Umesh Pandey
The "cost of democracy" in this country seems to be rising by the day. Apart from the tremendous economic costs that the nation has had to bear, the ongoing political strife seems to be having an impact on the world as well.
The impact of the problems is very much visible on the economic front as tourism has taken the worst hit in its recent history. Hotel occupancy rates have slipped to single digits with some 5-star hotels complaining that for days now no guests have checked in. The failure to pass key free trade agreements (FTAs) with a host of countries including South Korea and India is also hampering the economy, as this has been held back due to the fact that parliament has not been able to meet to ratify the agreements which have already been ratified by the remaining nine members of the 10-member ASEAN grouping. Thailand, one of the founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, seems to be incurring some of the biggest losses it its history, as its perception of being a stable country, a country that sees governments change every few years (now months) but its policies remain on track, is being irreparably shattered. The political problems are starting to take a toll on Thailand's global standing, as is evident from the recent inability of the country's delegates to head to Poznan in Poland to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held during Dec 1-12. The Thai delegation announced that it would not be able to attend the key conference because Suvarnabhumi Airport had been seized by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which was protesting against the government. The attendance of the Thai delegation at the UNFCCC was necessary as Bangkok was one of the key stopovers between the final declaration that is to be made in Copenhagen in 2009 and the decisions made in Bali, Indonesia in 2007. Bangkok was the venue of the crucial discussions that took place during April this year on the future of climate change issues that today have become the centrepoint of any discussion taking place across the world, despite the recession that has started to affect most countries. There were many points which were discussed during the Bangkok summit and although the UNFCCC does have the record to take the talks further from Bali, Bangkok and then Bonn (Germany in June 2008), the Poznan summit needed the details and the commitments from these countries. The absence of a single host country would certainly not derail the process, but the credibility of that country and its commitment are surely to be compromised on a global scale. This is more crucial especially when the current economic conditions are taken into account. With the world slipping into global recession, economic considerations are becoming even more critical in environmental negotiations. The world is meeting to produce a global agreement on climate change, as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, by the end of 2009. Though the talks in Poznan this week represent the fourth meeting aimed at realising that goal, very little has been achieved so far. And the current state of the world's economy will do little to aid these efforts. Other issues that are key to the discussion are ones that are impacting Thailand and the developing world as a whole, including deforestation and alleviation of poverty, an issue which goes hand-in-hand. As countries in the developing world look at ways to alleviate poverty and part of this alleviation process has been blamed as the cause of the greenhouse gas effect, as poorer people look to deforest to feed their stomachs, various non-government agencies have been fighting to propose a halt to the issue. Deforestation was one of the issues raised during the Bangkok summit, and even the UNFCCC notes that about 80% of the deforestation is caused by agriculture, an indication that deforestation has been a key issue for the developing world as communities look at ways to feed themselves and pull themselves out of poverty. As Thailand and other countries in the developing world look at ways to plant trees to reduce carbon emissions, a possible reforestation effort by governments could be a solution, whereby certain areas of the country would be used as a reforestation project, a move that could help offset the deforestation which developing nations may not be able to stop so long as there is poverty and their populations continue to remain agricultural-based, such as the case in Thailand and other developing nations in this part of the region and across the world. The call for a blanket halt to deforestation ought to sound like a good and viable option but in practicality it is not possible, as has been evident over the past decade whereby governments have been trying to halt it but so far have been unsuccessful. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its study supports this notion, explaining that the most effective way to reduce emissions is to improve and expand forestry. That means careful cultivation, maintenance and development of the world's forests, as well as reforestation and halting deforestation. Such measures would help solve the issues that developing nations have to deal with, namely poverty and food security along with the issue of climate change. Thailand's delegates, had they managed to attend Poznan, could have shared their side of the story on how the country has been trying to balance its commitment to the world community while at the same time managing the basic needs of the people who are not in the middle or higher strata of society. But sadly this was not the case, as it seems our internal strife is taking a prominence in our daily lives than the overall commitment we have to the world we live in.
