Geography, Climate, Flora,
Fauna & Environmental Protecion in Thailand.
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Geography, Climate,
Flora & Fauna in Thailand
- Thailand Information
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(The location of Thailand in Indochina)
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Thailand's Geographical Position
Thailand,
previously called Siam,
is in South East Asia.
In the West and Northwest it borders on Myanmar,
the former Birma,
also called Burma.
In the North an East Thailand
borders on Laos
in the Southeast on Cambodia,
in the South on Malaysia.
The biggest part of Thailand
is on the Indochina Peninsula,
the South is part of the Malakka
Peninsula to which mainly the northern
part of Malaysia
and Singapore
belongs to. The southern part of Thailand
is framed in the West by the Andaman
Sea and in the East by the Gulf
of Thailand and goes up to the Malayan
border. The surface
area of Thailand is 513.115 square-kilometres
and is thus about one and half times bigger than Germany.
Thailand’s landscape
is very versatile, in the North and West are some parallel
high mountain ranges in North-South orientation, in the North-East
is the barren Khorat-Plateau
– also called Isaan
-, in the narrow South the landscape
is stamped by mountains
and kilometre long sandy
coasts. Even here the highest elevation,
the Khao Luang,
reaches 1790 m.
The highest mountains of
Thailand are in the border region of
Myanmar
with the almost 3000 m high Doi
Sothep in the fore. A further mountain
system runs through the centre
of Thailand, also in North-South direction,
running from north-east of Bangkok
to the east towards Cambodia.
In the north-east of it there is Khorat-Plateau
taking up about one third of the land
area of Thailand. In the East it is bordered
by the Mekong,
with about 4500 km largest river of Rear-India,
being at the same time the border to Laos.
A up to 100 km wide alluvial
plane, the Mae Nam Chao
Phraya lowland, through which the main
river of Thailand
the Chao Phraya
flows is located in between the central and the western mountains.
This region is the most populous of Thailand
and is flooded regularly during the rainy
season.
Thailand's Climate
Thailand belongs to the always wet tropes mainly coined
by the Monsoon. The North and Northeast has semi-humid dry-savannah
climate with a wintry dry-season and generally little rainfall.
In the Chao Phraya lowland and in the coastal areas tropical
rainforest climate dominates.
From November until March the wind blows from north-east,
from April to October from South-west. They then bring humid
air from the Indian Ocean.
The temperatures in Thailand
vary only little throughout the year. In the annual average
they are at about 26° C, in the upcountry they are, apart
from the mountain regions,
slightly higher as on the coasts. The average rainfall
in Thailand is about 1.500 mm in the
western, northern and central regions. In the Malakka
peninsula region they are in between
2.500 and 4.000 mm, in Isaan
only at maximal 1.300 mm. The most rain falls in summer among
June and October.
Thailand's Flora and Fauna
Thailand
has a multifaceted flora
and fauna, however this biodiversity
is heavily endangered. As during the 20th century still about
50 % of Thailand’s
total area was forested it is in the meantime only about 20
%. Well 70 % of all plant
species of Thailand are trees
grown over by liana, moss
and fern.
As the trees
only let pass little light to the ground, the forest
soil, opposite to the public opinion,
is not an impenetrable jungle.
Simply clearings can be abundantly covered with vegetation.
The fauna
of the tropes
is deemed to be one of the most richest in species
in the world, thus amphibians,
reptiles, numberless insects, snakes, monkeys
and birds
are found. Due to the increasing clearing the wildlife habitat
for Thailand’s fauna
indeed is circumcised dramatically. Also hunting
contributes to ebbing the diversity
of species, in the meantime already more
than 100 species
are endangered.
By this the population of leopards
and tigers
goes back heavily, rhinos
and tapirs
are said to have been almost died out. Although Thailand
has one of the highest fishing
rates in the world, long term it probably
cannot be kept. Many fish
species are already heavily decimated
and a great deal of the habitats in the wetlands of the coast
and the upcountry were destroyed by the expanding crustacean-
and fish farms.
Environmental Protection in
Thailand
Meanwhile Thailand
has signed several environmental contracts meant to protect
endangered species,
of the habitat ocean
and tropical wood.
Also were well about 13 % of the entire land- and sea-area
transferred into nature reserves.
If by this the grooving air-,
ground- and water pollution can be curbed
remains to be seen.
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Sources: Microsoft Encarta Worldatlas
2001, Data Becker Encyclopedia 2002 and others. |
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