Departments collaborating to develop tools and personnel to combat airborne dust

[webfact]

 

By Namo Vananupong

   

BANGKOK (NNT) - The Meteorological Department and the Department of Disease Control have entered into a collaboration over personnel development and tools creation for the purpose of increasing accuracy in airborne dust situation forecasts and reducing the effects of PM2.5 air pollution.

 

The two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on academic cooperation for PM2.5 dust detection tools and forecasting.

 

Pollution Control Department Director-General Athapol Charoenshunsa said his department has developed an air quality forecasting system for use in evaluating the PM2.5 situation in the North and in Greater Bangkok. The system receives weather data from the Meteorological Department, which helps increase the efficiency of PM2.5 predictions and air pollution response planning. He said the government and other sectors benefit from the information, which has brought forth improvements in the PM2.5 situation.

 

Meteorological Department Director-General Nattapon Nattasomboon said the academic and research collaboration involved meteorological data and pollution data, and personnel development. The cooperation will last for 3 years, and the aim is to enable the use of data for accurate handling of airborne dust situations.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-11-22

 

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[ChrisY1]

Nothing ever happens...the speak <deleted> over and over......same old pollution all the time....the only real change is that it is getting dirtier in Bangkok.....

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The two agencies signed a memorandum of understanding on academic cooperation for PM2.5 dust detection tools and forecasting.

It's so bad you can't see through it... and can't breathe it... we don't need monitors to detect it.

Just policies to stop it.

[TechnikaIII]

Stop the burning off..

Agricultural and local, domestic.

It simply is not necessary. 

[mikebell]

Why not create a taskforce to check vehicles using roads which emit these carcinogenic particles?  They could go to the scene of burning fields and arrest the arsonists.  They could be clad in a brown uniform which is always too tight in the trousers.

[brommers]

Yet another delaying tactic. Air Visual is already a very comprehensive tool so why develop anything more? The real issue is getting down to the hard work of preventing the creation of pollution by stopping the burning of biomass, the emissions from vehicles and also from enterprises. But hey, navel gazing is a lot easier so lets just do that while the population is poisoned yet again.

[unblocktheplanet]

It is PITIFUL that we're going through this AGAIN! CP could stop this in a minute by refusing sugarcane & corn from farm coops which burn their biomass waste.

[Gsxrnz]

What tools are they going to develop?  A very large and powerful Dyson-esque Sucky Motor?

[SunsetT]

"tools and personnel"....Is there any difference?

[spidermike007]

Stop, please. Get real. Do something. Do anything. 

 

How long have you lived here? How often have we seen promises or initiatives like this? This current administration is infamous for pledges, declarations, proclamations and promises. Few are even remembered, much less followed up upon two weeks later.
 
Feel free to cite some environmental promises that were followed up on, if you can. Otherwise, this is just a pedantic high school level debate, and you are advocating for men with a staggering level of incompetence and indifference toward their land, water and the common man.  

There is a very simple solution to this problem. If the authorities were interested in solutions. The burning has to stop. There are alternatives, to this 19th century technique of burning after the sugar cane harvest. Either the government starts to encourage farmers to switch to more environmentally friendly crops, or they start to penalize farmers for burning. This heinous burning, is leading to a tremendous degree of environmental degradation, and alot of lung disease. So here is what I propose-

 

1. Fine the farmers 5,000 baht for a first offense, and give them a stern warning, that burning is now prohibited, and the second fine will be very harsh.

2. For a second offense, fine the farmer 100,000 baht, and warn them that if the burning continues, their land will be confiscated.

3. On the 3rd offense, confiscate their land. Period. No questions. No legal proceeding or appeals on the part of the farmers. Allow others to come in and purchase the land at a fair price, with the caveat that sugar is prohibited as a crop to be grown on that land.
The news would travel faster than the toxic smoke, and farmers would change their ways overnight, and move into the 21st century.

 

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here?

 

Lastly they can convert all of the 10 remaining diesel and coal fired power plants. Thailand has already done a very admirable job with renewable power plants. There are over 50 powered by hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass. That is impressive. 

The government should offer incentives, for the farmers to switch crops. This is 2021. Rice and sugar worked in previous centuries. Now, they do not make any sense. Too labor intensive, too much degradation of the land, water, air, and resources. Let's get with the times. Let us move forward. 
 
I know I am dreaming. It takes a progressive administration to do these kinds of things, and Prayuth and his gang are as regressive as they come. The youth must prevail. At the risk of a 15 year jail sentence, as they are trying to impose of the man who is the only hope this nation has in Thanathorn, the dinosaurs must be forced to the side, and the youth must figure out a way to lead this nation forward. Otherwise, it is nothing but darkness, that will prevail.