THE WORLD needs to be prepared for more extreme weather events in future after disasters caused by climate change inflicted losses running into many billions of dollars in 2018, according to a study.

The British organisation, Christian Aid, last Thursday released its new report titled “Counting the Cost: a year of climate breakdown”, which revealed that in 2018 all the six populated continents were hit by 10 catastrophic climate-related disasters that cost over US$1 billion (Bt32 billion) in economic damage.

The report and many other scientific research on climate change have similarly identified climate change as the major factor behind these billion-dollar disasters.

The onus has now been placed on governments, businesses, and the people to build climate resilience and adaptation abilities in order to prepare for even-more |devastating natural disasters |as a result of intensifying climate change.

Throughout 2018, the world witnessed extraordinarily severe weather events such as droughts, floods, fires, heat waves, typhoons and hurricanes, which not only killed, injured, and displaced large groups of the population but also caused major economic damage costing billions of dollars.

According to the Christian Aid report, there were at least 10 extreme-weather events that caused damage exceeding $1 billion, while four of those events inflicted losses exceeding $7 billion each.

The maximum losses, according to the report, were inflicted by Hurricanes Florence and Michael, which hit the US and parts of Central America and the Caribbean.

Florence caused damage estimated at $17 billion and Michael caused $15 billion losses, according to the report.

The impacts of other disasters on the rest of the planet were also significant; Japan suffered heavily from extreme weather events such as heat wave, typhoon, and floods, which inflicted losses of more than $12.5 billion, making the disasters in Japan the world’s third most expensive.

Meanwhile, Thailand and Southeast Asia also felt the devastating impacts of climate-related disasters, including drastic changes in rainfall volume and pattern during the monsoon.

According to water data from the National Hydroinformatics and Climate (ThaiWater), it was found that the Mekong subregion received extraordinarily higher precipitation from the unusually strong monsoon.

The sharp rise in rainfall this season triggered widespread floods throughout the Mekong River Basin and led to the collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoi Dam in southern Laos, which killed over 70 people and displaced thousands.

However, in contrast to wetter conditions and floods in most parts of Thailand, the nation’s precipitation chart by ThaiWater indicated that some parts of Thailand’s Northeastern and Central regions were facing drought, as the volume of rainfall in these areas was substantially lower than average.

Christian Aid’s report pointed out that these billion-dollar disasters and bizarre weather patterns are linked to human-caused climate change.

The report explains that |climate change is strengthening the power and severity of |some weather events such as typhoons

The rise in global temperature is also contributing to reduced rainfall, which cause wildfires and drought more often.

From the horrific trend of global climate-related disasters this year, Prof Michael Mann, distinguished professor of atmospheric science at Penn State University, stressed that humanity urgently needed to tackle climate change to prevent more destructive disasters in the future.

Rapid fall in emissions needed

“The world’s weather is becoming more extreme before our eyes – the only thing that can stop this |destructive trend from escalating is a rapid fall in carbon emissions,” Mann said.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace country director for Thailand Tara Baukamsri urged all stakeholders to help strengthen society’s resilience to climate change and empower its adaptation abilities to cope |with more intense |disasters and environmental |degradation as a result of climate change.

“Even though people in rural areas face greater impacts from climate change compared to people in the cities, the urban folks’ lack of connection with nature and understanding is making it harder for them to adapt to environmental change than their rural counterparts,” Tara said.

“So we need to fill these gaps so as to lessen the impacts from climate change on people and our society.”

The past year has seen an increasing number of environmental issues arise in Thailand that demonstrated our connection to the world at large_and to its universal values.

A couple of cases involved trophy hunting, a universal issue about which people everywhere have strong emotional reactions – especially if “influential figures” are the ones doing the hunting.

Premchai Karnasuta, president of the sizeable construction firm Italian-Thai Development Plc, was arrested along with three companions in early February in Kanchanaburi’s Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary.

They’re charged with killing protected animals, including a black leopard.

Some in authority might have wanted the matter to quietly disappear, but public concern that Premchai’s political and business connections might help him avoid prosecution have kept the case in the spotlight.

The affair is so rife with controversy – including the question of equal justice for all – that it’s garnered headlines around the globe.

The case is still before the court but proceeding at an unusually fast pace, as noted by conservationists such as Sasin Chalermlarp, president of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation. A judge’s ruling is expected sometime in the next three months.

The next issue that followed shortly after the black leopard incident and put Thailand on the same test of social inequality was Pa Waeng or “the wracked forest”.

The Court of Appeals Region 5 was in the process of building offices and residences for its judges and staff at the foot of Doi Suthep, a mountain regarded as sacred to some in Chiang Mai. Pristine forest was cleared for the project.

Residents objected to the houses and condominiums spoiling the site, which has been nominated for World Heritage recognition. No one else would have been allowed to build there, they said, but the judiciary had pull.

The protests gained increasing support nationally the longer the issue dragged on.

The whole project was shifted to Chiang Rai in a bid to mollify opponents, but meanwhile some of them were slapped with defamation suits and the ultimate fate of the site on Doi Suthep remains unknown.

Thailand’s direct linkage to the world came into harsher focus at about the same time when a tangle of plastic waste more than 10 kilometres across was discovered in the Gulf off Chumpon. The Pacific Ocean and many other bodies of water have long had their vast plastic islands, and now Thailand had one of its own.

In fact, Thais were in some years back placed sixth on an infamous list of 10 nationalities discarding the most plastic into the world’s seas.

The accusation hurt, but the fact was driven home again when marine animals including whales kept washing up on our shores, their lungs and bellies choked with plastic. More global headlines pointed our way, prompting state authorities and some corporations to introduce measures to curb plastic use. No one actually believes a planned ban on plastic straws will do much good, but it’s a welcome move anyway.

And then Thailand found its way onto another list, this one of major nation-recipients of electronic waste. The world’s hazardous junk has to go somewhere, China wanted to stop taking it in, and Thailand with its suitably loose controls earns cash as an import landfill.

And another list, from a group called Germanwatch, placed Thailand among the 10 countries likely to be worst affected by climate change.

If the sea rises as much as scientists predict it will, most of the Gulf provinces and the peninsula could be underwater, raising an alarm for the country to set its priority to deal with climate change.

The worsening environmental issues have been addressed to some extent, like the famed Maya Bay where has been closed for some months now to allow the nature to heal,  but most measures taken in the past year have been reactive rather than proactive.

Directives were issued only after problems escalated instead of coming when problems are foreseen. The aim has been to curb rather than prevent impacts.

In Thailand and elsewhere in the world, environmentalists are hoping that policymakers come to understand the interconnectedness of issues and adopt precautionary rather than mitigating measures.

Thais might be able to stymie the wildlife poachers among them, but resolving environmental issues with global implications like climate change will require international unity.

Especially when it comes to the environment, Thailand, as is now increasingly clear, is not alone. It cannot avoid the impacts nor shun its responsibilities.

At least four explosions rocked Narathiwat between 7pm and 8pm, damaging train tracks, a cellphone-signal pole and an electricity pole. There were no casualties.

Due to the bomb blasts, at least 14 trains could not operate in the South yesterday morning. “Several trains that were supposed to leave our station at around 6.30am, for example, were cancelled,” Tanyongmas Train Station chief Manop Muenpreecha said.

He said several trains from the upper parts of country also had to stop around Yala province, instead of moving further to his province.

Many passengers turned up at the Tanyongmas Train Station early yesterday only to be informed that they had to find other means of transport.

Normal train services resumed around 11am yesterday, according to the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

“We have already fixed the damage to the railways,” SRT acting governor Voravuth Mala said.

He said the SRT had now deployed security guards at 27 train stations in Thailand’s four southern border provinces – Songkhla, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat – around the clock.

“We also have X-ray machines and walk-through metal detectors in place. Handheld metal detectors are also available,” he said.

He urged passengers to comply with the SRT’s safety measures.

“If you notice something or someone suspicious, please alert officials,” he said.

Police are investigating Saturday’s bomb blasts.

Thailand’s southernmost region has been plagued by unrest for more than a decade. During this period, attacks have caused not just damage to property but also a huge number of casualties. Thousands of lives, those of civilians and security officials alike, have been lost.

No longer does the number university applicants dwarf the number of available seats. Even if high-school graduates are denied a place in the programme they favour, ample opportunities are available elsewhere.

The Thai University Central Admission System (TCAS) introduced last year has already generated statistics showing that universities must make significant changes to stay afloat and remain efficient and relevant.

In number of applicants handled by TCAS in 2018 was far lower than the number of seats on offer, notes Suchatvee Suwansawat, president of the Council of University Presidents of Thailand (CUPT). “And this year there is an even bigger difference.”

He said only about 300,000 students had applied so far for TCAS 2019, compared to 390,000 seats available at participating institutions.

Suchatvee, who is also president of King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, expects the coming year to put all higher-education institutes to a tough test.

Compounding problems over Thailand’s birth rate, which has been on the decline for decades, is fast-evolving technology. Students can glean most of the information they need directly from Google searches, and many free or inexpensive tutorial courses are available online, including in the form of YouTube videos on a huge range of topics.

Deputy Education Minister Udom Kachintorn recently warned universities that if they do not adapt to the changes quickly, they would be “left behind”. He even predicted that several Thai universities would close or be merged with others in the near future.

Rather than competing for a dwindling number of secondary-school graduates, Udom said, the universities should focus on upgrading the skills of the 35-million-strong workforce. The CUPT has established a University Learning Reform Committee to help educators adjust.

Suchatvee said post-secondary institutions must offer more elective subjects, update their curricula and be more flexible.

“It’s time we also thought about offering interesting courses to university graduates and to people age 60 or 70,” he said.

Antika Sawadsri, dean of architecture at King Mongkut, urged universities to accept that they must do more than simply churn out graduates.

“Conduct research and provide academic services in collaboration with the government and the private and civic sectors,” she advised.

They should integrate more technology into their teaching and help enhance the value of what Thailand produces. She would like to see the schools serve as centres for lifelong learning.

“Lecturers can’t just teach what’s in textbooks,” she added. “Their role must be about screening information and coaching.”

National Economic and Social Development Board secretary general Thosaporn Sirisumphand said his agency was trying to determine which professions were likely to be replaced by artificial |intelligence.

Thosaporn expects the education sector, in particular vocational education, to keep pace with technological trends so that the workforce functions well in the future.

“When investors look for skilled workers, we should be able to provide them,” he said.

Vocational and STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – should be emphasised, he said, with educational institutes alert to new trends and shifts in context.

Several universities are collaborating with the NESDB to address mounting challenges.

Chulalongkorn University now has a “School of Integrated Innovations”. King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi has introduced several |initiatives.

Khon Kaen was the deadliest province in terms of road fatalities, recording 11 deaths. Chiang Mai had the highest number of injured victims – 60. Over the three-day period, 1,633 road accidents occurred and injured 1,690 people on top of deaths recorded.

Thailand has labelled the New Year celebration period as “seven dangerous days” to remind all road users to be careful and avoid accidents, which cause a huge number of casualties every year. Millions of people hit the roads during the New Year holidays, raising the risk of road accidents. This year, the seven dangerous days run from December 27 to January 2.

When compared with the same period a year earlier (December 28-30, 2018), the number of road accidents has seen an improvement over last year’s 1,702 while the number of injured victims has also decreased from last year’s 1,793. However, the death toll this year is higher – 182 compared to last year’s 167 – in the first three of the seven dangerous days. In a bid to minimise road accidents, officials have set up checkpoints to monitor motorists. National Council for Peace and Order deputy spokeswoman Colonel Sirichan Nga-thong said action had already been taken against 60,492 drunk drivers. “Of the total, 35,474 are motorcyclists,” she said. On Saturday alone, 21,028 motorcyclists were nabbed for reckless driving, with 722 motorcycles confiscated. On the same day, 13,638 automobile drivers, including those of public vehicles, were arrested on the charge of driving behaviour that threatened to cause accidents. A total of 535 driving licences were seized and 274 automobiles confiscated.

Assistant National Police Commissioner Pol Lt-General Damrongsak Kittiprapas said yesterday that drunk driving was the biggest cause of accidents.

“Drunk drivers caused 40 per cent of road accidents on Saturday,” he said. Speeding was the second-most common cause of accidents. About 74 per cent of vehicles involved in accidents were motorcycles while pickups accounted for about 11.66 per cent on Saturday.

The message reads, “Happy New Year 2019. With a loving and pure mind, may this coming new year be a year of cheerfulness, happiness and glorious wisdom. May you have strength and faith to create happiness for yourself and everyone, with common goodwill for happiness throughout the year and forever.” The King also drew the cartoon of a happy family seen in the lower portion.