Today (2 March 2020) at 9.00, H.E. General Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, presided over the meeting to clarify the drought management policy and water retention for this rainy season 2020. This meeting aimed to understand the government’s operation to solve the current water situation, which needs the cooperation of all sectors to alleviate the suffering of the people. H.E. Mr. Warawut Silpa-Archa, Minister of the Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Jatuporn Buruspat, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and Exclusives of MNRE also joined the meeting at Santi Maitri Building, Government House.    

Mr. Warawut stated that the solution of sustainable water management of the government is the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy of Phrabat Somdet Phra Paraminthra Maha Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) as the operating principle. The Prime Minister has ordered the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to speed up the restoration of upstream forest areas in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives together with private and public sectors as well as to clearly define action plans for balancing among conservation, restoration, and water resource development, and watershed management systematically from upstream, midstream, and downstream levels. The government has established a Master Plan on water resource management 20 years (2018 – 2037) for being a framework of the solution and water resource management of Thailand within 20 years and corresponding to the 20-year National Strategic Action Plan. This Master Plan on water resource management has essential projects that have the potential to solve problems in drought and repeated flood areas for 456 projects, which are currently being driven by the government.    

Once those projects completed, the drought and flood problems will be alleviated potentially throughout the country, which will increase water budget more than 4,700 million square meters for the areas of 7 million rai, and people will benefit from 600,000 households. Therefore, in the operation of large-scale projects, there will be processes that consume time and need studying and understanding with all sectors involved carefully. In some areas, the project had objected until stopped and delayed. As a result, those projects need cooperation from all departments together to brainstorm to find measures to solve drought problems occurring in Thailand for the benefit of people and the country in the further.