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Inside Thailand's fight against toxic annual wildfires - 'it's just getting worse and worse'


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Posted

Fire.jpg

Drone footage shows the extent of the fires across northern Thailand. Pic: Chiang Mai University

 

By Siobhan Robbins - SE Asia correspondent

 

It's fire season in Thailand, with hundreds of patches of farmland and forest ablaze in the north

 

The government helicopter team we are with is charged with locating hotspots - fires belching toxic fumes into the atmosphere and poisoning the air.

 

Tiny PM2.5 pollution particles caused an estimated 32,000 premature deaths in Thailand in 2019, according to the State of Global Air 2020 report.

 

Along with exhaust fumes and crop burning, smoke from the wildfires contributes to the problem.

 

sky.jpg

-- © Copyright Sky News 2021-04-07
 
  • Thanks 2
Posted
5 hours ago, bluesofa said:

Can the drones be used to catch those responsible for crop burning?

They could, but no-one in authority is interested. They weren't last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, or........ Indonesia is the same, polluting Singapore every year but not killing 32,000 people annually by doing so.

  • Like 1
Posted

[quote]

... Thailand’s air pollution should be a major concern, of course, but Thailand certainly isn’t the worst country and in fact has been improving over the past ten years.

[/quote]

 

Comparing Thailand's air pollution levels to another country is irrelevant.  Why should I care how bad the air pollution is in New Delhi, when I live in Chiang Mai?

 

Yes, the stats indicate that Thailand air pollution levels are improving.  So now it's only 'appalling;, as opposed to 'dire'.

  • Like 2
Posted
Just now, Bangkok Barry said:

They could, but no-one in authority is interested. They weren't last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, or........ Indonesia is the same, polluting Singapore every year but not killing 32,000 people annually by doing so.

 

The objective here is to persuade the miscreants not to burn rather then penalise them for doing do. It's bound to fail, just as it fails every year. If they were serious, they'd send some of the 80,000 policemen they think are going to reduce the road toll; give them a chair and send them to sit watching the fields and nabbing the fire bugs. Word would get around quite quickly and the police do sitting like just about nobody else.

 

But all they would do is collect more bribes and let the rascals go... it was ever thus. Yet another problem that won't get resolved until the honesty problem in TL is resolved. One of very many. The very few honest policemen in TL must be pulling their hair out for being so out of the mainstream and watching the thieves get rich while they don't.

  • Like 1
Posted
12 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

If I was in the TAT I'd be extremely worried that the 2nd story on Sky news tonight is about toxic wildfires in Thailand. Thailand is unlikely to get many tourists with one of the major news stations in the Uk - and the world - putting a pin in any Thai tourism balloon

In yesterday’s thai visa they tried to blame neighbouring countries for a lot of smoke pollution. It’s always somebody else’s fault in Thailand. Just like all that Covid cases were always migrants.

  • Like 1
Posted
On 4/7/2021 at 11:12 AM, Antonymous said:

"Although short-term exposure spikes can affect health, it is long-term exposures that contribute most to the burden of disease and mortality from air pollution, and therefore
are the focus of the GBD project."

I think this is correct. And important to know.

 

 

20 hours ago, bluedoc said:

blame neighbouring countries for a lot of smoke pollution

I'm afraid / sure this is true.

image.png.2e5723f338fabba811ec75f5f2ded920.png

You could search for better examples. - This was

before rain, the next screenshot after rain.

image.png.e4b6229b438a98510b4bb90d2e27e168.png

https://firms2.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/

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