[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-109375-en":3,"doc-seo-109375-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},109375,549758252649,"Ivy","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000253669c5317157?_k=1778319167496531819",8,"Research & Report","Thailand - Country Climate and Development Report - Chapter 2 - Climate Change and Development - Motivation and context","Thailand’s development trajectory has delivered rapid growth and poverty reduction, supported by market-friendly macroeconomic reforms and expanded basic education from the 1980s onward. However, momentum toward high-income status has slowed, structural transformation has stalled, and constraints on competition and innovation persist. Climate change already affects key sectors through flooding, drought, heat stress, and extreme weather, while air pollution undermines health. Rising climate risks also worsen inequality, straining human capital and labor productivity. Global net-zero transitions further shape Thailand’s trade and investment outlook, with decarbonization becoming essential to competitiveness.","Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized  \n2 Climate change and development  \n2.1 Motivation and context  \nThailand is, in many respects, a development success story, having rapidly transitioned from an agriculture-based economy to one that is modern, industrialized, and export-driven. Between 1980 and 2019, the country achieved an average annual growth rate of 3.8 percent—surpassing Indonesia and Malaysia, though trailing Viet Nam. This progress was underpinned by a shift toward market-friendly macroeconomic policies and greater outward orientation in the 1980s and 1990s, coupled with strong investments in broad-based basic education. These reforms spurred significant structural transformation and income growth. Poverty fell sharply, with the share of the population living in poverty dropping from 77.2 percent in 1981 to just 13.5 percent in 2019. Over the same period, Thailand’s “prosperity gap”—a measure of how far a population is from the prosperity threshold of $25 per day (2017 PPP)—narrowed significantly, indicating that rising living standards were broadly shared.1  \nBut Thailand’s recent growth and development experience has been less rosy. Progress toward highincome status has slowed. Investment growth has lagged, and structural transformation has stalled over the past decade, even though the share of low-productivity agricultural employment remains high relative to peers at about 30 percent. Inefficiencies in the regulatory framework, restrictions on services trade and foreign investment, and the presence of price controls are together deterring competition and limiting incentives to innovate. The decline in labor force participation associated with Thailand’s rapidly aging population is also beginning to limit potential growth, while the Bangkok economy, which accounts for around a third of national GDP, is being constrained by increased congestion and emerging signs of diseconomies of scale.  \nAt the same time, Thailand’s economic development is exposed to the physical impacts of climate change because of the susceptibility of key industries to flooding, drought, heat stress, and other extreme weather events. Climate change is already affecting Thailand, which ranks as the 30th most affected country by extreme weather events in the last two decades , and its exposure to disasters and higher temperatures will continue to rise.2 As laid out in reminder of this chapter, manufacturing, tourism, and agriculture will increasingly be disrupted by floods, coastal erosion, and water shortages. Additionally, while Thailand’s carbon emissions are relatively small on a global scale, air pollution is worsening the health of Thai people. The cumulative impacts of these challenges will increasingly strain Thailand’s human capital, labor productivity, and quality of life.  \nMoreover, climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations in Thailand, a country where high inequality is a key constraint to sustainable and inclusive growth. With a Gini coefficient of income of 43.3 in 2021, Thailand ranked as the 13th most unequal out of 63 countries for which income-based Gini coefficients are available. Inequality is starker when considering concentration of wealth; over half of the country’s wealth is held by the richest 10 percent of the population. Addressing this divide, which has a distinct spatial dimension, is critical to building a robust middle class that can propel Thailand into high-income country status. But climate change exacerbates the vulnerability of Thailand’s poorest people to extreme weather events, disrupting their livelihoods, and increasing their exposure to health risks and economic insecurity.  \nThe rapidly changing external environment is posing further challenges to the outlook. The net-zero transition is a global shift that will have particularly important implications for Thailand’s trade and ability  \n1 The prosperity","cbCaimisyz4MWHbV","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimisyz4MWHbV","pdf",1262307,4,1,17,"English","en",105,"# 2 Climate change and development\n## 2.1 Motivation and context","[{\"question\":\"How did Thailand’s development progress from 1980 to 2019, and what supported it?\",\"answer\":\"Thailand grew rapidly with an average annual growth rate of 3.8% and reduced poverty sharply. Progress was supported by shifts to market-friendly policies and stronger investment in broad-based basic education.\"},{\"question\":\"What economic and social factors make Thailand’s development vulnerable to climate change?\",\"answer\":\"Key industries are exposed to flooding, drought, heat stress, and other extreme events, and air pollution is worsening health. Climate impacts also disproportionately affect vulnerable and poorer populations in a highly unequal society.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the net-zero transition matter for Thailand even if it is not a major global emitter?\",\"answer\":\"Demand shifts toward low-carbon goods and services can change Thailand’s comparative advantage and influence trade and foreign investment. New policies in partners, such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, can raise costs or limit access to supply chains if Thailand does not decarbonize.\"}]","Thailand - Country Climate and Development Report - Chapter 2 - Climate Change and Development - Motivation and context | PDF",1784479109,43,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"thailand-country-climate-and-development-report-chapter-2-climate-change-and-development-motivation-and-context","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,49,52],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":50,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":53,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/thailand-country-climate-and-development-report-chapter-2-climate-change-and-development-motivation-and-context/109375/",{"url":53,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"How did Thailand’s development progress from 1980 to 2019, and what supported it?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"Thailand grew rapidly with an average annual growth rate of 3.8% and reduced poverty sharply. Progress was supported by shifts to market-friendly policies and stronger investment in broad-based basic education.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"What economic and social factors make Thailand’s development vulnerable to climate change?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"Key industries are exposed to flooding, drought, heat stress, and other extreme events, and air pollution is worsening health. Climate impacts also disproportionately affect vulnerable and poorer populations in a highly unequal society.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"Why does the net-zero transition matter for Thailand even if it is not a major global emitter?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Demand shifts toward low-carbon goods and services can change Thailand’s comparative advantage and influence trade and foreign investment. New policies in partners, such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, can raise costs or limit access to supply chains if Thailand does not decarbonize.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":53,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":53},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,121,124,129,132,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":48,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},30,"research-report",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":128},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":127,"slug":131},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":133,"slug":135},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]