Erosion devours 22 per cent of coastline

Thailand's 2,600-km coastline has suffered serious erosion, losing 79,000 rai of land, or 22 per cent, in the past 30 years, Chulalongkorn University scholar Thanawat Jarupongsakul said Monday.

Thanawat, head of the CU Unit for Disaster and Land Information Studies, said the damage resulted from stronger and bigger waves triggered by climate change, while upstream dams leave less sediment at river-mouth areas. Previously, the Chao Phraya River mouth area dropped 17-18 million tonnes of sediment per year, but it now deposits only 1.6 million tonnes.

The Nation