Assessing the Sustainable Development of Thailand

This study aims to assess the sustainable development of Thailand during 1971 - 2008 by looking at its efficiency in utilizing natural resources and environment, as measured by energy use and CO2 emission, to create the economic growth and promote well-being of Thai people, as measured by real GDP per capita. The findings reveal that the growth of CO2 emission and energy use was higher than that of real GDP per capita, implying that Thailand employed too much natural resources and environment in creating the economic growth and promoting well-being of its people. Moreover, we find that efficiency in utilizing natural resources and environment to create the economic growth and promote Thai people's well-being exhibited downward trend during the study period. Consequently, Thailand's development is not yet on the way to the sustained environment, natural resource, land, biodiversity and ecosystem. This situation implies that Thailand still has low opportunity to archive the sustainable development.