What is the heavy pollution caused by? Now, if anyone follows the news, they should know that it’s from “burning” Whether burned from natural causes because of the drought of the forest or burning crops to start the planting season. But if you look “hot spot”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wisanu Attawanich, Lecturer of the Faculty of Economics Kasetsart University Research Specialist in Climate Change and Agriculture Updated the situation on March 28 that the toxic dust, a continuing health crisis, PM 2.5 (Group 1 carcinogens) continues to flood the North and South Isan. Thailand moves up to rank 2 in ASEAN! Chiang Rai people with lung damage exceed WHO recommendation value 36 times!!
The value of toxic dust PM 2.5 is at least 33 times higher than the World Health Organization’s 24-hour recommended value in Chiang Rai!! Terrible: 20 times that of Mae Hong Son, 14 times that of Uttaradit, 13 times that of Nan, 10 times that of Lampang, 8 times that of Chiang Mai, and 4 times that of Kamphaeng Phet. (Reported by IQ Air)
The main cause of toxic dust today is from open burning and the continuous low cover phenomenon. Thailand moved up to the second highest burning in ASEAN, overtaking Laos PDR, where burning decreased significantly. The heat points reported by GISTDA found that Thailand had a slight decrease in heat points from 5,572 points (March 26) to 5,396 points (March 27), while Myanmar’s heat points decreased a lot, but Still at a high level from 10,563 points to 6,877 points and Lao PDR dropped a lot from 9,652 points to 4,076 points today. Cambodia burned down a lot from 1,342 to 739.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wisanu told the Thai Rath online news team that approach to solving this problem at this time in this situation If it is a very short-term approach, it is almost non-existent because of solving the dust problem. It takes time to fix…
The case of PM 2.5 dust in Chiang Rai comes from the burning of agricultural crops in the country. and smoke across the border What we should do is to be a good “model” by not burning in the country. “Ask for cooperation” or “force” not to burn, with only 2 forms
ban on burning destroying the way of life But in terms of income, it’s difficult to do. Therefore, what the government should do is Planting forests in the hearts of people The government must do whatever it takes to make him love the area. Participate in solving problems, so what should be done is to provide assistance. conditionally ready to educate Because farming has costs Government must educate provide funds to adapt by having to give continuously for example abroad He will provide 2-3 years of funding to adapt. Then if still burning will begin the arrest process.
“To initiate any measures Must start with softness first. Most of them are planted monocultures. Especially growing corn to feed animals, so what to do is The concept must be changed to Planting economic trees “3 forests, 4 benefits”, usable trees, edible trees, economic trees, in the end, can you find a market? What needs to be done is to make them earn money. If they can, they will stop burning, ”Assoc. Prof. Dr. Witsanu said.
City people pay, villagers take care of clean air, Win-Win style.
Ajarn Wissanu further said that another good idea is “Ecosystem Compensation” normal forest care The villagers have to take care of it. It is considered an “opportunity cost” when the city people benefit. Since the villagers help take care of the forest, therefore, the city people should have to pay the minimum maintenance fee, called “care fee”. In the end, the feedback will be “Win-Win” for both parties, that is, the villagers get paid. City people get good weather. while upstream take care of the forest Whether it’s Costa Rica, Mexico or China, they use this method…
How will you pay like this…? Assoc. Prof. Dr. Witsanu replied that firstly, they paid directly to the villagers. There is then an evaluation and follow-up when the results come out that are indicators. sent direct compensation to the villagers and as long as they still take care of the forest There will be money sent in.
Or it will come in the form of “taxes” where the local budget is small. We came to apply It’s called “transferring” those who benefit to those who lose. There are few economic principles in this story. Who… made him lose his benefits? must make him benefit
Second, for private entrepreneurs can be done, such as environmental damage insurance bonds, for example, a private company can take care of the forest We will have him come to place a “bond” to guarantee. If done without damage You take the bond back. But if you come to do it and cause damage. forest burning It will forfeit bonds and fines. It’s called creating costs and awareness with those involved. called as “Planting Forests in People’s Hearts”
Solving PM 2.5 burning across the country
Regarding the problem with the case of PM 2.5 floating across from neighboring countries, Mr. Wissanu suggested that Thailand must be a big brother in solving the problem.
We must not forget that Thailand have a better level of development than their neighbors, whether Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia, to tell them to stop burning It is impossible. Therefore, what Thailand should do is to offer conditional assistance. Like the European Union or Japan that came to help Thailand, coming to help… nothing is free. Likewise, if we help them stop burning. We have to help with money. If the burn is reduced, we will take the subsidy for 4-5 years continuously until he recovers.
“Help does not only help with money, knowledge and technology have to help them. by having to exchange knowledge between agencies that have done successfully Some ‘knowledge’ Sometimes you can’t think for yourself. But if there is an exchange of knowledge, it will be better. personally believe no one wants to burn But nowadays there is no better alternative. we are big brother we have to do help but before going to help him You have to act like a role model first.”
Another good thing is that if he doesn’t burn, we may buy agricultural materials. Considered to create a market Thailand must take the lead first. What you need to start doing a lot is the trace back system, that is, in the future, it must be identified product Where did it come from? might encounter punishment measures, so if there is one here, it will cause people who want to burn I started to get scared too. having transparent information can handle everything
financial sector banking it is important If this is included will affect credit Can allow you to punish the person who burns, for example, if not burned, may give a low interest rate loan, if burned, may not lend or lend in high interest loans This means not promoting companies that are not environmentally friendly.
The big problem is people’s “awareness”.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wisanu said that what happened at this time considered to be lucky For people in the central region and Bangkok, it has not been hit because there is a sea breeze to help. Chiang Rai, the northern part, is hit hard because the wind blows down Myanmar, while the northeastern region, especially the border seams, is still considered a problem because there are a lot of burning in Laos. The northern region, Chiang Rai, is really unlucky, plus the area is still a basin. the wind blew in The most important thing is awareness. Our house has a lot of problems. because the standard value is different from world health organization The country uses a standard value of 50 micrograms, while the WHO uses 15 micrograms.
Thailand’s numbers are still green or yellow, but if compared to WHO’s, it’s already red. which reflects that little awareness Then compare this number to that Thailand’s “lungs” are 3.5 times stronger than international people, but in the end, when you think about it, you will find that different measurements are 3 times different.
“The government is focused on economic development. I don’t care how sick people are. and just think How to make the standard value slack? for foreigners to invest a lot Because the company is more slack The investment is even cheaper. Asked why he didn’t invest in his own country. because his environment system is very strict Higher operating costs So he chose an industry that has a lot of pollution. come to invest in Thailand and Thailand embraces it because we want employment, this is the picture that happens We have to change the context. With sustainable economic development, it is now the world’s 25th largest GDP, but environmentally has declined to 78th place to 108th place.
“We talk about the BCG economic model, but what foreign countries assess about the environment is backwards. So I don’t know how it’s sustainable.”
Now it’s entering the drought from “El Niño”, how will it affect the dust problem? A professor specializing in climate change admits it is worrying and needs to be watched. Possible climate variability
Thai people have to endure the dust. It will be heavy until the end of the month!
“The problem of dust It should be long until the end of April for sure. Because from checking the weather, there will be less rain and the weather will be hotter. There is a chance of a forest fire, it is expected that at the end of April it may gradually improve, but during this period until the end of April it will be very serious because the reality is Who can burn? Some people close one eye to burn.
In fact, we have been talking about organizing burning for a very long time. because of nature Has the ability to cope with protection because the trees can’t absorb it in time In foreign countries, there is an organized burning If anyone wants to burn The request must be sent to the central such as the Department of Meteorology, Department of Pollution Control. He will consider whether the open air is suitable for burning or not, how much it can be burned and how many acres per burning. so that the pollution is not too high
“Burn people must go through training. Not just anyone can burn it. This can be done in the short term. But…in the end, we will come back to talk about the same issue, that is, no one has the absolute power to oversee and order, the important thing is structural problems. Often no one dares to touch because Thailand no absolute power Just problems across ministries are over. We never had a clean air law. Public participation Successful practice abroad we never used It is only used to ask for cooperation with force.”
In 2019, we had a national dust agenda, but in the past 4 years we still haven’t had anything happen. I don’t understand what we’re doing in 3-4 years. sincerity in solving problems I don’t know if there is or not and the more delayed The cost of health of Thai people will continue to deteriorate. What the public benefits instead let it be postponed, for example, the car standard from Euro 4 to Euro 5 from the original year 2021, we postponed to 2024, all plans have been postponed. but public health It’s a bad disease…who is responsible?
Thai Rath online news team reported
read interesting articles
