Climate Crisis Endangers Centuries-Old Buddhist Art in Thailand

The Guardian, 29 November 2023: Thailand’s temple murals, including those at Wat Prasat in Nonthaburi, are facing a severe threat from saltwater intrusion due to rising sea levels, a consequence of the climate crisis. These murals, dating back to the Ayutthaya kingdom, symbolize a rich cultural and religious heritage, blending moral tales with historical depictions. Despite efforts at preservation, the gradual damage from environmental factors, exacerbated by the 2011 floods, raises concerns about the fading of these irreplaceable artworks. The Fine Arts Department acknowledges this growing threat, but with limited resources, the future of these historical treasures remains uncertain.

Murals in temples across Thailand face the risks of flooding, pollution and poor planning but conservationists say the main danger is another, more existential threat: saltwater intrusion from rising sea levels sparked by the climate crisis.

Wat Prasat is in Nonthaburi a low-lying province less than 60km from the coast, and is especially vulnerable. Drought and rising sea levels are increasingly causing saltwater from the Gulf of Thailand to intrude into the Chao Phraya river, the main source of water in central Thailand. The saltwater can destroy crops, at huge cost to farmers, and render tap water unsafe. It is also threatening to degrade historic temples, by seeping up from the ground, causing concrete walls to crumble, and their paintings to flake and disappear forever.

Thailand’s Fine Arts Department, the government body responsible for heritage conservation, said that salt moisture is the biggest issue it finds in the temples it has been called to survey for damage. The effects are gradual and can take decades to show, but it is feared the problem will only get worse.

Source: History fades as rising sea levels slowly destroy Thailand’s temple murals | Thailand | The Guardian