Thailand’s Floods Expose Decades of Unsustainable Development, Climate Neglect
Another flooded village, another frantic round of sandbags. The Nan River, swollen to its highest level in fourteen years, is inundating Thailand’s Phitsanulok province. Bangkok Post reports 30 households in tambon Noen Kum are already underwater, and more rain is on the way. This isn’t a weather event; it’s a brutal audit of a system running a massive deficit. The question isn’t just “how high will the river rise?”, but “what kind of world produces floods like this in the first place?”.
“The flooding was expanding quickly, bolstered by the persistent rain and rising level in Khlong Noen Kum, which carries water flowing from the Phetchabun mountains.” The immediate response — repairing breached flood barriers and distributing supplies — is crucial, of course. But it’s like constantly upgrading your phone while ignoring the fact that your data plan is hopelessly inadequate.
To truly understand the flooding in Phitsanulok, we need to zoom out, way out. Thailand, like many nations in the global south, sits at the intersection of climate vulnerability and infrastructural deficits. Deforestation in the Phetchabun mountains upstream intensifies runoff, while unplanned urban development along the river obstructs natural drainage. Shrimp farms, incentivized by global demand and lax environmental regulations, have replaced vital mangrove forests, which once acted as natural flood defenses.
But blaming “unplanned development” without understanding the pressures driving that development is like blaming a patient for having high cholesterol without examining their diet, access to healthy food, or the marketing they’re constantly bombarded with. Thailand’s rapid economic growth over the past few decades has lifted millions out of poverty, but it’s also created incentives for deforestation, unsustainable agricultural practices, and haphazard urbanization — all compounding the effects of climate change. Look at the Chao Phraya River delta: a century ago, it was a vast, absorbent floodplain. Now, it’s a maze of concrete and canals, struggling to cope with increasingly erratic rainfall.
Think of it like a bathtub overflowing. You can keep mopping up the water, but if the tap is still running, the problem will only get worse. According to geographer David Demeritt at King’s College London, “disasters are not simply ‘natural’ events but social constructions,” the product of vulnerabilities created by existing social, economic, and political systems. It’s not just about weather; it’s about exposure — who is in harm’s way, and why?
The Queen Sirikit Dam, originally built for irrigation and power generation, is now contributing to the flooding as it releases water. In 2011, Thailand experienced some of its worst flooding in decades, and the dam’s management became a focal point of public criticism. It’s a reminder that solutions designed for a different era can become part of the problem. We are living in a world built for a climate that no longer exists, and deploying solutions designed for a social and economic landscape that is long gone.
This isn’t just about Thailand. It’s about the interconnectedness of climate change, development, and governance. The rising waters in Phitsanulok are a microcosm of a global crisis. As climate scientist Michael E. Mann has repeatedly emphasized, localized extreme weather events are only going to become more frequent and intense. So it means rethinking not only infrastructure and policy, but the very systems that created these vulnerabilities in the first place. It means acknowledging that the real flood we face isn’t just water; it’s a deluge of deferred consequences, a tide of moral and political debts finally coming due. The question now is not just whether we can hold back the water, but whether we can learn to swim in a world we have irrevocably altered.
