The German-Thai partnership to fight climate change has acquired political momentum: the first strategic dialogue held at the governmental level on green growth and a low-carbon economy has resulted in an agreement between Berlin and Bangkok to work closely together on these issues. The planned cooperation should also have an international impact.
Thailand's population has virtually stopped growing, and in ten years time it is forecast to contract. The country has one of the best social insurance systems in Asia, but it is still not sufficiently prepared for the impacts of demographic change.
A proposal has recently caused an uproar in Thailand: Terdsak Chomtohsuwan, an economics lecturer at Rangsit University, suggested that singles should pay more tax than people who are married. He also wants the state to provide financial support for parents having their first child. Such support, he believes, will push up the birth rate. The economist has been widely quoted in the Thai media saying: ”In a fast-growing economy, many couples choose to make a living rather than have children.”
new energy: You represent the interests of German companies in Thailand, one of the largest economies in Southeast Asia. Are small and medium-sized enterprises from Germany beating a path to your door?
Jörg Buck: I’m pleased to say that SMEs from Germany are becoming increasingly interested in the countries that form the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN for short. (Editor’s note: ASEAN consists of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambodia.) However, I think that Germany still underestimates this economic region, which is the third largest in Asia after China and India. We need to change Germany’s view and we are working on it.
Today's young Cambodians did not experience the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror. Nonetheless, their generation is affected by the traumas of the past, which deeply mark Cambodian society.
Sun Py was nine years old when he was separated from his parents and three siblings in 1976. He survived the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime but suffered considerable distress as a result of losing his family and not knowing what had become of them. Thirty-four years later, Sun Py found those he had lost with the help of a TV programme. Cameras recorded the reunion, capturing the moment when he embraced his mother for the first time and broke down in tears.
Thailand is certainly not a windy country - even moderate winds mostly only occur in the mountains. Coastal regions are made a little cooler by gentle breezes, while the central plains, where rice is grown, normally only experience the gentlest of gusts. But Thailand does have a monsoon season, and that brings months of constant wind. Moreover, the trend is towards higher winds. "In general wind speed is picking up here," says Aaron Daniels, vice president of business development at Bangkok-based Wind Energy Holding Co., Ltd. which was founded in 2009. The faster speeds are caused by climate change. Thailand needs to make use of this potential. The country certainly has a growing appetite for energy: its electricity demand rose by 8.5 percent last year and, according to government forecasts, will almost double by 2050. As a result, the southeast Asian country is looking to develop all types of energy sources, but will focus on renewables. The aim is that green energy will produce a quarter of the country's electricity by 2030. Thailand is already a renewables pioneer in the region.
China is expanding its position as global leader in electricity generation from renewables: this year it plans to install 49,000 megawatts (MW) of new capacity. The National Energy Administration (NEA) announced in January that 21,000 MW will come from hydropower, 18,000 MW from wind power and 10,000 MW from solar energy. According to the NEA, capacity amounted to 280,000 MW in hydropower, 75,000 MW in wind power and 6,000 MW in solar power at the end of 2012. The National People's Congress approved these plans in March. The planned increase means that China is likely to overtake Germany, which has been the largest photovoltaic market until now. The reduction of the feed-in tariff in Germany has had a marked effect on market development: figures from the German Solar Industry Association (BSW) show that demand in the last quarter of 2012 was about 65 percent lower than in the same quarter of the previous year. "The significant cut in solar funding in the summer of 2012 is clearly having an effect," explains BSW spokesperson Eva Bretschneider. The German environment ministry expects capacity to grow by only 3,500 to 4,500 MW in 2013.