Impact assessment report of climate change and environmental degradation on children in Thailand

This study aims to assess the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on children and to assess the gaps in climate change and environmental policies in order to strengthen children’s climate resilience and propose child-sensitive climate and environmental policy interventions. This study developed climate risk maps by overlaying key climate indices and child-related non-climate indices to identify the areas within Thailand most exposed to climate impacts with high concentrations of children. 

The key results from the climate change impact assessment on children in Thailand illustrate that children living in different parts of Thailand are exposed and vulnerable to different types of climate hazard. In addition, the impacts of climate change on children are unevenly distributed across provinces, with some provinces at higher risks of climate change. This study found that the Northeastern and Southern regions of Thailand are the two regions that face the highest risk of climate change after incorporating children-related factors. The top ten provinces exposed to overall risk of climate change under the near-future time horizon and under the RCP4.5 scenario are Ubon Ratchathani, Nakhon Ratchasima, Si Sa Ket, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Narathiwat, Surin, Songkhla, Burirum, Khon Kean, and Surat Thani, respectively