SCALA Thailand | UNDP Climate Change Adaptation

Project details

Introduction

Thailand is projected to be severely affected by climate change, with its vulnerability shaped by geographical and socioeconomic features. Thailand has an extensive coastline, rural communities dependent on agriculture, and heavily populated urban areas located on flood prone plains. Climate change threatens all key sectors of Thailand’s economy: agriculture, tourism, and trade. Agriculture is also the second largest source of GHG emissions in Thailand, while rice cultivation is the main source of national methane emissions. Managed soils and livestock are also significant sources of GHG emissions. The agriculture sectors (agriculture, forestry and fisheries) employed around 30.67 percent of Thailand’s workforce (2018) and are key to provide nutrition for the rural society. Agriculture contributes 8.1 percent of Thailand’s GDP.

Country Climate Plans

Thailand’s Climate Change Master Plan (CCMP) (2023-2027) is the highest-level policy document guiding the national climate change response. Thailand has updated the CCMP 2023-2027, a revision from the 2015-2050 plan. Supported by SCALA’s predecessor programme, Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans (NAP-Ag), the country developed the Agriculture Strategic Plan on Climate Change (ASPCC) (2017-2021), which is aligned with the CCMP and provided sectoral input to Thailand’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP). The country’s NAP was finalized and launched in 2024. Thailand’s NAP and its NDC recognize the importance of adapting the agriculture sectors to climate change.

Thailand submitted its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the UNFCCC in October 2020. The NDC identified “safeguarding of food security” and “promoting sustainable agriculture” as core strategies to cope with climate change impacts. The updated NDC reconfirms the mitigation target provided in the first NDC, which was to reduce GHG emissions by 20 percent by 2030 below the business-as-usual scenario. The updated NDC includes an enhanced and elaborated adaptation component and aims for better integration of the NDC into the national planning processes. Agriculture and land use sectors are among the sectors prioritized for climate action – both for mitigation and adaptation.

Thailand’s NDC identified adaptation as a “top priority in Thailand’s national response to climate change” and lists adaptation priorities for the country, such as promoting sustainable agriculture and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), further safeguarding biodiversity, and restoring ecological integrity in protected areas and strengthening climate modelling capacity while promoting collaboration among relevant agencies. Additionally, the country is strengthening resilience by establishing effective early warning systems and enhancing the adaptive capacity of national agencies and building the capacity of farmers by creating and providing a knowledge hub to foster regional cooperation and to share experiences.

In addition to Thailand’s adaptation efforts, the country has established its mitigation efforts. According to Thailand’s Third Biennial Update Report (2024) to the UNFCCC, the proportion of GHG emissions in the energy sector accounted for 65.89 percent of total emission sources in 2016, followed by the agriculture and IPPU sectors. The country has finalized and submitted its Long-Term Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategy, which guides Thailand towards a climate-resilient and low greenhouse gas emissions development and serves as a basis for enhancing its subsequent NDC.

Barriers

Thailand has experienced some barriers during the implementation of the NDC and National Adaptation Plan (NAP), and this includes challenges such as monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of adaptation activities, as well as finding climate friendly investment opportunities. To overcome these barriers and to support the transformation of its agriculture and land use sectors to be drivers for successful implementation of its NDC and NAPs, the Royal Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) and its Land Development Department, and the Office of Agriculture Economics (OEA), and the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) as well as the Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE) will work together with the SCALA Programme on strengthening performance-based monitoring and assessments of adaptation options in agriculture and climate financing. Thailand will build capacities to design climate-friendly investment opportunities through developing project concepts and address investment risks, especially faced by the private sector. The programme will analyse key business models and production practices for climate-compatible investments options through a subnational-level consultation process.

Project details

In Thailand, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) has been identified as a key priority under SCALA, with a specific focus on the integrated maize and livestock value chains.

Thailand’s NAP was submitted to the UNFCCC in April 2024. Complementing the overall NAP, sub-national (provincial) and sectoral adaptation plans were developed. The NAP prioritizes activities in vulnerable sectors such as agriculture, food security and natural resource management.

In Thailand, a systems-level assessment (SLA) of the maize and livestock value chains was completed in collaboration with the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), identifying climate risks, GHG emissions, and potential solutions such as improved manure management, adapted farming practices, and bioenergy use.

The SLA also examined gender and social inclusion, particularly the role of migrant workers, and a policy brief is being developed to share the findings with decision-makers.

SCALA provided technical assistance for the formulation and validation of the CCAPA (2023–2027), which serves as the guiding framework for implementing the NDC and NAP in the agriculture sector.

In collaboration with Kasetsart University, SCALA supported the development of a progress tracking system aligned with national frameworks and delivered training workshops for 70 government representatives to strengthen their capacity in using CCAPA’s MRV and M&E systems. A custom web application and video tutorials were also developed to support government partners in effectively navigating the tracking system.

Additionally, SCALA in Thailand finalized a study on incentive structures for improved manure management and biogas adoption in the livestock value chain, in collaboration with Chiang Mai University.

The programme conducted economic analyses of biogas wastewater treatment systems, including cost assessments of GHG reduction.

SCALA developed policy recommendations to support farmers in adopting biogas systems, covering inter-agency collaboration, expert guidance, and promotion of biogas byproducts in agriculture.

Lastly, the country validated study findings through consultation workshops with key government institutions including the Department of Livestock Development, agencies under the Ministry of Energy, and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

Moving ahead, SCALA in Thailand aims to:

Initiated and currently expanding stakeholder mapping of the maize/livestock value chains, focusing on profiling private sector actors across various categories (e.g. industry associations, input suppliers, processors, retailers, media, service providers, and financiers).
Held an initial workshop with 25 representatives from the private sector, government, and academia to identify risks and co-develop solutions to enhance private sector engagement.
Planned follow-up engagements for early 2025 to further support private investment in climate-smart agriculture.
Ongoing collaboration with Kasetsart University and animal feed manufacturer associations to explore de-risking measures for private sector adoption of CSA practices along the maize value chain.

Thematic area