Detail Abstract

The National Dialogue on Water in Thailand

Abstract

As part of a five-year collaboration aimed at supporting to achieve the water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Asia, the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea (MoE), the Asia Water Council (AWC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) worked with the Government of Thailand to hold a National Dialogue on Water (“Dialogue”) in 2021/22.</br> The Kingdom of Thailand has achieved remarkable economic development and it aspires to become a high-income economy by 2037. Water security and disaster risk management are requisites for this ambition to materialise. However, several water challenges coexist such as competitive increase in water demand in agriculture, industry and service sector; deterioration of water quality due to increasing pollutants; deepening damage from floods and droughts due to climate change. The dialogue focused on two sets of issues: managing water demand in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and financing water supply and sanitation. The first one is essential to support rapid economic growth in the region. The second contributes to better livelihoods and increased water quality nation-wide. Success in both areas can build on recent developments, but also require significant adjustments in water policies and policies that affect water availability and demand.</br> The dialogue highlighted that enhanced water security in the EEC would benefit from supplementing water supply augmentation (already locked in development plans) by a range of measures, combining robust water allocation regimes, stimulating demand for reclaimed water and fair compensation for provinces which water is diverted to augment supply in the EEC. The diffusion of a range of smart water technologies would seem appropriate in that context.</br> The dialogue highlighted that additional investment is required to collect and treat wastewater and to address further cost drivers, including population growth and urbanisation, economic growth (and raising social expectations) and the need to adapt to a changing climate. The dialogue identified number of requisites required. The first is operational efficiency of existing services, a condition to efficient allocation of (public and private) funding, willingness to pay of domestic water users, and minimising financing needs in the future (avoiding rapid decay of existing assets). Economic regulation has a role to play: systematic benchmarking of the performance of service providers can be the basis of tailored incentives towards operational efficiency. International experience can inspire the selection of performance indicators and the design of incentives, including through performance-based contracting. Smart water technologies can support such an endeavour. When the enabling conditions are in place, blended finance can play a critical role in mobilising the commercial finance required as well as strengthening the financing systems upon which water–related investments rely.