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Mongabay: Bangkok Turns To Urban Forests To Beat Worsening Floods

Claire Turrell

Bangkok is launching city forests to help beat flooding by soaking up excess rainwater runoff. A new park slated to open in December will feature 4,500 trees, a floodplain and a weir to slow the flow of water; another newly opened $20 million city forest acts as a sponge during the monsoon season

“I remember when I was a young child in Bangkok, we used to sail our boat on the clean floodwater,” says landscape architect Kotchakorn Voraakhom. “Flooding was fun.”

But when a tropical storm hit the city of Bangkok in 2011, her opinion of floods changed forever. Residents had to flee their homes and more than 800 people in Thailand lost their lives. “Floods were no longer fun, it moved to fear,” Voraakhom says.

Not only has rainfall increased in Voraakhom’s lifetime, but so has the sea level. The densely populated capital is also sinking by up to 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) each year. According to the World Bank, 40% of Bangkok could be flooded by 2030.

Now Bangkok is turning to nature to help fight the floods. Voraakhom is among a group of landscape architects helping to launch urban forests throughout the city, which not only create more inviting spaces for its inhabitants but are filled with innovations to help tackle floods.

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