The Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and the Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), with support from the Department of Climate Change and Environment (DCCE) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), hosted a national consultation workshop in Bangkok to identify Thailand’s climate adaptation gaps and needs.

The three-day workshop was organised under the GCF-funded Readiness project, Enhancing Thailand’s Capacity for Climate Adaptation through Risk-informed Anticipatory Actions to Flood and Drought, which was designed to strengthen Thailand’s ability to anticipate and respond to climate-induced disasters through improved climate surveillance, enhanced early warning systems, comprehensive climate vulnerability assessments and other evidence-based measures.

More than 50 experts from government departments and international organisations collaborated in a series of workshop sessions structured around Thailand’s National Adaptation Plan and the ASEAN Anticipatory Action Framework. The workshop facilitated cross-sector coordination, identified systemic gaps for priority investment, and developed six climate-resilient project concepts for potential future financing. This multisector process moved from conceptual discussion to practical, actionable planning.

“The climate reality in Thailand is shifting. As communities in the South face severe flooding, our goal is to leave this workshop with concrete ideas that can become funded projects - projects that bring resilience to the Thai people,” said Aslam Perwaiz, Executive Director of ADPC.

Saharat Wongsakulwiwat, Deputy Director-General of DDPM, underlined lessons learned from previous disasters: “The recent floods are lessons we must not ignore. Disaster management across the ‘before, during and after’ phases may sound simple, but in practice, it is incredibly challenging. This workshop is our step in identifying gaps and strengthening national readiness at all stages.”

The Green Climate Fund’s Readiness support helps countries to strengthen their institutional capacities, governance mechanisms, and programming frameworks towards long-term climate action.

Hemant Mandal, GCF’s Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said: “With the recent floods in Thailand, and in Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, we are reminded yet again that climate change is making disasters more severe, frequent and unpredictable. Strengthening early warning systems with impact-based forecasting and promoting adaptation policies on a sustainable basis is not just critical - it is the foundation for protecting lives and livelihoods, and for building resilience.”