Smog crisis in North blamed on authorities’ top-down approach

By Pratch Rujivanarom 
The Nation 

 

File photo

 

ACADEMICS PUT down the authorities’ failure to control this year’s smog crisis in the North to an inappropriate “command-and-control approach”, adding that this problem will persist if the strategy is not revised.
 

Naporn Popattanachai, director of Thammasart University’s Centre for Natural Resources and Environmental Law, said drought next year will worsen if the authorities do not change their approach and bring the public on board when it comes to dealing with air pollution. 

 

Though the smog season has come to an end with rains arriving in the North, Naporn said evidence such as PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in size), hotspots and the duration indicate that the smog situation this year lasted longer and was more severe than previous years. This also proves that the government’s measures to control the problem have failed, he said. 

 

He added that the smog-tackling measures failed because they lacked a holistic approach and did not deal with the different sources, as the authorities only focused on banning outdoor fires, which eventually turned farmers against the authorities. 

 

“We observed that despite the ban, wildfires and hotspots took place anyway, intensifying the smog in the North,” he said. “This only proves that the authorities’ top-down command-and-control approach, forcing people not to burn farming waste in their fields and starting wildfires to gather forest products, is no longer effective as farmers are not interested in complying with the authorities.” 

 

Sonthi Kotchawat, a leading environmental health expert, said outdoor fires were responsible for 54 per cent of the overall PM2.5 emissions. 

 

 

 

Naporn, meanwhile, said the only way this situation can be reversed is if the authorities bring people on their side when it comes to tackling the problem from every source. 

 

“The authorities need to change their approach, and call on local people to work with them to achieve sustainable solutions to control outdoor fires and other sources of pollution,” he said. 

 

Admitting that the factors behind the smog crisis are very complicated and complex, he said they are still connected to several structural issues and involve multiple stakeholders, including influential big food companies, he said. In fact, he added, as consumers we should also be able to seek sustainable solutions to the chronic smog problem in the North. 

 

For instance, he said, maize farmers are forced to set fire to farm waste and encroach into forests to expand their fields because big food companies require larger harvests. Since they earn little for their crops, the farmers have no choice but to cut down their production costs by practising the cheaper slash-and-burn technique to prepare their farm for the next crop. 

 

“By imposing the right regulations to relieve farmers’ burden from contract farming, we can help them switch their farming techniques to more environmentally friendly ones and greatly cut down on the generation of pollution,” he suggested. 

 

He also added that the policies for tackling smog should be flexible, in order to adapt to the changing situation and allow all related stake holders to change their practices. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30369401

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2019-05-15

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

It will never change now. You have a government that can do what they like and that doesn't include helping people. I suggest all Thais pack there bags and leave if you care about your health.

1 minute ago, HuskerDo said:

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

I'm a farmer also and rotary everything then plow so all the leftovers, grass and weeds can break down and be good for the soil. Its easy and all these farmers have they're fields plowed whether they own a tractor or not. They have a mental condition it seems where they just have to burn everything regardless with no actual benefits. They are actually depleting the soil of nutrients faster over time and killing everyone and everything. 

8 minutes ago, unamazedloso said:

I'm a farmer also and rotary everything then plow so all the leftovers, grass and weeds can break down and be good for the soil. Its easy and all these farmers have they're fields plowed whether they own a tractor or not. They have a mental condition it seems where they just have to burn everything regardless with no actual benefits. They are actually depleting the soil of nutrients faster over time and killing everyone and everything. 

Have you considered starting meetings with the local farmers to discuss your approach and thoughts? If you do you might start them re-thinking things and it might spread. Just a thought.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

as farmers are not interested in complying with the authorities.” 

seems a great many thais fail to see any value in order itself, much less law and order

Saddly military hardware is the focus these days....

Edited May 14, 20197 yr by mok199

3 hours ago, webfact said:

For instance, he said, maize farmers are forced to set fire to farm waste and encroach into forests to expand their fields because big food companies require larger harvests. Since they earn little for their crops, the farmers have no choice but to cut down their production costs by practising the cheaper slash-and-burn technique to prepare their farm for the next crop. 

They aren't forced to do anything of the kind. It's their choice and has nothing to do with the big food companies. Farmers not under contract burn. Farmers not planting corn burn. Burning is bad for the farmer since it depletes the soil. You've got to remember that in the mountains erosion and runoff is a huge problem. When you burn a field it accelerates the depletion of topsoil. It means they must use more chemicals which makes the big chemical companies richer, the farmer poorer, and the environment suffer. Or worse yet they just hack down some more virgin forest in search of more fertile soil since they ruined theirs. Burning is bad for farming.

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the authorities only focused on banning outdoor fires, which eventually turned farmers against the authorities... farmers are not interested in complying with the authorities

So the conclusion is farmers enjoy stealing and burning land and it is no one's right to stand up to them. I've got news for you--there is only one air source and we are all sharing it. And preserving forest habitat is far more important than any law breaking greedy farmer ruining the whole place.

 

3 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

Yes, they could create a budget, purchase the tractors and do it, it would cost less or maybe the same as a weapons purchase.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting though or maybe you should hold you breath or get a mask.

4 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

Would make more sense than buying military vehicles.

50 minutes ago, canopy said:

They aren't forced to do anything of the kind. It's their choice and has nothing to do with the big food companies. Farmers not under contract burn. Farmers not planting corn burn. Burning is bad for the farmer since it depletes the soil. You've got to remember that in the mountains erosion and runoff is a huge problem. When you burn a field it accelerates the depletion of topsoil. It means they must use more chemicals which makes the big chemical companies richer, the farmer poorer, and the environment suffer. Or worse yet they just hack down some more virgin forest in search of more fertile soil since they ruined theirs. Burning is bad for farming.

 

So the conclusion is farmers enjoy stealing and burning land and it is no one's right to stand up to them. I've got news for you--there is only one air source and we are all sharing it. And preserving forest habitat is far more important than any law breaking greedy farmer ruining the whole place.

 

Yes but the guys need to blame big agricultural firms otherwise he too loses his support of the farmers. The solutions is not giving farmers more money that will only encourage them to plant more. Strict enforcement and making sure those big agricultural firms don't buy any corn that is burned and / or check farmers that have and ban them from next year. 

Sure the big firms have something to do with it too but its the farmers and villagers that set the fires to the forest. Not the big agricultural firms. Good for mushrooms.. the hell with all other people let them die us farmers are more important. 

 

I never had much respect for farmers and it gets less and less with those that burn.

52 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

Yes, they could create a budget, purchase the tractors and do it, it would cost less or maybe the same as a weapons purchase.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting though or maybe you should hold you breath or get a mask.

Good plan I would agree but then they fight over who can have what machine when and nepotism rules. So yes the plan is good but would have some drawbacks. But certainly more useful then the military weapons.

4 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

I'm a farmer also and rotary everything then plow so all the leftovers, grass and weeds can break down and be good for the soil. Its easy and all these farmers have they're fields plowed whether they own a tractor or not. They have a mental condition it seems where they just have to burn everything regardless with no actual benefits. They are actually depleting the soil of nutrients faster over time and killing everyone and everything. 

But in this case plowing needs more work than bringing a gasoline canister to the field and strike a match. And as we all know, strenuous work is not very attractive here.

5 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors

There's nothing left in the kitty after the subs and the armoured cars and commissions..

Edited May 15, 20197 yr by mikebell
missing word,

4 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

Have you considered starting meetings with the local farmers to discuss your approach and thoughts? If you do you might start them re-thinking things and it might spread. Just a thought.

Thais already know everything, they cannot learn more. Thais are the most instructed in the world.

5 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

Have you considered starting meetings with the local farmers to discuss your approach and thoughts? If you do you might start them re-thinking things and it might spread. Just a thought.

Farang no nothing.

- Farmers don't care

- Officials don't really care

- Most locals when asked will answer "Cannot do anything"

Let's play the blame game and let's not actually do anything. I'm not any better, just stating what I see.

 

For things to change someone needs to come up with an alternative to burning that :

- Doesn't require more work from the farmers

- Doesn't require money from the farmers

- Is at least as good

 

... Or actually enforcing the ban, but that's not happening.

6 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

The junta rather buy 37 armoured vehicles than tractors. Speak for itself. 

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

The junta rather buy 37 armoured vehicles than tractors. Speak for itself. 

Strange actually because I am sure they could hide the kickbacks on tractors too. Might be a good idea for Chiang Mai to buy them someone will pocket some kickbacks and then farmers will probably still have to pay for fuel or something and they won't. So I doubt it would work. Still better tractors then armoured vehicles. 

But the first responsible are the farmers who as usual are not punished. Nobody wants an angry mob of farmers marching to BKK. This would make them angry elections not so much but making them do work would set them off. 

Is it odd that the kids signs are written in English? I just noticed that. Do Thai kids that young really know how to read and write in English or is it prompted signage?

11 minutes ago, HuskerDo said:

Is it odd that the kids signs are written in English? I just noticed that. Do Thai kids that young really know how to read and write in English or is it prompted signage?

It's a picture from Meritton British International School in Chiang Mai.

PS: Of course it's prompted, maybe a class activity things where the goal was to design a sign. I would be surprised if a kid decided to do this without any kind of adult influence.

Edited May 15, 20197 yr by yokat

7 hours ago, webfact said:

We observed that despite the ban, wildfires and hotspots took place anyway, intensifying the smog in the North,” he said. “This only proves that the authorities’ top-down command-and-control approach, forcing people not to burn farming waste in their fields and starting wildfires to gather forest products, is no longer effective as farmers are not interested in complying with the authorities.

Observation but no action..

In other words, gross incompetence on the part of the army. And now the nation is forced to suffer another five years under these hapless fools. My guess is that we will barely recognize Thailand five years from now. After ten straight years of army rule, with the fabulously non visionary Prayuth at the helm, this country will be a pale shadow of it's former self, the entire tourism industry will be decimated, the ex-pat population will continue to shrink, due to their racism, xenophobia, and fear mongering, and the economy will decline. Too bad. Do the Thai people deserve this? Well, yes for allowing the 2017 constitutional charter to pass. And no. In reality nobody deserves the Thai army as a ruler. They benefit nobody other than themselves. They care not one iota for the common man.

I too agree that government subsidized tractors would be a great step in providing an environmentally and financially sound way of fixing part of the problem, but the truth is that a lot of these corn fields are on extremely steep slopes, not on flatlands.

8 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Observation but no action..

That’s what universities and academia are all about - we are studying ourselves into oblivion. Yet Mother Nature couldn’t care less about fancy degrees and theoretical papers in prestigious publications. If we can’t learn to live with nature rather than against it, we will become extinct within just a few generations...????????

It's not so much the farmers,but villagers burning the forests,

to make mushroom collecting easier when the rainy season 

starts,

Next year it's going to be the same,as its been going on for

years,its up to the government to be PROACTIVE,it's no good

trying to put out fires once the forests are ablaze and the

smoke ruining people's health,and affecting the tourist industry,

starting February, they need to get the Soldiers,Police and Volunteers

camping out in the hills with patrols and road blocks,anyone found

with materials to start fires,and arsonists caught starting fires need  

to face jail time,the Government needs to protect the majority

of its population,and not let the minority ,effect peoples health

and the tourist industry which is so important to so many people

in the North............will it happen.?..Proactive + Thailand =Oxymoron.

 

regards Worgeordie

 

Under tort the farmer would be responsible for loss suffered by others.

8 hours ago, webfact said:

ACADEMICS PUT down the authorities’ failure to control this year’s smog crisis in the North to an inappropriate “command-and-control approach”, adding that this problem will persist if the strategy is not revised.

I'm not an "academic" but anyone with half of a functioning brain can draw the same conclusions.

10 hours ago, HuskerDo said:

My grandfather was a farmer for his entire life (passed at age 98) and he would simply plow the field after the harvest and let it turn to mulch basically prior to the next planting season. Is there no way the govt can purchase a few hundred tractors and travel from farm to farm performing the service for free so the tourist industry stays strong and it's people don't have to breathe that nasty air every year? 

I’ve been saying this for 10 years ???? cheap and uncomplicated solution-then they only need to focus on people burning the forests-nothing a few long prison sentences won’t cure ????

10 hours ago, webfact said:

He also added that the policies for tackling smog should be flexible

They're very "flexible" already.