Integrated Management and Diplomacy Development of the Chao Phraya River Basin
| Geolocation: | 14° 10' 45.0701", 100° 38' 5.1563" |
|---|---|
| Total Population | 2525,000,000 millionmillion |
| Total Area | 157925157,925 km² 60,974.843 mi² km2 |
| Climate Descriptors | Monsoon, Dry-summer |
| Predominent Land Use Descriptors | agricultural- cropland and pasture, agricultural- confined livestock operations, industrial use, urban, urban- high density |
| Important Uses of Water | Agriculture or Irrigation, Domestic/Urban Supply, Hydropower Generation, Industry - consumptive use, Recreation or Tourism |
Contents
Summary
The Chao Phraya River Basin (“the basin”) is the largest river basin of the Kingdom of Thailand and plays a significance role in terms of agricultural, industrial and economic development. In recent years have witnessed a series of extreme drought and flooding that increasingly challenges the management of the entire basin. An example of the major flood in 2011 sets a new precedent in terms of scale and scope of the issues at hand. As a consequence, one should wonder if the current assumptions and implications underlying the current practice should be reassessed. Considering the Water Diplomacy Framework, the management of the basin could be assessed and improved in a number of following ways.
First, it is vital to recognize growing uncertainty of the water resources in the basin, particularly under the ongoing climate-change circumstance. This concern applies not only to the precipitation and runoff prediction, but also to the definition of zones of complexity of shared interests, particularly in medium basin and in the delta. Second, the resolution addressing the current conflict would have a chance to succeed once all parties participate in the joint fact-finding process, engage in a value-creation process and commit to the consequent agreements. Third, even after with an agreement, the management must continually learn and adapt to emerging incidents and situation, and set priority toward cumulative benefit not only for one specific party or group of interest, but rather for the entire basin.
As a consequence, the policy and politics of the Chao Phraya River Basin management should operate on the nonpartisan, impartial and fact-based basis, also consider the interrelated assumptions of integrated management that should respect dynamics and limited predictability of the resources, diverse interests of people and the communities, and the interdependence of economic, societal, policy and political dimensions of the commitments and consequences from prior and current decisions.
Natural, Historic, Economic, Regional, and Political Framework
The Chao Phraya River, together with the Mekong River, is the most important river in Thailand, as the entire river stretches across a significant amount of area from the upper basin via its tributaries in the northern part of Thailand, to the middle basin where the confluence of Ping and Nan Rivers, the two major tributaries, is located, and flows southward to the delta into the Gulf of Thailand. The entire area is denoted as the Chao Phraya River Basin.
The Chao Phraya River Basin is rich in history of Thailand, dated back to the Sukhothai (700 years ago), Ayutthaya (500 years ago) and Thonburi (250 years ago) Kingdoms. Over a long route of cultural, social and political development of Thailand, the basin inherits significant endowments in terms of city and population settlements as well as traditional and cultural heritage that are still present in Thailand and the Thai culture until today.
Nowadays, the basin is home to approximately 40% of the country’s population with farmers as the majority in the upcountry and urban dwellers in Bangkok and other big cities in the basin such as Chiang Mai, Ayutthaya and Nonthaburi. With significant agricultural development since the mid of last century, water irrigation and related infrastructure development such as dams and reservoirs have also been constructed so as to increase the scale, scope and efficiency particularly to develop all-year agricultural activities (with water supply from the dam in the dry season, more water-intensive agriculture can be developed over the entire year, rendering a positive impact in the sense of economic, trade and labor policies).
- Together with the growing demand of power by the economy advances, large dams were constructed to serve both agricultural and hydropower generative ends.
Particularly in the Bhumibol dam of 749 MW power on the Ping River and the Sirikit dam of 500 MW power on the Nan River, the two constructs altogether control over one-fifth of the basin annual runoffs combined, therefore de facto playing a major role in water supply of the medium basin and the delta area.
In addition, it is also intended that the dams would assume additional functions, such as (a) management of saline incursion, especially during the dry season when salty water often advances from the Gulf of Thailand to the agricultural areas in the delta and even medium basin; (b) flood mitigation by limiting runoffs from the dams during the monsoons; and (c) preservation of natural ecosystem in the upstream reservoirs and promotion of tourism.
Significance of the Chao Phraya River Basin
The Chao Phraya River Basin (see Exhibit 1) is the largest river basin of the Kingdom of Thailand. Since it has no transnational boundaries, the Government of Thailand is the sole responsible authority of the basin. From Thailand’s perspective, the basin not only represents a substantial geographical area inhabited by approximately 40% of the country’s population, it is arguably the most important river basin at least in four terms:
- Irrigation: the basin supplies water to the country’s largest agricultural systems, which represent the principal proportion of the nation’s entire workforces, and is naturally home to traditions and cultural heritages;
- Industrial use: the basin is domiciled to a host of emerging manufacturing factories ranging from automobile to electronic and chemical sectors. The industry represents a lion’s share of Thailand’s economic output with strong growth prospect going forward. Such implies an increasing amount of water supply support the industries;
- Urban water supply: the basin provides the largest proportion of water supply in Bangkok, the capital city (see Exhibit 2), and the Upper Ping Basin, including Chiang Mai, the second largest city. With a projected growing population density, growth in water demands is anticipated;
- Interdependence of hydropower generative sources and flood control, primarily via water release management at the Bhumibol and Sirikit dams (see Exhibits 3 and 4) that control over one-fifth of the basin annual runoffs combined, therefore de facto playing a major role in water supply of the medium basin and the delta area.
Since the turn of the century the basin confronts a critical situation to preserve the sustainability of the basin, that is, to (a) matching the growing aggregate demand from the agricultural, industrial and urban uses with the limited supply; and (b) efficiently managing the growing distortion and less predictability of seasonal precipitation, in terms of rain distribution and variation, throughout a single year and also between years.
This situation threatens not only the region, but also the entire country, because of the basin’s contribution relative to the nationwide level in terms of (a) economic output from the agricultural and industrial to the service sectors; (b) sources of employment, and implication of cultural heritage and communities; and (c) urban area growth.
Issues and Stakeholders
NSPD: Water Quantity, Governance, Values and Norms
Stakeholder Types: Federated state/territorial/provincial government, Local Government
- Royal Irrigation Department (“RID”): a state department with responsibilities to provide all water supplies for irrigation throughout the year. Agriculture is the major concern. See Exhibits 5a and 5b for a description of the organizational strategic responsibilities.
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (“EGAT”): a state enterprise that manages the majority of Thailand's electricity generation capacity. In this case, it operates dams to generate and stabilize the hydropower as a base load. However, owing to a broader and stronger energy mix in the recent decades, it becomes less dependent on the sources from the basin.
- Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (“BMA”): manages the urban city and maintain the integrity of water supply and flood protection in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area, together with the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (“MWA”), a state enterprise responsible for water services under the Ministry of Interior.
- Government of Thailand : the executive administration under the constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Thailand. In this case, it is responsible for the overall integrity of the water supply, ie, manage, control and promote efficient use of water for agricultural, industrial, power generation and urban uses toward self-sufficiency. It established Flood Relief Operation Center (“FROC”) during the major flooding in 2011.
- Provincial Waterworks Authority (“PWA”): a state department that provides water services in the Kingdom of Thailand, except for the Bangkok Metropolitan Area.
- Thailand Board of Investment (“BOI”): a governmental agency that promotes investment in Thailand and maintains contacts and relationship with foreign investors in Thailand.
- National Economic and Social Development Board (“NESDB”): a special governmental agency with responsibilities to formulate and develop national strategies that alleviate poverty and income distribution, enhance competitiveness, promote social capital development and sustainable development.
Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight
Individuals may add their own Analysis, Synthesis, and Insight (ASI) to a case. ASI sub-articles are protected, so that each contributor retains authorship and control of their own content. Edit the case to add your own ASI.
Learn moreASI:Discussion: Ongoing Challenges After the Major Flooding in 2011
As a result, the basin needs to cope with additional dimensions of the challenges:
- City management to mitigate risks of extreme events, eg, severe flooding, salinity incursion
- Balance of upstream and downstream resources, considering technical, societal & political aspects
- Industrial area protection to minimise risks from direct impact and manage investor’s confidence
- Trust in the management of the administration(read the full article... )
Contributed by: Siripong (Pong) Treetasanatavorn (last edit: 11 May 2014)
ASI:Water Diplomacy Development in the Chao Phraya River Basin
Diplomacy Development Cornerstones:
- Define long-term engagement objectives: people
- Recognise the challenges: management of uncertainties
- Focus on consensus building & adaptive learning
- Strike a balance between preserving natural resources and managing the short-term practicality(read the full article... )
Contributed by: Siripong (Pong) Treetasanatavorn (last edit: 11 May 2014)
Tagged with: Thailand, Bangkok
