Environment and land
Drought continues to hit Mekong countries, risking stress on crop production, water shortages
Severe to extreme drought is expected to hit countries in the lower Mekong basin from now until January 2020, warns the Mekong River Commission. Thailand and Cambodia would be hardest hit compared to Lao PDR and Viet Nam. Preliminary analysis of MRC’s data has shown that ...
Checklist to replace EIA for seawalls
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will use a “preliminary environmental checklist” to review proposals about the construction of seawalls to prevent coastal erosion.The checklist will be designed in such a way that clearly outlines major environmental concerns which applicants need to address in ...
Apinya Wipatayotin
Rules for handling hazardous substances posted in Government Gazette
The government gazette official website announced on November 18 the order by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) concerning the procedures for handling hazardous substances type 4, the responsibility for which falls under DOA according to Articles 41, 43 and 52 of the Hazardous Substance Act ...
The Nation Reporter
Bangkok ranks 12th on list of cities with the worst air
The Air Visual application reported on Tuesday (November 19) that Bangkok’s air pollution level according to the US AQI standard stood at 136, with PM 2.5 level at 57.8 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3), making it the 12th on the list of cities with the ...
The Nation Reporter
ONWR seeks measures for dry season
A national water management panel wants the Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives Ministry to draw up measures to accommodate the annual rice crop without affecting the water disbursement plan for the 2019-2020 dry season.Somkiat Prajamwong, chief of the Office of National Water Resources (ONWR), said the ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
The pollution paralysis: Thailand's structural inability to clean up its air
Air pollution has blanketed Bangkok and most of Thailand again this month. As expected, the government has responded with the usual raft of contingency measures, but nothing to address the problem at its root.The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration’s prototype air purifier which was installed in the ...
Supita Roengjit
Land plan will leave farmers 'in limbo'
The government’s commodification of rural land will exacerbate the plight of farmers and create an “agricultural proletariat” in the name of development, a forum was warned on Saturday.Attachak Satayanuruk, a Chiang Mai University history lecturer, expressed concern over government policies to transform rural land into ...
Thana Boonlert
UN Urges Southeast Asian Countries to Get Tough on Plastic Pollution
Southeast Asian countries, among the world’s worst ocean polluters, need tougher regulations for plastic packaging to curb leakage, a UN report said on Wednesday.Southeast Asia is a major contributor to land-based plastic waste leaking into the world’s oceans, with more than half of it coming ...
Govt eyes Big Data centres to improve farm produce
Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said this week the Commerce Ministry he runs and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives had discussed creating Big Data centres to manage supply and demand in agricultural products at the national, provincial and regional levels.“My ministry has assigned the ...
The Nation Reporter
Thai fishing industry makes headway, but challenges remain
In October, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced the suspension of preferential trade policies for Thailand under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which will affect over 500 products, including all of those related to the Thai seafood industry.The reason cited for ...
Deutsche Welle
