–2.6% of GDP per year. As such, Thailand's economic growth has come at great cost in damage to its people and environment. Thailand's Twelfth National Economic and Social Development Plan (2017-2021) warns that, "At present the country's natural resources and environmental quality are deteriorating, and have become a weakness in maintaining the basis of production, services and sustainable living. A large volume of the natural resources stock has been utilized for development, resulting in their continuous degradation. The forests have been depleted, the soil has become infertile, and biodiversity has been threatened. While exhibiting a future risk of water shortages, the existing supply of water has not been able to meet the demands of the various sectors. Conflicts over the use of natural resources stem from the unfair allocation of access and exploitation. Moreover, environmental problems have risen along with economic growth and urbanization. All of these problems have affected the quality of life and have added greater economic costs."
Climate change
Deforestation
Forest cover in Thailand has been greatly reduced as people convert forested land to agriculture, or misappropriate public lands for private use, with related estimates varying. The Sueb Nakhasathien Foundation reports that 53% of Thailand was covered by forest in 1961, but that forested areas had shrunk to 31.6% in 2015. An estimate by the World Wildlife Fund concluded that between 1973 and 2009, Thailand's forests declined by 43%. During the period 2001–2012, Thailand lost one million hectares of forest, while restoring 499,000 hectares. Between 1990 and 2005, Thailand lost 9.1% of its forest cover, or around 1,445,000 hectares. As of 2016, Thailand has an average annual deforestation rate of 0.72%. Wetlands have been converted to rice paddies and urban sprawl. With government measures in place to prohibit logging, deforestation rates have dropped, but the impacts of deforestation are still being felt. Thai government numbers show an increase in the extent of Thai forests. Figures from the Center for Agricultural Information of Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives show an increase in the extent of Thailand's forested area over the period 2006-2015 (from 99 million rai to 103 million rai), with decreases in every other type of land use. In 2019, the Forest Department said that forest cover has steadily increased due to its anti-encroachment measures under the regime's reclaim forest land policy. According to the department, the country's forest areas in 2018 covered 102.4 million rai, a 330,000-rai increase from the previous year. The increase, equivalent to an area the size of Phuket, increases forest coverage to 31.58% of the country's total land. In early-2017, the government reaffirmed its 1975 commitment to increase its forest cover to 40% within 20 years. The aim was to have "conserved forests" blanket 25% of the nation and 15% blanketed by "commercial forests". To achieve this goal in 2018, Thailand would need to convert 27 million rai into forests. Thailand has three square meters of green area per capita. Singapore has 66 m2 per capita and Malaysia, 44 m2. In November 1988, heavy rains washed away the soil of newly deforested slopes, causing massive floods. Villages and agricultural land were swamped, and almost 400 people and thousands of domestic animals were killed. The Thai government banned logging on 14 January 1989, revoking all logging concessions. Consequences included the price of timber tripling in Bangkok, in turn increasing illegal logging. In June 2015, as a severe drought gripped northeastern Thailand, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urged farmers to forgo a second rice crop in order to save water. He attributed the drought to massive deforestation. At least 26 million rai (4.2m ha) of forested land, especially forests in the mountainous north, had been denuded, according to the prime minister, who said that forests were needed for the generation of rainfall. In July 2015, a Bangkok Post editorial summed up Thailand's forestry issues: "Forests have rapidly declined under state policies over the past four decades. Factors include logging, mining, anti-insurgency strategies, promotion of cash crops on the highlands, construction of big dams and promotion of the tourism industry. Corruption is also deep-rooted in forestry bureaucracy." Valuable hardwood tree species, such as Siamese Rosewood, are being extracted illegally for sale, mostly to the Chinese furniture market. These trees are so valuable that poachers are armed and are prepared fight forest rangers. Both rangers and poachers have been killed in gunfights. The rates of logging now threaten the Siamese Rosewood with extinction within 10 years, according to Al Jazeera in 2014.
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