Session 15.1

Southeast Asia continues to be a top region of the world experiencing vulnerability to the myriad impacts of climate change including climate migration. Millions of people from multiple countries within Southeast Asia are migrating outside the region as well as between and within countries in the region. There is a complex array of factors driving this migration. However, since the countries in Southeast Asia are at an acutely high risk for climate driven environmental disasters such as flooding, land loss, drought, and other climate-related events, it is certain that climate related environmental changes impact migration.

More specifically, within Southeast Asia, Thailand is a country of interest that should be examined and discussed. We propose a panel for the WMU Climate Migrant Symposium to discuss the four key areas below. We recently collaborated on building capacity at Naresuan University and in the city of Phitsanulok, Thailand on Planetary Health with an emphasis on climate change and therefore offer this panel discussion within the frame of our expertise as interdisciplinary public health scholars.

1. First, Thailand has particularly high climate risks. It has been noted by the Germanwatch Climate Risk Index as 9th in the world for risk level as recently as 2019 and 33/57 “poor” by the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) in 2020. Indeed, at the time of writing in September 2025, the country is experiencing severe flooding and landslides resulting in damage and death. Fifteen provinces have been affected, and six, including Phitsanulok province where four authors are located, continue to experience heavy rain from Tropical Storm Kajiki, which hit Thailand on 23, August 2025. The storm has caused flash floods that severely impact access to healthcare by disrupting transportation, damaging medical facilities, and destroying resources. This discussion about Thailand will start with an overview of the climate vulnerability and risks.

2. Next, in response to high levels of climate risk, Thailand has engaged in responsive climate action through multiple approaches of policy, mitigation, and adaptation strategies. These strategies have resulted in improvement in both the current Climate Risk Index to 30th for extreme weather events and CCPI to 24th in 2025. Examining and discussing successes in the country may be beneficial for symposium attendees who are less familiar with Thailand or the Southeast Asian region. Information-sharing on a global scale across all sectors and disciplines plays a crucial role in facilitating the effective response of climate change initiatives.

3. Third, we will focus on the drivers and impacts of climate migration in Thailand. There were an estimated 3.2 million internal disaster-related displacements in Thailand between 2008 and 2023, which trend toward rural to urban migration and exacerbate urbanization. Rural to urban migration within Thailand has long been a driver of the economy, but some of the major sectors involved are highly vulnerable to climate change such as tourism, fisheries, and agriculture, so there is the potential for increased internal displacement of people in these sectors. Additionally, though data is limited, there are a growing number of people in the nearly 30% of the Thai workforce that rely on small-scale farming whose livelihoods have been impacted by climate driven weather changes who adapt by migrating both within and outside of the country for economic survival. Such migration then has a ripple effect on education and health outcomes.

4. Fourth, and finally, a discussion of the disparate impact of the aforementioned climate disasters on migrants already living in Thailand such as the over 90,000 refugees from Myanmar is also warranted. Thailand was one of the first countries in the region to join the International Organization for Migration (IOM) initiative, “Migrants in Countries in Crisis” (MICIC). MICIC was operationalized by the Thai Ministry of Interior’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation and led to 1500 community members and 170 government officials gaining capacity in preparedness measures related to preparedness and response to disaster that include the needs of migrants.

In terms of the panel process, Dr. McMorrow will introduce the topic, panelists, background of the collaboration of the team on planetary health, and the context of climate risk in Thailand. Then three representatives from Naresuan University will each respectively cover the second focus areas of Thailand climate response and action, the third on drivers and impact of climate migration, and fourth on the impact of climate disasters on migrants in Thailand. Drs. Yasaka and McMorrow will then offer concluding remarks. This will occur within one hour and then the panel will welcome discussion and Q&A for 30 minutes.