Battle to save Bangkok’s ‘Green Lung’

Leaping out from Bangkok’s vast concrete sprawl is a kidney-shaped green space, home to hundreds of plant and bird species, and where cars are outnumbered by bicyles.

But residents and campaigners fear the unique ecosystem and character of the city’s so-called “Green Lung” is under threat as developers lure locals with lucrative land deals.

Bang Krachao is an artificial island formed by a canal and a bend in the meandering Chao Praya river.

The area stands apart on Google Maps: a swathe of greenery in an otherwise concrete jungle of traffic-choked streets, towering condos and sprawling factories.

While the rest of Bangkok has developed at a dizzying pace in the last five decades—often with little thought put into sustainable long-term planning—Bang Krachao remains an oasis of calm.

Covering 16 square kilometres (six square miles), its pathways are popular with weekend cyclists and expat daytrippers seeking respite from helter-skelter of Bangkok’s streets.

But the fight is now on to stop the concrete consuming Bangkok’s last tropical sanctuary.

Bang Krachao’s abundant space and proximity to the city centre have caught the eye of investors.

Soaring land prices are teasing residents into selling up.

“I feel bad to sell it but my aunt is ill. She needs the money to take care of her health,” Supi Saengta, 62, who has lived in the area her whole life, but is now selling the family’s 6400-square-metre plot of land, which could fetch 24 million baht ($685,000).

More buildings mean more roads—a major change in an area where many residents still get around on a network of raised concrete footpaths that snake through the tropical foliage.

Eventually “these paths will be knocked down and replaced by big roads which block the waterways,” said Jakkaphan Thruadmarakha, an environmental campaigner who was born in the area.

“We can already see that some of the canals are becoming stagnant and have problems with water drainage,” he added, urging future development on the wedge of land to be sustainable.

Green not grey