Fire and smog control in Chang Mai
A new center has been opened in Chiang Mai to fight fires and smog development from there. The center aims to tackle the forest fires and fires in the natural parks. In addition, the center wants cooperation at various levels and stakeholders, such as villages, districts and the province.
Forest fires such as fires in the agricultural sector are the cause of the annual smoke and smog nuisance that plague the north. The new center in Chiang Mai was opened by Governor Putthipong Sirimart and aims to promote cooperation at various administrative levels.
The provincial government has two proposals to prevent the fires; one of them is to deal more strictly with violations after February 20, 2017. A fine of 150.000 Baht and a prison sentence of 15 years await violators. Last year, 18 people were already arrested in Chiang Mai. It is now being made clear to all parties involved that stricter supervision will take place and that no more exceptions will be tolerated.
Between February 20 and April 20, 2017, there is a general ban on burning pieces of nature or agricultural waste. There will be a meeting about this every Tuesday in the center. If necessary, an exception can be made under strict conditions.
Hopefully, neighboring countries will also come up with measures to tackle this problem. Although this measure is a good starting point.
Source: Pattaya Mail
18 out of 180.000 is a nice start. Cycling along a stretch of highway today, we see pieces of roadside burned down, probably by provincial authorities. Also on rice fields many clumsily burnt pieces that in total, irregularly, comprise no more than 20% of the area. Seems more like some kind of ritual than meaningful. In any case, the smog is legal because before February 20. Tuk tuks and songthaws legally discharge tons of smog all year round. After all, they have been approved again (after issuing a few hundred baht) they simply go to the official checkpoints where the relevant officials approve them again, even if they are hardly visible when driving away because of the blue fumes. Go to Malaysia once and you can see that it is possible to have clean traffic. Enforcement is not the strongest pint of the Thai.
Since 1 month I live with my new girlfriend, the principal of the local school who has an Organic Tea Plantation of 60 Rai on a hill 5 km outside the village. I live with her in the middle of nature with a view of tens of kilometers away. Every day I see plumes of smoke from fires everywhere and it hurts me. There are days when it smells wonderful and there are days when the smell of smoke from all the fires reaches the mountain. It is customary everywhere here that the rice fields are burned clean after the harvest. I also often hear wood being cut from directions where it is untouched nature. It is said that there is a lot of illegal felling because it is impossible for the police to carry out checks a few km from the main roads. So you can just go ahead. Last year there was a very fierce forest fire close to the house where I now live in Ban Rai, 67 km from Chiangsean, 115 km north of Chiangrai at the Golden triangle. It was thanks to the local population and a road that the fire was brought under control. I've seen an old fire truck here and a tank truck that has to supply the fire extinguishing water. They come up the slopes of the main road with great difficulty, let alone when they have to go 'off the road'. The fire department is pitifully ill-equipped. The conclusion is that the protection of nature is Nil, worthless!
Given the annual nuisance, which also has negative effects on health, the fact that this problem is being tackled more strictly is certainly not before its time. Only that these measures apply between the time of February 20 and April 20, 2017, means that anyone with burning before or after this date actually has nothing to fear. A general ban, in agreement also with neighboring countries, in which it is made clear what harmful consequences this also entails for the population, would certainly be appropriate for the future.
I'm curious about that ban and if it works. A reason for me not to visit the Isan, or as little as possible (my in-laws live there) are asthma attacks, which I strongly suspect are caused by the large amount of particulate matter that is released by the many fire distilleries there. The burning of the sugar cane fields is an important cause of this. They seem to have such a pyromaniac passion for lighting a fire. There is always something burning. The reason I suspect that it is due to the particulate matter is that there are actually very few flowers further in the dry season, so that cannot be the cause. I recently read how harmful the particulate matter from combustion of woody, vegetable products is. In the Netherlands, people are now even protesting against the many wood-burning stoves. For my health and the fresh air I don't go to the Isan. Then to the sea. In the Isan I am busy all day with medicine inhalers. In the Netherlands I don't need any asthma medication at all. Long live the ban. But then actually do it. And preferably all year round. Like everything else, of course, nothing will end up there.