‘Floating temple’ defies odds

Cut off from the world: The Buddhist temple isolated by coastal erosion in Samut Chin village. — AFP

SAMUT CHIN: As sea waters slowly rose around his temple and his neighbours fled inland, Thai abbot Somnuek Atipanyo refused to budge and is today a symbol of the fight to restore the country’s fast-eroding coastlines.

A dangerous combination of climate change, industrial farming and rapid urbanisation are endangering the Gulf of Thailand’s coasts, stripping away precious mangrove trees and leaving buildings like Somnuek’s surrounded by sea water.In the 30 years since the waters started encroaching, most of his neighbours in the fishing village of Samut Chin moved several hundred metres inland to rebuild their wooden homes.

Standing in his saffron robes near his monastery on stilts – dubbed the “floating temple” – Somnuek pointed out to sea at the spot where the local school once stood.“This temple used to be in the middle of the village,” the 51-year-old said in Samut Chin, about an hour south of Bangkok.

“If we moved it, people wouldn’t even know there had ever been one here,” he said of the temple, accessible only by a small footbridge today.

These shores were once protected by extensive mangrove forests – the Gulf of Thailand boasts some of the largest in the world – a natural defence against coastal erosion, thanks to their extensive roots that stabilise the shoreline.

But mangrove forests have been cleared for extensive development of shrimp and salt farms, along with new houses and hotels that have popped up thanks to a development boom in recent decades.

Thailand lost almost one-third of its vast coastal mangrove forests between 1961 and 2000, according to a report from the nation’s Depart­ment of Marine and Coastal Res­ources and the United Nations Environment Programme.

Climate change is also having an impact: stronger waves and more ferocious monsoons have wiped out mangroves in the Gulf of Thailand, which is especially vulnerable as its waters are so shallow.

“The waves and tides are higher than before,” said Thanawat Jaru­pongsakul, who advises Thailand’s government on its policy to combat erosion.

Asian and Caspian coastlines are the two areas in the world most affected by coastal erosion, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Nature.

In Thailand a quarter of the country’s shores – or about 700km – are eroding, some “severely”, according to data shared by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

Now there is a push to restore Thailand’s precious mangrove ecosystem through a national voluntary tree replanting scheme.

Another strategy is to drill pylons of cement into the seabed – and on the shoreline itself – to act as a substitute for the mangrove roots.

As for Somnuek’s stretch of coast, there is little hope his temple will ever see dry ground again. But the flooding has brought one unexpected advantage: dozens of tourists that flock to the so-called floating temple for Instagram-worthy selfies.“The fight against coastal erosion has brought fame,” village head Wisanu Kengsamut said. — AFP