Hommam Al Nassim 
A senior official at Thailand’s climate change office said on Wednesday that the country’s leaders may have to consider moving its capital, Bangkok, elsewhere because of rising sea levels.
It is consistently projected that low-lying areas of Bangkok are at risk of being submerged by the ocean before the end of this century.
Much of the bustling capital already suffers from flooding during the rainy season.
Pavich Kisavawong, deputy director general of the State Department for Climate Change and Environment, warned in a statement to AFP that the city may not be able to adapt in its current course to rising temperatures.
“We believe we have already crossed the 1.5 (degree Celsius) level,” Kisavawong said, referring to higher global temperatures than pre-industrial levels.
“Now we have to go back and think about adapting, I imagine Bangkok will already be underwater, if we stay in our current situation,” Kisavawong explained.
According to the official, the Bangkok city administration is exploring measures that include the construction of dams, similar to those used in the Netherlands.
“But we were considering a transition,” the official said, noting that the discussions were still hypothetical, and that the issue was “very complex.”
Thailand is reeling from the effects of climate change in a range of sectors, from farmers suffering from heat and drought to tourism companies affected by coral bleaching and pollution.
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