Thailand primes for haze mitigation ahead of Songkran festival

[snoop1130]

 

Responding to the escalating haze crisis, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has directed all provinces in the upper north, including Chiang Mai, to prepare their operation centres. This step aims to mitigate air pollution during the forthcoming Songkran festival, which traditionally sees a surge in tourist arrivals.

 

According to Deputy Prime Minister and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Phatcharavat Wongsuwan, these centres, each under the leadership of the respective provincial governor, are slated to be fully functional by today, April 10. In addition to managing hazardous dust pollution, the governors are also responsible for keeping the public and media updated on local circumstances.

 

Refuting allegations of delayed action, Phatcharavat emphasised that all relevant authorities have been diligently working to decrease the ultrafine dust particles for months.

“The creation of these centres is merely an extension of this ongoing effort.”

 

The deputy prime minister further instructed pertinent state agencies to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to initiate discussions with neighbouring countries suspected of contributing to the transboundary haze pollution in Thailand.

 

Phatcharavat noted that the army is also lending a hand in this endeavour by facilitating conversations through the joint border committees. These coordinated efforts aim to alleviate the adverse effects of air pollution in the north, with a particular focus on preserving the region’s tourism sector during the Songkran festival.

 

The Chiang Mai operation centre today is set to receive the hardware and equipment necessary to combat the pollution. In the wake of escalating PM2.5 dust levels, Chiang Mai authorities encouraged residents to work remotely until Friday, reported Bangkok Post.

 

The city’s pollution levels peaked yesterday, earning Chiang Mai the dubious distinction of being the most polluted city globally. The northern region of Thailand continues to grapple with dense smog.

 

By Mitch Connor

Caption: Picture courtesy of Thairath

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-04-10

 

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[JoePai]

100% verbal garbage - as usual !!

[eyeman]

I think we're going to need more committees and panels to properly tackle this problem, thankfully we're the hub of such...

[rexpotter]

42 minutes ago, eyeman said:

I think we're going to need more committees and panels to properly tackle this problem, thankfully we're the hub of such...

Thats it. More rubbish talk from pro politicians

[rexpotter]

Maybe they need a meeting in Singapore from all head of state from neighboring countries and stay at the finest hotel and discuss this forther?

[rexpotter]

The situatin is far past a joke anymore, and ts not dust.

[spidermike007]

The deputy prime minister further instructed pertinent state agencies to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to initiate discussions with neighbouring countries suspected of contributing to the transboundary haze pollution in Thailand.

 

This is such a scandal, this is such a heinous level of deflection on the part of these Thai government creeps who refuse to acknowledge responsibility for the dangerous health hazard facing the nation at this time. This is the worst pollution I've seen in over a decade, and the continuing unwillingness to confront Big Agra (the sugar refiners) and the sugar and corn growers is one of the major factors here.

 

Blame it on forest fires across the border, blame it on whatever you want, most of us know what the truth is and most of us know that you guys are guilty as sin and totally sold out to corporations and Big Agra.

 

I thought Prayuth was compromised, I thought Prayuth was corrupt. Sretta is elevating corruption and compromise to an unheard of level. Lock him up. Punish him. The jig is up as they say. 

 

[hotchilli]

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Responding to the escalating haze crisis, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has directed all provinces in the upper north, including Chiang Mai, to prepare their operation centres. This step aims to mitigate air pollution during the forthcoming Songkran festival, which traditionally sees a surge in tourist arrivals

Sort out the burning issue permanently, not cover it up for a few days over Songkran to make some profit.

[soalbundy]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

The deputy prime minister further instructed pertinent state agencies to collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to initiate discussions with neighbouring countries suspected of contributing to the transboundary haze pollution in Thailand.

 

This is such a scandal, this is such a heinous level of deflection on the part of these Thai government creeps who refuse to acknowledge responsibility for the dangerous health hazard facing the nation at this time. This is the worst pollution I've seen in over a decade, and the continuing unwillingness to confront Big Agra (the sugar refiners) and the sugar and corn growers is one of the major factors here.

 

Blame it on forest fires across the border, blame it on whatever you want, most of us know what the truth is and most of us know that you guys are guilty as sin and totally sold out to corporations and Big Agra.

 

I thought Prayuth was compromised, I thought Prayuth was corrupt. Sretta is elevating corruption and compromise to an unheard of level. Lock him up. Punish him. The jig is up as they say. 

 

Temper, temper. I remember, 10 years ago I think, Chiang Mai authorities blaming elevated lung cancer in CM on smoking (as if smoking didn't exist in other provinces) and not field burning......save the tourist numbers. I can also remember reading about air pollution in CM in a travel guide 25 years ago. It's not a new problem and has probably existed for several hundred years or as long as rice has been harvested. What I don't understand is why so little (almost none in my area) field burning takes place in Isaan, I've only witnessed one. My village isn't very far from the Cambodian border and yet we don't suffer from smog due to forest fires.

[rumak]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

I thought Prayuth was compromised, I thought Prayuth was corrupt. Sretta is elevating corruption and compromise to an unheard of level. Lock him up. Punish him. The jig is up as they say. 

 

Its all one big club .............

[spidermike007]

1 hour ago, soalbundy said:

Temper, temper. I remember, 10 years ago I think, Chiang Mai authorities blaming elevated lung cancer in CM on smoking (as if smoking didn't exist in other provinces) and not field burning......save the tourist numbers. I can also remember reading about air pollution in CM in a travel guide 25 years ago. It's not a new problem and has probably existed for several hundred years or as long as rice has been harvested. What I don't understand is why so little (almost none in my area) field burning takes place in Isaan, I've only witnessed one. My village isn't very far from the Cambodian border and yet we don't suffer from smog due to forest fires.

I am a Issan often and I'm constantly witnessing sugar and rice cane fields being burned, and the smoke is horrendous, and it travels for kilometers and kilometers, and fouls the air to no end. It is a crime against the Thai people and the perpetuation of this shows a staggering lack of respect that these farmers have for their neighbors, and the nation. Same applies to the foul sugar refiners. 

[soalbundy]

2 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

I am a Issan often and I'm constantly witnessing sugar and rice cane fields being burned, and the smoke is horrendous, and it travels for kilometers and kilometers, and fouls the air to no end. It is a crime against the Thai people and the perpetuation of this shows a staggering lack of respect that these farmers have for their neighbors, and the nation. Same applies to the foul sugar refiners. 

Well I'm pleased to say that this isn't something that I have witnessed. I have noticed that the steel beams painted light blue that hold up the car porch roof gets a soot like dust film that I clean off once every two years. One has to look at field burning as something that happens once a year as opposed to traffic pollution which is all year round, especially in big cities, it wasn't too long ago, before leaded petrol was banned, that the dust collected on window sills in London contained enough lead as to be of a mine able quality and that had gone on for 60 years. All human activity produces some form of pollution. I'm not saying I agree with field burning but one has to offer farmers (who aren't well off) alternatives, to say, plow the rice stalks into the ground, ignores the fact that plowing is expensive.

[rumeaug]

oh yeah?...161 today in Bangkok currently 15.2 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value

[spidermike007]

The only real solution is to start punishing small farmers and sugar refiners in a meaningful manner. Punish them where it hurts. Big fines, and confiscating their land or refineries, if it is a 3rd offense. This is an emergency. Treat it as such. 

 

Individual fires are usually small and short-lived. But they are often so numerous that smoke, along with air pollution from rural and urban areas, mixes to produce thick layers of haze that blanket the landscape. Such hazes contain mixtures of small airborne particles called aerosols and gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone that degrade air quality and have harmful health effects.

 

Fires, most of them lit intentionally, are a major contributor to the haze. One of the main reasons is agriculture, either to clear forests for planting or to burn post-harvest crop stubble. “Maize, which is primarily used for animal feeds, is the crop burned the most,” said Danny Marks, a Dublin City University geographer. It’s also common for people to start forest fires to aid in the collection of mushrooms and other forest products and to make it easier to hunt game. Subsistence farmers sometimes practice swidden agriculture, a technique that involves periodically cutting down trees and shrubs, letting the wood dry out for a few months, and then burning it to clear space for crops.

 

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/152616/grappling-with-thailands-seasonal-haze

 

 

[Maybole]

Eight hours of moderate rain last night has produce a marked improvement today bu tit may only be temporary.