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Bangkok's climate challenge: why is the city so vulnerable to global warming?
Bangkok is clearly a city that embraces numerous opportunities and challenges, and now its climate challenges have highlighted its vulnerability to global warming. This busy city of more than nine million residents faces severe challenges brought by climate change. Heat, heavy rains and rising sea levels in Bangkok have forced the metropolitan area to confront one of the most vulnerable realities among few world cities, environmental experts warn.
Bangkok is facing rising temperatures and frequent extreme climate events, and future challenges will affect thousands of lives and economic activities.
Climate characteristics of Bangkok
Bangkok is located in a tropical monsoon climate zone, with an average annual temperature of approximately 28.9°C, a hot dry season and a rainy season. However, with the impact of global warming, these climate patterns are changing, causing extreme climate events to become more frequent. The direct impact of climate change can be seen in Bangkok’s heat island effect, where temperatures can be 2.5°C higher than surrounding areas during the day and soar to 8.0°C at night.
Challenges posed by rising sea levels
Bangkok's low terrain makes the threat of rising sea levels even greater. According to research by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), more than 5.1 million people living in Bangkok are expected to be at risk from coastal flooding by 2070. This significantly affects the future survival of the city. As the city's infrastructure falls into disrepair, drainage systems are unable to cope with the challenges, resulting in flooding and flooding events every year.
With the development of the city and climate change, floods occur frequently in Bangkok, and the living space in the future will become increasingly smaller.
The lack of urbanization and planning
Bangkok's rapid urbanization, coupled with the lack of effective urban planning, has meant that the city's drainage and infrastructure cannot keep up with the needs of the surge in population. The city's traffic congestion problem has been exacerbated by the city's years of attracting immigrants, which has led to increased environmental pollution and poor air quality. Although the public transportation system has been improved, it still cannot completely solve the problem of traffic congestion.
Future efforts
In facing these challenges, Bangkok authorities now seek to respond proactively. The government has begun building new drainage systems, greening cities, and promoting environmental awareness. For example, converting canals into waterways and encouraging people to use public transportation systems are efforts that hope to slow down the city's heat island effect and pollution.
Bangkok’s future depends on taking effective steps to address the climate challenge and avoiding the heavy costs of neglect.
Conclusion
Bangkok has become an example of a fragile city in the wake of global warming. In the face of increasingly severe climate challenges, the sustainable development of cities has become an urgent issue. Is Bangkok, which exudes vitality, the ability to find a way to survive and continue to prosper amid climate challenges?
