Concerns with the Thai government about high concentrations of particulate matter in the country
Acting government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri has said that Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is concerned about the smoke and forest fires in northern Thailand because the fine dust particles in the air (PM2.5) are very dangerous to people's health.
Due to the drought, wildfires and tree felling, there is a serious problem with wildfires in many areas. The smoke from these fires spreads and contains harmful particles that can harm people's health.
The Prime Minister has instructed all agencies to consult and consider what they can do to prevent the bushfires from getting worse. They need to look at the situation from different perspectives to avoid damaging the environment, agricultural areas and people's property, and to prevent further PM2.5 from being released into the air.
The Prime Minister has said that everything must be done to contain the fires. The rule is that nothing can be burned (of any kind) for 90 days between February 1 and April 30, 2023. If people break this rule, they will be punished. The authorities must also inform the public about this rule. If the situation does not improve, the measures must be tightened.
Source: Government House
Image: WEVO
I'm curious whether the PM's call will do anything. My wife bought a PM2,5 meter from HomePro. She previously carefully monitored the PM values via Accuweather and AirIQ. The PM is talking about February 1 as the effective date of a complete ban on burning anything. In any case, that call/ban did not quite get through in Chiangmai. At construction sites, excess packaging, plastics and wood scraps + miscellaneous items are set on fire at the end of the day. The population itself happily sets fire to its waste. There were forest fires last Tuesday-Wednesday. https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/air-pollution/parks-and-sanctuaries-closed-by-fire-in-n-thailand The city of Chiangmai is testing a "vacuum cleaner". https://thethaiger.com/news/national/chiang-mai-tackles-pm2-5-pollution-with-giant-vacuum-cleaner
In short: my wife says that normally outside the PM2.5 indicates a value of 35 to 45. Good, so. But during the forest fires the meter turned completely red like a railway flashing light: 225!!
We stayed inside.
That guy and his coupcronies have 9! had years to act against this problem that has been known for decades and only now is he worried about it at the last minute and thinks he is making a good impression by instructing all authorities to think about possible solutions. So nothing will happen this year either, because there is a structural lack of enforcement and in a few months the worst air pollution will be over and you won't hear anything about it until next year the PM2.5 values rise to the sky again.
You can clearly see where his priorities have not been in the past 9 years.
And @Grumpy,
PM2.5 values of 35 to 45 are also unhealthy high according to the WHO standard (PM2.5 = 25).
Name me a place in the world, but let's stick to Thailand, where WHO values are standard? In Chiangmai where Doi Suthep is often hidden from view, 35 to 45 is very neat. We haven't talked about healthy for a long time.
The EU for example Grumpy. How many countries is that again?
https://www.transportpolicy.net/standard/eu-air-quality-standards/
The European Commission wants to introduce lower limit values by 2030.
https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-tighter-eu-air-quality-rules-pollution-who/
@Co,
The WHO can only advise. She has no power to enforce her standards.
I am surprised that the WHO is not even going to intervene in this. You could boycott Thailand with the import and export of products and see how quickly they can find a solution.
Take steps to prevent it from getting worse?
They don't want to understand.
I would say. Take real measures to drastically reduce particulate matter. But that will be sensitive. Too many interests with the voters and the big corporations like CP.
It remains a wash. Like so much in Thailand, it is not the rules / laws, but more the enforcement.
Until 2018 I spent a lot of time in Portugal. After all the forest fire misery over the years, they have a strict policy just like the one described here. Even trees close to the houses should be removed and low-hanging branches should also be removed. They certainly know enforcement well.
When I look left and right around me, sugar fields are being set on fire one after the other and you have to see what comes whirling from the sky. Nobody is doing anything about this and the population is either ignorant or not interested. Looks like the government isn't going to fine itself.
Burning rice straw in particular after harvesting is the main cause, burning sugar cane leaves before harvesting is also a cause; this is done to prevent injuries from the sharp blades. There is an official ban, but who cares about that in the countryside?
For the first time, there is now a solution that has been developed in the USA (California) by a large rice farmer and will soon also be installed in the Philippines.
The rice straw is not plowed under (methane causes damage to the ozone layer) or burned, but processed into MDF plates on the same machines as on which MDF is now made with wood chips, only a few parameters such as pressure and chemicals are adjusted, but the result is even better than with wood chips (official figures have been published). So no more the typical Thai MDF that falls apart when you look at it.
Recently, a German-made factory was started up in Thailand that works with wood chips made of rubber wood and can be adapted in this way. Kitchen cabinets and wall furniture are made from this.
Such a factory provides 130 permanent jobs and 300 temporary ones, plus supply lines with trucks, so a number of rice farmers from the area can leave their hammocks in the cupboard after the harvest and earn money.
Many factories can be set up in Thailand due to the gigantic rice production and also make a profit because that is what it is all about in the end. The financial picture looks healthy for those factories.
The US factory produces 35 truckloads of MDF boards per day!!!
The great thing is that trees no longer have to be cut down to supply wood chips, but then we will get the tree mafia after us again. Who has the biggest interests and connections in and with Prayut's gang? Too bad for the police who can no longer pick up a bag of rice or a brown envelope from the offenders.
Sugarcane leaves can also be processed, but without first setting on fire.
If you want to know more about it, you can message me through the editors.
Thick
Always check Air visual, there are more and safe mode may differ from that, I think.
Consider yourself less than 50 as normal here in Korat, are now sitting at 78 us aqi out of town.
You better not come down town now
Not only the farmers have a serious percentage in this problem.
Industries also have a solid share and the private citizen or a 4×4 is a must, even if you don't have a lot of money left for the rest.
You drop what you no longer need and set it on fire once a week, although there will be some improvement with obligations.
Prayut could shout it from the rooftops and oblige, but most citizens will do nothing more than shrug their shoulders.
Also with a next PM or the previous one.
It is often mirror mirror on the wall.
The mention of Dick41 is great news if people are going to use it, although sooner or later that material will also be on the fire again of course.
For the time being it would be the most successful solution, although I see a problem who oh who removes that stuff from the field, the farmer will have little appetite for it, more work and expenses with the 'hand' is not an option.
Everyone a little more money for their product with a cleaner world would be great.
Unfortunately, it must be noted that the 'Thai' with its mentality regarding this problem is rather self-centered and therefore does not care about legislation and the 'neighbors'.
In addition, private payments to look the other way are not entirely strange in this country.
Willem Korat
The reprocessing of rice straw mentioned by me generates money, also for the farmers.
The rice field behind my house in Chiang Mai is now harvested with a combine and the straw is bundled. This could then be collected or delivered to the factory for a fee, while as mentioned, permanent employment is generated for approximately 130 people and for 300 seasonal workers. This means that they do not have to go to Bangkok to earn extra money outside the rice season.
The rubber tree or eucalyptus planters also receive payment for the wood supplied to the factory that now makes MDF from it. The sun rises for nothing is the old saying.
Thick
Thick
Everything well meant with a little negative undertone in my handling.
The point is that in Thailand everyone wants to empty the rice fields and those combine machines are limited.
Often too expensive for many say very many rice farmers.
Contractors, as she used to call it in the Netherlands, also worked 24/6 at certain times of the year and even then a lot was left behind.
I don't see that happening here in Thailand with these kinds of constructions.
If not, I'd like to hear about it.
Have placed a link as one of the many for information about that MDF.
https://bit.ly/3KvXTSi
The editors do not pass on email addresses dear Dick41.
You must include a contact option in your message.
Nice innovation to process rice straw and sugar cane leaves in sheet material. In my opinion, the air pollution in Thailand during these months is mainly caused by the burning of these two crop residues.
Are you sure that the rice straw is made of Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) and not chipboard? I also call MDF dust wood, because it is made with very short fibers, and I call chipboard pruthout, because it is made with wood chips (prude).
I would like to know more about this: [email protected]
And Thai are going to do this….don't believe it.
Here in Lampang we almost died from the smog, several places were lit in the night.
The past few days, barely 100m visibility. Your eyes pecked at the smog… breathing was pure burning air. Fortunately it rained for a few days. But now it starts again , and afraid they are ! As long as the corruption persists, things will never improve ... an Aussie who fights the fires has been banned by the governor from entering the forests ... he took the initiative with Thai volunteers to fight the fires .... The governor claimed!! That he started the fires…. Now there are more than before…r
I am staying in Phayao again in March this year for the first time in years and I can remember the last time I had a sore throat for weeks from the constant burning smell, which came from the burning of rice stubble but also from forest fires from far away. area up to Burma. Fortunately, I have very healthy lungs, but if you are even slightly asthmatic, then it is really no hardening. I can only hope that things are a little better now.
Our neighbors don't seem to know the law, or don't care
Many Thai people are only interested in their own family and don't care about the rest.
Only when it generates money will people be willing to take action.
Of course people want to do something, when their name is mentioned somewhere for everyone to see, preferably with mention of the donated amount.
Corruption is seen as a favor and therefore combating air pollution will do nothing.
Certainly not when this is a regulation that comes from Bangkok and the farmers in isaan have to follow it.
My mother-in-law also burned the garbage even though I had brought a wheelie bin from the Netherlands. What now appears after some inquiries... If you want your household waste to be collected, you must report this to the municipality and pay a (small) amount per year
If this were promoted by the municipalities and collected for free, much less would probably be burned
Types of clicks are simply for sale here. I bought one myself from GlobalHouse.
And in the Netherlands you also have to pay for collecting household waste via the municipal tax.
It is much more a matter of attitude and awareness (of consequences) than of money.
Dear Josh
They promote it quite well here in Korat.
It also costs almost nothing here twice a week for 20 baht a month.
Big blue barrel through that club, buying garbage bags is of course crazy for many Thais.
Have another converted tire.
Pity those men, garbage farmers, really.
It is clear that the leadership of the city, village, hamlet can exert a little more pressure, but here too you are often chosen via votes or promotional flaps, so yes, not always handy.
By the way, you have to pay directly to the garbage collectors.
This is a problem that Thailand can never solve alone, now they can start themselves and there is still a lot to do there… for example in Nan last week you saw fires lit everywhere in the evening when it got almost dark… But one has to tackling this problem through ASEAN if you drive around Cambodia now it just burns everywhere, same in Laos and probably also in Myanmar. And the pollution just blows over and then hangs in the valleys or above cities because there is no wind circulation…
I have regularly experienced it on my bike rides through the area that people throw garbage from a pick-up into a ditch along the roadside.
There is no garbage collection service in our village and you can do 3 things: use it to fill a dug hole, burn it yourself (in periods when it is not allowed, just at dusk), or take it with you and drop it off at places where the garbage truck does pass . In the latter case, you must ask permission from the person who paid for that collection service, in practice in our case it is a store where we are regular customers.
We hope to avoid the so-called "Burning Season", the 3 months when many fields in the North and the adjacent border areas are burned, in our house in Chiang Rai as much as possible.
Usually we are not present in the North during the first 3 months of the year, or we deliberately visit another part of Thailand.
Unfortunately, in 2019 we had opted for Pattaya on our flight for this unhealthy air, where it was just as miserable in the middle of January.
Every afternoon the sun disappeared behind a thick smog, of which a few Thai ladies told every time that rain would definitely come.
Although my neck was already starting to scratch from the extremely sharp burning smell, and soot particles were also swirling down, they continued to insist that these clouds (smog) could only mean an upcoming rain.
Many do not understand it at all, let alone know how harmful it can be to human health.
Even farang who draw your attention to the fact that you can look on your smartphone almost in time, how (Very Unhealthy) the sky is at the moment, remain stupid because it concerns their beloved Thailand where everything is better anyway according to them. that everything is still fine.