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Executive Summary

“Thai Water Policy : Knowledge Base For the Future”

During the latter half of 2011, the Lower Northern and Central Regions of Thailand
experienced severe flooding that caused damages and losses as great as 1.4 trillion baht. Only three
years afterwards, from the end of 2013 until 2015, several areas throughout the Northern,
Northeastern, and Central regions in the country faced extreme drought conditions. Due to the lack of
water, wet-season rice crop was not possible in many areas, affecting the country’s overall economy.
Such extreme water crises, both in terms of floods and drought, evoked much interest among the
society about the causes of the crises. Were the crises caused by either climate change or
mismanagement of water policy, or a combination of both factors? On the one hand, climate change
factors resulting in either heavy rainfall that causes flooding or scant rainfall that causes drought are
uncontrollable. On the other hand, policies can be developed to cope with flood and drought
situations appropriately. But previous studies by several organizations and scholars, such as the
Thailand Development Research Institute and the Strategic Committee for Water Resources
Management, find that water policies in the past are not unified and integrated and that such
problems should be rectified. Even the Water Resources Management Strategies (2015-2026), which
was approved by the Cabinet on 7 May 2015, are still questioned by various stakeholders that no
specific details on projects and investment plans are provided. Meanwhile, at the moment, the water
levels at four large dams that release water into the Chao Phraya river basin are as low as when the
four dams were first constructed and the water just started to rise. It will take several years to retain as
much water as planned. It is therefore necessary to review how water policies were developed in the
past so as to develop new ones for the future.
Our initial study finds that the Thai state has developed water policies for a long time since
the Sukhothai period until the present. There are many sources of water policies, including laws and

regulations, ministerial statements to parliament, economic and social development plans, cabinet
resolutions, and government administrative plans. Because these policies have not been compiled into
one source, previous review and studies were time-consuming and too incomplete to create lessons
learned for future decision making. Therefore, in order to develop future water policy, it is necessary to

create a knowledge base on water policy for future reference and research, while documenting the
history of how policymaking has evolved from the past until the present.

Objectives

The research project “Thailand’s Water Policy: A Knowledge Base for the Future” has five
objectives, as follows:
1. To compile Thailand’s water policies from the past until the present;
2. To develop a archival database on Thailand’s water policies arranged in chronological order
for future generations to use for reference and research;
3. To study the problems, causes of problems, and factors that cause water policies in

different periods to align with one another or to change, as well as policy outcomes;

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