PM flies to Chiang Mai to resolve forest fire problems

[CMfoodie]

At least she has her priorities in place....

CHIANG MAI 27 February 2014 (NNT) — Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has traveled to Chiang Mai to assess the problem of forest fires and haze in the province; whereas a representative has been sent in her place to acknowledge charges by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC).

Ms Yingluck, as both Prime Minister and Defense Minister traveled from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai province, in order to oversee the latest moves to resolve the enduring problem of haze resulting from forest fires in the northern region.

Apart from Chiang Mai officials, a crowd of local residents came out to show their support and welcome the prime minister at Chiang Mai’s International Convention and Exhibition Center — in particular supporters of the Thai Women's Empowerment Fund.

In regard to the alleged case against the premier of dereliction of duty in the rice pledging scheme, Ms. Yingluck sent Mr. Pichit Chuenban, a member of the Pheu Thai legal team, to acknowledge the case brought against her by the NACC.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/centerweb/newsen/NewsDetail?NT01_NewsID=WNPOL5702270010008

[HooHaa]

my my she is a busy thing.

no sitting around and twiddling her thumbs for khun pu.

i just love watching her get things done.

i wonder whats next on her agenda, mayhap she will tackle the unrest in the south or claim back a khmer temple for the thai people

Edited February 27, 2014 by HooHaa

[Showbags]

Hope she fixes it as good as everything else....

'Bro...how do I get the smoke away'

[kaptainrob]

All smoke and mirrors ... wonder what the true purpose [and secret meetings] entailed.

[northernjohn]

All smoke and mirrors ... wonder what the true purpose [and secret meetings] entailed.

Possibly looking for a place to train the 600,000 recruits her red shirt contingent is talking about setting up to protect her from the big bad wolf Justice.

[eyecatcher]

I would imagine she needs a holiday from that hotbed of ashes in Bkk.

Credit to her, but most high profile figures would have resigned long before now with all the stress on them.

Would be nice to see her in a beer bar, drunk and saying what she really thinks.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I'd buy her a drink anytime.

And it is actually good to keep the seasonal haze issue on the agenda. What I'm noticing this year is that officials (not just this visit) are paying attention to it *before* it actually kicks off, not a week or two after.

Either way it's much more fruitful a cause than the silliness in Bangkok.

So good work!

Edited February 28, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[khwaibah]

I'd buy her a drink anytime.

And it is actually good to keep the seasonal haze issue on the agenda. What I'm noticing this year is that officials (not just this visit) are paying attention to it *before* it actually kicks off, not a week or two after.

Either way it's much more fruitful a cause than the silliness in Bangkok.

So good work!

Somebody need to get other countries involved as Thailand is a contributor to this but are not the major cause of it.

Real Time Photo. Red is Fires.

[northernjohn]

I'd buy her a drink anytime.

And it is actually good to keep the seasonal haze issue on the agenda. What I'm noticing this year is that officials (not just this visit) are paying attention to it *before* it actually kicks off, not a week or two after.

Either way it's much more fruitful a cause than the silliness in Bangkok.

So good work!

Well it may be more fruitful than the silliness in Bangkok but that will end and with Yingluck on the job here are problem won't end. Could get worse she might turn it over to Chalerm.

Remember the time she was here and going to have every thing reforested in three months. Did you buy her a drink before or after that statement?

This time make it a double one for her and one for Chalerm her trusty right arm.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Somebody need to get other countries involved as Thailand is a contributor to this but are not the major cause of it.

Real Time Photo. Red is Fires.

I'm actually wondering if it is fully established that local (Thailand/Burma) fires are the major factor? We see it change for the worse almost from one day to the next with a change in weather / prevailing wind directions in Feb/March. Seeing that China is having incredible smog issues the same time, I'm wondering if it isn't a case of all that crap moving South due to weather patterns in March and worsening local burning conditions.

On he other hand we see places like Lampang being hit before Chiang Mai gets hit so that might point to causes more close to the region, not China.

[khwaibah]

Somebody need to get other countries involved as Thailand is a contributor to this but are not the major cause of it.

Real Time Photo. Red is Fires.

I'm actually wondering if it is fully established that local (Thailand/Burma) fires are the major factor? We see it change for the worse almost from one day to the next with a change in weather / prevailing wind directions in Feb/March. Seeing that China is having incredible smog issues the same time, I'm wondering if it isn't a case of all that crap moving South due to weather patterns in March and worsening local burning conditions.

On he other hand we see places like Lampang being hit before Chiang Mai gets hit so that might point to causes more close to the region, not China.

You left out Lao, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. This is time of year that all these countries are into slash an burn and Chiang Mai by its geographical location gets the shyt from all of these. An esteemed poster on the forum showed some photos from the 1970's of this time of year with the same air quality. This is not a new development but on going history

[wolfmuc]

Somebody need to get other countries involved as Thailand is a contributor to this but are not the major cause of it.

Real Time Photo. Red is Fires.

I'm actually wondering if it is fully established that local (Thailand/Burma) fires are the major factor? We see it change for the worse almost from one day to the next with a change in weather / prevailing wind directions in Feb/March. Seeing that China is having incredible smog issues the same time, I'm wondering if it isn't a case of all that crap moving South due to weather patterns in March and worsening local burning conditions.

On he other hand we see places like Lampang being hit before Chiang Mai gets hit so that might point to causes more close to the region, not China.

I have the same thoughts about smog drifting from China. Would be nice to ask a specialist. -

And yes, there will be many reasons for our situation, even if it might be completely different in

CR, CM, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Phayao, Nan or Phrae.

Over the last weeks I noticed not only an huge amount of Cambodian fires, but there were a lot of

places in Isaan too where people started burning as usual. Very bad.

And some more thoughts @kwaibah:

'This is not a new development but on going history.' -

You're absolutely right concerning the fact there is slash and burn and so on all the time.

But obviously the current situation is a quantity problem. A big one.

'...some photos from the 1970's of this time of year with the same air quality' -

Can't believe we might recognice the air quality through any photo. (?)

Btw, in our little village and surroundings north of Phrae this burning is 'forbidden'.

I don't know who had the idea but it seems to work. In the last weeks I only once

noticed smoke far away. - But the horizon all around is grey, especially in the east.

[Kentish]

Needs a leaf sucking truck and mulching machine to traverse the county... bahts per kg

[heybruce]

I'd buy her a drink anytime.

And it is actually good to keep the seasonal haze issue on the agenda. What I'm noticing this year is that officials (not just this visit) are paying attention to it *before* it actually kicks off, not a week or two after.

Either way it's much more fruitful a cause than the silliness in Bangkok.

So good work!

Somebody need to get other countries involved as Thailand is a contributor to this but are not the major cause of it.

Real Time Photo. Red is Fires.

It looks like Thailand has its share of the fires, and Thailand can't credibly condemn other countries burning when it's doing a great deal of burning as well.

Not that I'm expecting any serious effort to control the problem from any of the guilty parties. Get your filter masks ready, the sky is turning grey and the mountains are fading into the haze again.

[Ricardo]

When I drive through a landcsape where the hillsides are ablaze, as I did South of Lampang last late-March, I find it hard to believe that the dense clouds of smoke are unrelated & just drifted across the border, however convenient an excuse that might be for some authorities.

They burned the roadside leaf-litter in our village last night, it was a very smoky smelly evening at home, the two are clearly related.

Reducing widespread local-burning must surely help the local air-quality, restricting it to the end of the dry-season might also help, if it really is a necessary measure to clean the rice-fields & clear the undergrowth in the forests, as I'm sometimes told ?

Roll-on the monsoon !