Bangkok is Sinking

Despite the challenges, Thai farmers, fishermen, and business owners continue to adapt with resilience. But for how long will they be able to keep it up?

Small farmers all over Thailand are constantly feeling the pressure of climate change, especially when it comes to floods (Rattasat)

Almost one kilometre from the mainland, electricity poles poke out of the water. Their only use now is to serve as a reminder for where the village used to be. About one hour out of the Bangkok, the fishing village of Samut Chin has been experiencing the effects of coastal erosion for a very long time.

While communities all over Thailand have long adapted to seasonal floods, the growing unpredictability and severity of these events are pushing the limits of resilience. As the cities like Bangkok continue to expand, the challenge isn’t just battling the water — it’s learning how to live with it. 

Floating markets have become a big tourist attraction, generating revenue for thousands of Thai locals (Stephen Leonardi)

Thailand is synonymous with delicious street food, intricately designed temples and remote beaches surrounded by luscious greenery. It is also synonymous with the rainy season. Every year, the country sees massive amounts of water crashing down from looming clouds above.

“We’re almost used to it,” says Chef Chudaree 'Tam' Debhakam, owner of the fine dining restaurant, Baan Tepa in Bangkok. She was crowned Asia's Best Female Chef in 2025 and is the world's first female Thai chef to lead a restaurant with two Michelin Stars. “Growing up here in Thailand, flooding is something that we experience from an early age.”

Baan Tepa was built in the 1980s, owned by Chef Tam's grandmother. It used to be her home, one that has been in the family for 3 generations (Courtesy of Baan Tepa)

Flooding to a certain degree has always been a part of the country’s seasons. However, in 2011 Thailand saw one of its worst floods in history with 65 of its 76 provinces being declared flood disaster zones. It generated over USD$45 billion in damages and saw over 800 deaths. 

Extreme levels of water affects numerous parts of daily life in Thailand. From drowning the farmland to poisoning the canals and halting business in the floating markets, this unpredictable weather is becoming more frequent and with less warning.

“The harsh conditions also have resulted in a lot of organic producers not being able to produce enough.”

A big attraction when visiting Bangkok is the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market which is about one hundred kilometres southwest of the city. Cafes, shops and kiosks line the canals, offering visitors the chance to float down the water systems on a small boat, stopping every so often to buy a souvenir or snack on some of the local food.

“When that market gets affected by the flooding, it’s more about the tourism activity,” says Chef Tam. Some businesses within the market rely on farm-grown ingredients for their street food, and they suffer when floods disrupt supply chains.

The Damnoen Saduak floating market is the largest and most well-known floating market in Thailand (Marek Okon)

Scattered around multiple floating markets around the country are normal street markets which both locals and businesses count on. Chef Tam is one of them. “The harsh conditions also have resulted in a lot of organic producers not being able to produce enough,” she states, explaining that overtime, she has seen between thirty to forty percent of organic producers leave the market she goes to, Or Tor Kor Market. Between climate change reducing crop yields and the increasing costs of market stalls in Bangkok, many vendors are left with little choice but to stop selling.

Flooding has become a part of everyday life in Thailand (Dibakar Roy)

This doesn’t mean that nothing has been done in terms of infrastructure. Farmers and producers around Bangkok and other parts of Thailand have developed ways to withstand this type of weather. “Thai people are very resilient to flooding,” explains Chef Tam.

“A lot of the farms in that area are actually built to withstand a decent amount of rainfall.” Many farms are structured with canal-type drainage systems lining their plots of land. This helps prevent rising water from drowning the roots of crops. “Not to say that it hasn’t been more extreme in recent years,” the chef admits.

Even when water levels rise, individuals and businesses can't afford to stop (Dibakar Roy)

The floods don’t just impact farmers and market vendors; they also take a toll on Thailand’s fishing industry. Baan Tepa sources their ingredients from all over the country, including fish from the south. “It’s more so that the flooding is affecting the fishermen’s homes and their wellbeing,” Chef Tam explains.

“They use very small fishing boats which is actually much better for the environment. But it also means that their equipment is not as advanced so they can’t go out in the middle of a big storm.”

With this type of volatile and unpredictable weather becoming more and more common, it sometimes means these small-scale fishermen can only go out once or twice in a month. Evacuations, damages and the lack of financial backing also takes a toll on the locals. Even with government efforts to address these challenges, many locals feel the strain.

"The water will keep coming. The question is, how prepared will the country be when it does?"

While cities like Bangkok have been trying to implement anti-flood systems, one landscape architect says more can done. Pakkasem Tongchai is the Program Officer at International Union Conservation of Nature (IUCN), specialising in the water and wetlands of Thailand. “Like many other cities in the world, we have the problem of the increase in urban areas,” he says.

Tongchai explains that increasing what they call the ‘impervious surface’ of the city, doesn’t help with water drainage. In fact, it causes even more problems. Rainwater can’t infiltrate into the ground naturally so more pipes need to be built to help flow the water out into the canals. “We should be expanding the boundaries by building more canals but we are expanding the city by building more roads instead. So now we have a big city with a limit on the water management systems.” 

Bangkok is wrapped around flood walls which extend to the city's extremities to prevent the water levels rising too much (Markus Winkler)

As a local of Bangkok, Tongchai has seen his fair share of floods. He has also observed how some flood prevention systems unintentionally worsen water quality.“The water level in Bangkok fluctuates a lot,” he explains. The organic way in which the water levels rise and recede is a natural detoxifying process, essentially self-cleaning. However, the introduction of flood walls disrupt the canal’s natural fluctuations, contaminating the water in the process. “We control the canals too much,” Tongchai continues, emphasising that by trying to tackle one problem, another one has inadvertently been created.  

The issue of flooding in Thailand as a whole connects everyone. From the farmers whose crops get flooded to restaurant owners and landscape architects. “It’s like a ripple effect,” says Chef Tam. “However like most businesses, we also have to have a plan B. We have to be able to pivot when there’s a situation like that of natural causes.”

Which is why smaller scale producers are always the hardest hit. And whilst climate change is impacting the quantity in which farmers can produce, some policies implemented to try and mitigate the effects of the floods are being quashed by the nature in which cities like Bangkok are expanding. 

Fishermen feel the effects of the floods when the water is too choppy for their small boats (Kir Shu)

According to Tongchai, the biggest challenge in trying to come up with a solution for the city as a whole is trying to align all the departments. As a landscape architect, there is only so much he can do. For example, a nature-based solution could include mangrove restoration around the wetlands of the city. However, Tongchai explains that it may be too late for that.

“You can’t plant a mangrove where it isn’t suitable for growth,” he explains. “And the areas where they could have expanded naturally have already been turned into farms, industrial sites, and residential areas. We lost the space that would have supported them.” The real problem, he concludes, isn’t the lack of potential solutions — it’s the inability to see the bigger picture and take action before it’s too late.

Whilst the locals remain very resilient to floods, the long-term consequences of climate change may cause irreparable damage (Miguel Cuenca)

Flooding in Thailand is not a new phenomenon, but its increasing intensity and unpredictability present a growing challenge for those who rely on the land and water for their livelihoods. While local farmers, chefs, and fishermen continue to adapt with resilience, the issue extends beyond individual efforts; it demands a coordinated response that acknowledges the intricate connections between urban planning, environmental conservation, and sustainable agriculture.

Without a unified vision that considers both nature’s rhythms and human expansion, the cycle of flood damage and recovery will persist. Whether Thailand can strike that balance remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the water will keep coming. The question is, how prepared will the country be when it does?