Environment and natural resources

Fish writhe frantically in the shallow pool, as their schoolmates stranded on the exposed sandbar breathe their last. It is November, the end of the monsoon season, yet the water in the Mekong river is perilously low. On this stretch, in north-eastern Thailand, the bank ...

May 10 has been declared National Mangrove Forest Day and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) has been preparing to nominate Ranong’s mangrove forest area natural world heritage status.Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said that the Cabinet has designated May 10 ...

Thailand began the year with a ban on single-use plastic bags that Bangkok office worker Nicha Singhanoi hoped would cut back the waste that puts her country among the world’s top five choking the oceans with plastic.Then the coronavirus pandemic forced school closures and authorities ...

Thailand may not encounter a severe drought this year as earlier expected, thanks to the influence of the La Nina phenomenon, but careful water usage is still needed especially among rice farmers who have been told to wait for the right time to start farming.“The ...

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), in partnership with the Government of Japan, today launched a new project which aims to reduce the environmental impact of cities in South East Asia by addressing plastic waste pollution in rivers ...

Analysis of air quality in Bangkok since the Thai government began enforcing strict social isolation measures has found significant drop in dangerous pollution levels of more than 20 per cent, as compared with the same time last year.The average levels of PM2.5 – tiny atmospheric ...

The Royal Forest Department (RFD) is making preparations to recover the recently burned down forested areas in Thailand’s North, the department’s director-general Attaphon Charoenchansa said.Attaphon added that he has instructed RFD officials to check the damaged areas and prohibited locals from invading the forest for ...

Conservationists are demanding an end to the wildlife trade to stamp out the root cause of zoonotic outbreaks such as the coronavirus pandemic, which likely originated at a wet market in Wuhan, China and has infected more than 2,800 people in Thailand.Speaking at the Foreign ...

Single-use plastic is making a comeback, as Thais order takeout and delivery in soaring volumes because of the pandemic.This was supposed to be the year Thailand started to phase out single-use plastic bags, in line with the government’s plastic waste reduction roadmap. At the start ...

Thailand’s Environment Institute (TEI) is raising awareness over contaminated plastics and medical waste accumulating daily. The Institute estimates that the amount of used surgical masks nearly reaches 1 million pieces a day.TEI president Wijarn Simachaya said the Covid-19 coronavirus disease not only harms public health ...