A Review of the Impact of Climate Change on Food Security and Co-Benefits of Adaptation and Mitigation Options in Thailand

This paper aims to review previous studies exploring the impact of climate change on Thailand’s food security and measure the co-benefits of climate change adaptation and mitigation options. For the impact of climate change, most of the studies focused on crop production. They are mainly important cash crops such as paddy rice, cassava, and maize. Overall, climate change is projected to have a negative impact on the production of these crops. As a result, Thailand’s food security will not only be negatively affected by climate change, but global food security will also be sensitive to reductions in Thai crop production because Thailand is the world’s major exporter of these food crops. To reduce the impact of climate change, there are limited past studies that assessed cost of production and benefits of adaptation and mitigation options. Some options require temporary government support to encourage farmers to change their practices because it provides enormous co-benefit to society and environment. Several policies have been proposed to reduce the impact of climate change and promote adaptation and mitigation options across the country

How Is Climate Change Affecting Thailand’s Agriculture? A Literature Review with Policy Update

Agriculture in developing countries is the most sensitive economic sector when it comes to climate change. Thailand is one of the developing countries where agriculture plays a significant role and is likely vulnerable to the changing climate. Past studies investigated the impacts of climate change on Thailand’s agricultural sector, but they are fragmented, lack of synthetic results linking to national climate change policies. The objectives of this article are to review and synthesize recent studies investigating the climate change impacts on Thailand’s agricultural sector and update the current state of climate change policies in the sector. Several policies implications can be extracted from the study

The Effect of Climate Change on Thailand’s Agriculture

Agriculture is potentially affected by climate change especially in developing countries where the agricultural sector plays a crucial role including Thailand. The objectives of this study are to analyze the effect of climate change on Thailand’s agriculture and investigate implications for greenhouse warming under future climate change scenarios using the Ricardian approach allowing a variety of the adaptations that farmers make in response to changing economic and climate conditions. The study finds that both temperature and precipitation significantly determine farmland values. Summer temperature, precipitation in the early rainy and summer season negatively affect the farmland values, while winter temperature, precipitation in the late rainy and winter season enhance the farmland values. Overall, the projected negative impacts of climate change on Thailand’s agriculture during 2040-2049 range from $24 to$94 billion. By downscaling the analysis to the province level, this article finds that western, upper part of central, and the left part of northern regions are projected to be better off, while southern, eastern regions, lower part of central, and the right part of northern regions is projected to be worse off

Essays on the Effect of Climate Change on Agriculture and Agricultural Transportation

This dissertation analyzes the impact of climate, and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on crop yields and grain transportation. The analysis of crop yields endeavors to advance the literature by statistically estimating the effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on observed crop yields. This is done using an econometric model estimated over pooled historical data for 1950-2009 and data from the free air CO2 enrichment experiments. The main findings are: 1) yields of soybeans, cotton, and wheat directly respond to the elevated CO2, while yields of corn and sorghum do not; 2) the effect of crop technological progress on mean yields is non-linear; 3) ignoring atmospheric CO2 in an econometric model of crop yield likely leads to overestimates of the pure effects of climate change and technological progress on crop yields; and 4) average climate conditions and climate variability contribute in a statistically significant way to average crop yields and their variability. To examine climate change impacts on grain transportation flows, this study employs two modeling systems, a U.S. agricultural sector model and an international grain transportation model, with linked inputs/outputs. The main findings are that under climate change: 1) the excess supply of corn and soybeans generally increases in Northern U.S. regions, while it declines in Central and Southern regions; 2) the Corn Belt, the largest producer of corn in the U.S., is anticipated to ship less corn; 3) the importance of lower Mississippi River ports, the largest current destination for U.S. grain exports, diminishes under the climate change cases, whereas the role of Pacific Northwest ports, Great Lakes ports, and Atlantic ports is projected to increase; 4) the demand for grain shipment via rail and truck rises, while demand for barge transport drops

How Is Climate Change Affecting Thailand’s Agriculture? A Literature Review with Policy Update

Agriculture in developing countries is the most sensitive economic sector when it comes to climate change. Thailand is one of the developing countries where agriculture plays a significant role and is likely vulnerable to the changing climate. Past studies investigated the impacts of climate change on Thailand’s agricultural sector, but they are fragmented, lack of synthetic results linking to national climate change policies. The objectives of this article are to review and synthesize recent studies investigating the climate change impacts on Thailand’s agricultural sector and update the current state of climate change policies in the sector. Several policies implications can be extracted from the study

Impact of the First-Time Car Buyer Program on the Environmental Cost of Air Pollution in Bangkok

Despite facing with the air pollution caused by traffic congestion ranked top ten in the world, the Thai government launched a tax refund policy for first time car buyers between 16 September 2011 and 31 December 2012 aiming to give an opportunity to low-to-middle income people to own their first car with discounted price and stimulate economic growth. Although past studies evaluated the impacts of the program on several aspects, the environment aspect has been ignored. The objective of this study is therefore to evaluate the impact of the first-time car buyer program on environmental cost of air pollution in Bangkok using hourly air pollution records from monitoring stations for five major pollutants and the happiness data. The article finds that the program increased the levels of air pollution. Using the estimated willingness to pay for a unit reduction of each pollutant, this study reveals that the value of total environmental cost generated from the program is approximately equal to $6.173 billion dollars annually

Climate Change Impacts on Sugarcane Production in Thailand

This study investigated the impact of climate change on yield, harvested area, and production of sugarcane in Thailand using spatial regression together with an instrumental variable approach to address the possible selection bias. The data were comprised of new fine-scale weather outcomes merged together with a provincial-level panel of crops that spanned all provinces in Thailand from 1989–2016. We found that in general climate variables, both mean and variability, statistically determined the yield and harvested area of sugarcane. Increased population density reduced the harvested area for non-agricultural use. Considering simultaneous changes in climate and demand of land for non-agricultural development, we reveal that the future sugarcane yield, harvested area, and production are projected to decrease by 23.95%–33.26%, 1.29%–2.49%, and 24.94%–34.93% during 2046–2055 from the baseline, respectively. Sugarcane production is projected to have the largest drop in the eastern and lower section of the central regions. Given the role of Thailand as a global exporter of sugar and the importance of sugarcane production in Thai agriculture, the projected declines in the production could adversely affect the well-being of one million sugarcane growers and the stability of sugar price in the world market

The Effect of Climate Change on Transportation Flows and Inland Waterways Due to Climate-Induced Shifts in Crop Production Patterns

This study was funded by the the University Transportation Center for Mobility, Texas Transportation InstituteGrain Transportation, Climate change and agriculture, Climate change and transportation, Land use change, Supply of grain, Demand for grain, Crop production patterns, Inland waterways, Mississippi River Basin, Climate change adaptation, Welfare distribution, Corn transportation, Soybeans transportation, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, C61, L91, L92, Q15, Q17, Q54, R14, R41, R13,

Does Agritourism Enhance Farm Profitability?

Abstract Impacts of agritourism on farm profitability are poorly understood. Using Census of Agriculture records, we employ propensity score matching to estimate the effects of agritourism on the net cash income per acre of New Jersey farms. We find that agritourism has statistically significant and positive effects on farm profitability. Profit impacts are highest among small farms operated by individuals primarily engaged in farming. Positive but smaller effects are observed for lifestyle farms. Profit effects among larger farms are not statistically significant. JEL CLASSIFICATIONS: Q12, Q1

Do Farmers Perceive the Trends of Local Climate Variability Accurately? An Analysis of Farmers’ Perceptions and Meteorological Data in Myanmar

With the existing state of issues related to global climate change, the accuracy of farmers’ perceptions of climate is critically important if they plan to implement appropriate adaptation measures in their farming. This article evaluated if farmers perceive the trends of local climate variability accurately, and was verified by the historical meteorological data analysis. Ordered probit perception models were applied in this study to determine the factors influencing the accuracy of farmer perception. It was observed that farmers’ perceptions of the rainfall amount during the early, mid, and late monsoon periods were highly accurate, and they also accurately perceived summer temperature change, but less accuracy of perception was observed of the temperate changes of the winter and monsoon seasons. Access to weekly weather information, participation in agricultural trainings, farming experience, and education level of the farmer were the major factors determining the accuracy of perception in this study. Based on the empirical results, this study suggested policy implications for (a) the locally specified weather information distribution, and (b) integration of weather information into agricultural training programs, which are available to the farming community to enhance the government implantation of the Myanmar Climate Smart Agriculture Strategy and Myanmar Climate Change Master Plan 2018–2030