A Review of the Impact of Climate Change on Food Security and Co-Benefits of Adaptation and Mitigation Options in Thailand

Abstract

This paper aims to review previous studies exploring the impact of climate change on Thailand's food security and measure the co-benefits of climate change adaptation and mitigation options. For the impact of climate change, most of the studies focused on crop production. They are mainly important cash crops such as paddy rice, cassava, and maize. Overall, climate change is projected to have a negative impact on the production of these crops. As a result, Thailand's food security will not only be negatively affected by climate change, but global food security will also be sensitive to reductions in Thai crop production because Thailand is the world's major exporter of these food crops. To reduce the impact of climate change, there are limited past studies that assessed cost of production and benefits of adaptation and mitigation options. Some options require temporary government support to encourage farmers to change their practices because it provides enormous co-benefit to society and environment. Several policies have been proposed to reduce the impact of climate change and promote adaptation and mitigation options across the country.