Stringent measures afoot to tackle air pollution in Thailand

[webfact]

Stringent measures afoot to tackle air pollution

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

THAILAND AIMS to reduce the health impacts from air pollution by 25 per cent by 2030, while there will be stricter monitoring of air pollution and prevention measures this year during the haze season in the North and Bangkok.
 

Health Department director-general Dr Panpimol Wipulakorn said Thailand had pledged at a World Health Organisation conference that it would firmly place the air pollution problem on the national agenda and lower the prevalence of sickness and fatalities from pollution. 

 

The WHO held the First Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in Geneva last week.

 

Panpimol said Thailand’s commitment to fight air pollution was to comply with one of WHO’s five prominent agendas from 2019 to 2023 on mitigating health impacts from air pollution and climate change.

 

“Thailand’s Public Health Ministry and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry are the core agencies to push air pollution mitigation measures both at the domestic level and regional level, so as to prevent people’s health from being adversely affected by air pollution and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” she said.

 

“We are now working with all related agencies, like Pollution Control Department and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, to enhance their capacity to prevent and tackle the air-pollution problem and comprehensively build an air-quality monitoring and air-pollution warning network.”

 

According to the WHO, every year about 8 million people around the world die from air pollution, as it has been scientifically proven that prolonged exposure to polluted air negatively affected health in the long term, including causing cancer. 

 

The WHO, however, emphasised that health threats from air pollution were preventable, hence it was important that every country and all stakeholders worked together to preserve good health and the well being of the people by combating air pollution.

 

PCD director-general Pralong Damrongthai revealed that as the direct agency to mitigate air pollution, the department this year would introduce many strict, new measures during the upcoming haze season in the northern region and the Bangkok metropolitan area.

 

“This is the first year that we are using PM2.5 [particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns] as another air-quality indicator in order to improve the accuracy of our air-pollution monitoring and warning system,” Pralong said.

 

“We are also working with local authorities in the areas that have chronic air-pollution problem such as the northern provinces and Bangkok to lower air pollution at its source and collaborate with neighbouring countries to mitigate the transboundary haze problem.”

 

He disclosed that Natural Resources and Environment Minister General Surasak Karn-janarat will visit Mae Sot district in Tak province next month to discuss with Myanmar authorities the transboundary haze issue. He will announce the air pollution mitigation measures and impose a burning ban for this haze season in the North.

 

Meanwhile, in the Bangkok metropolitan area, Pralong said the air pollution was due to a combination of outdoor burning and heavy traffic volume. The PCD is now working with the BMA to issue restrictions on the movement of trucks in the Bangkok inner city and a burning ban in five nearby provinces to reduce the capital’s seasonal air-pollution problem.

 

The northern provinces and Bangkok face severe air pollution problems during the dry season every year. This year, as the dry season has already started, the air quality in Bangkok has started to deteriorate, with daily average levels of PM2.5 in Wang Thong Lang district yesterday rising to 43 micrograms per cubic metre of air, well above the WHO’s safe limit of 25 micrograms.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30358029

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-11-07

[RotMahKid]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

a burning ban in five nearby provinces to reduce the capital’s seasonal air-pollution problem.

Why this?

To protect the people in Bangkok?

Only Bangkok?

Why no burning ban in the five ( or more )  Northern provinces in the country?

[kannot]

no dpf  filters in toyota pick ups here or chevrolet colorados

[mok199]

Thailands tough new smoking ban should be enough to satisfy Dr Wipolacorn who was over heard saying ''just go to the mall,like everyone else''

Edited November 6, 2018 by mok199

[Lungstib]

Isn't this a country with future plans to build more coal fired power stations? The same country with about half of all vehicles running on diesel? A place that moves millions of tons of landfill without ever washing the mud off the wheels before the trucks get back on the highway? Wishful thinking is not the right place to start on cleaning up and action on these issues is as likely as snow in Bangkok.

[canopy]

1 hour ago, RotMahKid said:

Why no burning ban in the five ( or more )  Northern provinces in the country?

Details are scant but the article does say "impose a burning ban for this haze season in the North." I don't have my hopes up this will have any teeth behind it however. Rolling out a god awfully long 12 year plan to reduce the pollution a fraction is hardly comforting and in fact gives a feeling of hopelessness that the horrible smoke situation in the north is acceptable and a small trim is the best that can ever be hoped for.

 

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, canopy said:

Details are scant but the article does say "impose a burning ban for this haze season in the North." I don't have my hopes up this will have any teeth behind it however. Rolling out a god awfully long 12 year plan to reduce the pollution a fraction is hardly comforting and in fact gives a feeling of hopelessness that the horrible smoke situation in the north is acceptable and a small trim is the best that can ever be hoped for.

 

But that's the way change happens here on every front, in small steps over time, I can't think of one aspect of life in Thailand where the government introduced a law and the population began to obey it en-masse, immediately, not one. I've been following the pollution issue here closely for the past sixteen years and FWIW things have improved over that time, increasingly larger parts of the population obey the no burning bans. Of course it's too little too late and much more should be done faster, whether or not those things are possible here is highly debatable. 

[tompelli]

I would like to congratulate the official who presented the haze season phrase. Makes it all sound so natural....give it a polish & put it back in the WC where it belongs.

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, tompelli said:

I would like to congratulate the official who presented the haze season phrase. Makes it all sound so natural....give it a polish & put it back in the WC where it belongs.

Do you know what an inversion layer is!

[canopy]

35 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

I can't think of one aspect of life in Thailand where the government introduced a law and the population began to obey it en-masse, immediately

 

A few examples: the smoking laws went into effect immediately and had a wide spread impact. The curfew went into effect immediately--there was not a 12 year plan to get 25% of the people to obey the curfew. So there is no good reason I can see to take 12 years to get the people to reduce burning by a fraction. And what if after 12 years it fails and the air is worse? The entire population in the north is suffering so such a long wait for such a minimal drop in smoke seems hardly an appropriate response. They could just go out and solve the problem in one year if the will was there. For instance every single fire can be detected immediately 24 hours a day by satellite, fires can be put out, and police can fine the perpetrators. The problem will go away real quickly when the people figure out making everyone sick has zero tolerance. This "reduce a little over the next decade" does not sound like a convincing way to get people to stop burning.

 

[tompelli]

14 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Do you know what an inversion layer is!

Do now, Google is my friend. My point is that they are presenting pollution as a natural occurrence (spring, summer, autumn, winter, haze).

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, tompelli said:

Do now, Google is my friend. My point is that they are presenting pollution as a natural occurrence (spring, summer, autumn, winter, haze).

My point however is that it is almost impossible for the average person to determine the cause of the visual distortion of the air without the use of monitoring equipment, haze, smog, fog, inverted strata, they all appear the same and many times they are naturally occurring, the inversion layer certainly is - I doubt it would be sensible to refer to the distortion as pollution on a year round basis when burning is limited to only a few months. 

[tompelli]

16 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

My point however is that it is almost impossible for the average person to determine the cause of the visual distortion of the air without the use of monitoring equipment, haze, smog, fog, inverted strata, they all appear the same and many times they are naturally occurring, the inversion layer certainly is - I doubt it would be sensible to refer to the distortion as pollution on a year round basis when burning is limited to only a few months. 

OK, we can agree that haze occurring outside the "burning season" is natural?

[Lupatria]

3 hours ago, mok199 said:

Thailands tough new smoking ban should be enough to satisfy Dr Wipolacorn who was over heard saying ''just go to the mall,like everyone else''

Imagine the clear skies after the smoking ban in prison 

[Cadbury]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Stringent measures afoot to tackle air pollution

Thailand can do what it likes to reduce the air pollution it creates itself, particularly smoke from burning crops; that is a good thing. But do these people naively believed there are protective atmospheric curtains that hang on the boundaries of nearby countries like Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam that prevent their smoke and other forms of pollution from entering Thailand's atmosphere? Air pollution is a global problem. 

Do they imagine Thailand is covered by some invisible bubble protecting it from external pollution?

 

[canopy]

8 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Do they imagine Thailand is covered by some invisible bubble protecting it from external pollution?

If you bothered to read the article it answers your question. Hint: "collaborate with neighbouring countries to mitigate the transboundary haze problem"

 

[worgeordie]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

impose a burning ban for this haze season in the North.

 

Have heard the same message,every year,AND nothing

really happens,while smoking on the beach, you could

go to jail or at least get a very heavy fine.

regards worgeordie

[CALSinCM]

Propose Thai personal air filtration units

 

[dcnx]

Zero enforcement. Prepare for a recording burning season in the north. Then again the year after that. 

[simoh1490]

27 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Thailand can do what it likes to reduce the air pollution it creates itself, particularly smoke from burning crops; that is a good thing. But do these people naively believed there are protective atmospheric curtains that hang on the boundaries of nearby countries like Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam that prevent their smoke and other forms of pollution from entering Thailand's atmosphere? Air pollution is a global problem. 

Do they imagine Thailand is covered by some invisible bubble protecting it from external pollution?

 

That's a very good example of progress on this issue.....I recall five or so years ago trying to convince posters here that windborne cross-border pollution was a part of the problem, I even posted wind maps to prove the point but 99% wouldn't entertain the notion. Today, the idea of cross-border airborne pollution is mainstream and acknowledged as a significant contributor to the poor air quality in Thailand, for most people these sorts of shifts in emphasis take time to sink in but eventually of course they do. 

[Krataiboy]

Thailand has a long way to go to clean up its act.  Meanwhile, thousands of expats and retirees from the UK, US and parts of Europe will be breathing in higher concentrations of unhealthy stuff than they were used to back home in the post-industrial West.

In LOS the annual PM2.5 is 22.4 and PM10 41.4, according to an excellent, detailed article on the subject in The Thailand Life online magazine (https://www.thethailandlife.com/air-pollution-thailand).

 

This compares with PM2.5 at 9.7 and PM10 16 in the US. For the UK the figures are PM2.5 13.3 and PM10 19.6 and in Germany PM2.5 16.1 and PM10 21.7. 

 

Now I know why so many Thai people in my coastal town have taken to wearing masks while riding bicycles or scooters, or even just walking.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Krataiboy

[Lupatria]

48 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Thailand can do what it likes to reduce the air pollution it creates itself, particularly smoke from burning crops; that is a good thing. But do these people naively believed there are protective atmospheric curtains that hang on the boundaries of nearby countries like Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam that prevent their smoke and other forms of pollution from entering Thailand's atmosphere? Air pollution is a global problem. 

Do they imagine Thailand is covered by some invisible bubble protecting it from external pollution?

 

Yes! There is daily prove of it in various subjects. 

[Cadbury]

41 minutes ago, canopy said:

If you bothered to read the article it answers your question. Hint: "collaborate with neighbouring countries to mitigate the transboundary haze problem"

 

Then are you as naive as they are in believing neighbouring countries have control or care over their farmers burning rice crops and whatever? I have just travelled through North Vietnam. They have almost finished burning off their rice crops. They and other rice growing countries have been doing it for centuries. And you think they will stop because Thailand ask them nicely to do so.  Yeh, right!

[xylophone]

30 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

Then are you as naive as they are in believing neighbouring countries have control or care over their farmers burning rice crops and whatever?

I believe a lot of the smoke haze I am seeing in Phuket comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, and the likelihood of these corrupt countries reining in the large corporations behind much of the burning there is about zilch whilst money, bribes and corruption flourish.

 

Thailand can control the burning up north if they put the money behind it rather than buying firking submarines. Not too hard to do.

Edited November 7, 2018 by xylophone

[trainman34014]

5 hours ago, Lungstib said:

Isn't this a country with future plans to build more coal fired power stations? The same country with about half of all vehicles running on diesel? A place that moves millions of tons of landfill without ever washing the mud off the wheels before the trucks get back on the highway? Wishful thinking is not the right place to start on cleaning up and action on these issues is as likely as snow in Bangkok.

In the 'Land of Dreamers', wishful thinking is all they have !

[trainman34014]

How do they intend to tackle the problem of millions of Villagers burning all their rubbish every night and in some cases during the day ?  Hundreds of Villages in The North don't have garbage collection, so it's either burned or thrown in the hedgerows, nobody cares and instead of the Government putting in garbage collection for EVERY Village they offer a 'service' for 50 Baht a month, cheap, but they all refuse and keep burning.    Instead of buying expensive Submarines and Helicopters that are of no use whatsoever, Thailand's Government, regardless of Political or Military leanings, should address such problems, that is their job, just one of the things they are meant to do as a matter of 'duty', a word here not taken seriously by the majority of 'Civil Servants', who prefer to be called 'Government Officials', as it sounds much more important and has nothing to do with serving the Public who pay their wages !

[canopy]

39 minutes ago, trainman34014 said:

How do they intend to tackle the problem of millions of Villagers burning all their rubbish every night and in some cases during the day ?

I've noticed this seems to be absent when discussing contributing factors. Clouds of smoke and stench blanket the villages, especially early evening of every day. Amongst these rubbish piles are generous amounts of plastic, hazardous materials, and yard clippings that have been doused by herbicides and insecticides. And I think you are right, it surely must run into the millions of such fires burnt daily. Surely that is doing something to the atmosphere.

 

[Redline]

More talk.  Who will enforce?

[marko kok prong]

Stop Thai's burning stuff,it's a national pastime.

[transam]

5 hours ago, canopy said:

If you bothered to read the article it answers your question. Hint: "collaborate with neighbouring countries to mitigate the transboundary haze problem"

 

They have got to stop smoking too..?  ????