Recent reports of the IPCC (2007) reiterate that global climate change is real and has been affecting many parts of the planet and various weather components. Climate change varies in time and space. To assess the impacts of climate change at the regional or local level, such as in the Southeast Asia region, details and careful investigations on the regional-, or even local-scale climate change and variability is urgently needed. This is a requisite if climate change adaptation and mitigation measures at these levels are established.

Realising this necessity, the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) launched its Climate Change and Impacts Program in 2006. The methodology starts from a detailed evaluation of the climate change situation in Thailand. In this step, questions on the aspects of climate change that have been observed, the level of confidence on the data observed, and whether there is a need for other evidences were considered. Based on the analysis and synthesis of such knowledge, the methodology then proceeds to assess the impacts, the vulnerabilities resulting from such changes, the adaptive measures that are in place, the effectiveness of these measures, and any additional measures that should be adopted.

This chapter reviews the current knowledge status on climate change and the future plans on climate change research in Thailand. It is hoped that such approach and the data generated could serve as basis for research on climate change, including its impacts on biodiversity.

CLIMATE CHANGE TRENDS IN THAILAND

Temperature Trends

Records of temperature in Thailand have been carried out regularly by the Department of Meteorology and other agencies. The data available went as far back as the 1950s, which revealed various aspects of temperature changes. Records from over 50 monitoring stations showed that the maximum temperature had increased at an average of 0.56°C during the past 50 years (Limskul and Goes 2008). This temperature increase was consistent with the information reported by IPCC (2007) on global temperature increases during the same period.