Few Thais aware of real reasons for global warming: survey
Most Thais have little awareness of the damages being done to the Earth by climate change, a National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) report published on Sunday shows.
NESDC said only 35% of Thais believe the use of fossil fuel should be reduced, a reflection of the fact that Thais generally are not too aware of the causes of climate change.
A survey conducted by Meta and Yale University last year showed that more than 50% of respondents worldwide are aware of climate change and rising global temperatures, especially those in developed countries.
Among Thai respondents, 75% said climate change would moderately or severely affect their offspring, while 68% said the issue was close to them.
“However, 40% of them said government and business sectors should be responsible for tackling climate change, while only 28% said everybody should be responsible,” the report showed.
Citing a global survey by the UN Development Programme and Oxford University in 2021, it said 64% of respondents said climate change was a global issue, while 59% said many countries should deal with this issue as soon as possible.
"According to a United Nations Conference on Trade and Development report, 7,348 natural disasters took place globally between 2000 and 2019, killing 1.23 million people and affecting more than 4.2 billion others," NESDC said.
The global economy had suffered around US$2.97 trillion (about 100 trillion baht) in damages over that period.
Meanwhile, Thailand has been hit by more than 40,000 flood crises over the past 30 years, killing over 2,000 people and causing 12.59 trillion baht in damages.
Thailand was hit by severe flooding in 2011 and 2021, with the second crisis causing up to 53 billion baht in damages.
"Many people may blame natural disasters on the government’s failure in disaster management, but these surveys have proved that the real reason is climate change,” NESDC said.
Citing the 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, NESDC said global temperature had risen by 1 degree Celsius.
“These studies indicate that global warming is closer than people think,” NESDC said, adding everybody should be aware of this issue.
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