Friday, May 6, 2016

Week 13: Coastal Erosion

Thailand’s coastal erosion is prominent. "The exploitation of resources, population growth, developments of tourism, aquaculture, and industries caused evidences of environmental degradation in resources of the areas that lead to coastal problems” (Department of Mineral Resources). Thailand has a total coastal length of 2,815 km that consists of sandy beaches, dunes, wetland, rocky coast, cliffs and islands. 


Coastal erosion can be solved with technologies and management. The main reason these problems have not been solved as of yet is the overlapping responsibilities among government agencies. There is conflict on the issues. With the main problems being development and tourism (littering) this could be solved by not creating new attractions or at a slower rate. Rising sea levels due to climate change are also a big threat to Thailand’s coast line. Local residents depending on fishing will be at risk. Sandbags are placed offshore to help slow down erosion and dissipate the powerful waves while trapping sediment to protect mangrove forest growth. The Thai government alerts the coastal areas by using radio and tv frequencies along with newspaper articles explaining that the coastal areas are due to erosion. Buying land on the coast is not encouraged at least in the places prone to cliff erosion. The Thai weather and geological center monitors the erosion and is in action to prevent further damage. 

Sources:
http://www.dmr.go.th/main.php?filename=coastal_En
http://www.irinnews.org/report/79685/thailand-sustainable-approach-tackle-coastal-erosion

Picture Source:
http://www.phuketgazette.net/thailand-news/Phuket-Gazette-Thailand-News-Andaman-erosion-avian-flu-alert-Poh-pardon-polls-to-please/20146
http://paranormalis.com/threads/loss-of-life-from-landslides.4161/
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2016/select-destinations/thailand

5 comments:

  1. Just like Thailand my country, England is facing the same issues. Since we are both dealing with massive coastal lines and thus erosion. The extreme weather patterns force both of our coastlines to deteriorate which causes infrastructure to collapse which paralyzes people from commuting to work or traveling.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting that they use sand bags to try to stop coastal erosion...It doesnt look like a permanent solution...I found rates of 5m/year of soil loss in one of your websites...as you say, tourism is conflicting with protecting the coastline...a tough problem...
    http://www.thaiscience.info/Article%20for%20ThaiScience/Article/4/Ts-4%20coastal%20erosion%20in%20the%20gulf%20of%20thailand.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  3. Iceland is also facing rising sea levels which will be a real threat to the southern part of the country in future years. Their fishing industry will also be affected by the rising sea levels. These photos are quite something! I also found it interesting that they use sandbags to stop erosion doesn't seem like a long term solution. Too bad that the thing they depend on the most (tourism) is also one of the main reason for erosion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, the TED talk video this week is very relevant..it shows you what happens in the future with islands like Greenland...I bet Iceland will be sth similar....let me know what you think about it in the forum!

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete