The Future of Phuket

The tropical landscape of Phuket is beautiful and ever changing. Including the surrounding islands, there is a clear separation of the island compositions, Phuket being manly composed of granite and its nearby smaller islands are made of limestone karsts, most of which can be dated some 350 million years.
It is hard to hypothesize if any of the changes in Phuket could be attributed to the natural changes within the environment and surrounding climate or if the damage that is being done to Phuket and causing its deterioration is caused by the excessive reliance on tourism to fuel the countries economy and the government's and local neglect for infrastructure and general preservation of the island. The air and water pollution can be associated with the constant boat tours during tourist season as well as the reliance on taxi cabs and tuk tuk as means of transportation on the mainland.
In order for Phuket to sustain itself, as well as reaming the main rice export for the region, as much as 60% of the island has been deforested and cultivated for rubber plantations or rice paddies. The
deforestation leads to expedited soil erosion and water contamination as a result of sediment being deposited in the rivers. Thailand has less than 1/3 of its water supply suitable for human consumption. The beaches are constant causes for concern where trash and pollution is often deposited. In June, tens of thousands of dead crabs washed ashore on Pa Lai beach. If one needed more convincing that Phuket is on a self destructing path, we need only look at the coral reefs that can be found in nearby waters. Coral reefs lose their color completely due to stress in their salt water homes.

An image of the dead sea crabs that washed ashore o World Oceans Day this past summer

Climate change is very much real and the Hospitality and Tourism business of Thailand is going to be the most effected. There have been numerous floods in recent years and strong monsoon winds in the Hat Yai area. The usually predictable rainfall and change of seasons has been anything but in recent years. "A recent article in the Bangkok Post identified that a Chulalongkorn University researcher (Jarupongsakul, 2010) found that sand erosion could cause Pattaya Beach to vanish in the next five years and the situation is critical." Could Phuket be at risk of eroding away completely within the next 10,000 years?

Ban Na San was once a beach but now the contaminated water has washed away the shoreline

Unfortunately, I would conclude that Phuket would not be around long enough to evaluate its condition in 10,000 years or more. The never ending tourism component is the life blood and the destructive force that is Phuket.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_Thailand
http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/aboutcoraldiseases/a/aacoralbleach.htm
http://www.thaisurfrider.com/climate-change-and-the-environment-in-thailand%e2%80%94what%e2%80%99s-going-on-with-the-weather/