Getting Bangkok ready for the results of climate change is crucial for saving the city from sinking under rising sea levels, climate experts say.
Experts also called on the government and state agencies to come up with urgent efforts in urban planning and city development to make Bangkok deal with climate hazards.
According to the annual Global Climate Risk Index by Germanwatch, Thailand jumped from 43rd on the ranking of most affected countries by extreme weather in 2011 to ninth in 2021.
As the Bangkok Metropolitan area, home to over 10 million people, is on the low-lying Chao Phraya River delta right next to the open waters of the Bay of Bangkok, Bangkok is even more vulnerable to weather-related disasters, especially floods.
Experts said the increase in the level of the world's oceans is by far the greatest threat to this megacity.
"Considering the rise in sea level in local waters near Bangkok is about 1.2 centimetres per year, if nothing is done to protect Bangkok's shoreline, the waterline will slowly creep further inland by about 1.3 kilometres every year," the president of the Thailand Global Warming Academy said.
"Eventually, it is likely that most of Bangkok Metropolitan area will sink beneath sea level within the next 100 years. So, government agencies need to carry out immediate action."
Meanwhile, another report by Greenpeace says almost all of Bangkok will be vulnerable to floods in the scenario of an extreme sea level rise by 2030. Under this extreme projection about 96% of the city will be below sea level.
Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has plans in place to address the rise in sea levels.
The BMA plans to build a barrier system at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. Meanwhile, the roads that run along the seashore will be elevated and have coastal dykes to protect the city from surging sea levels.
