Environment and natural resources
Battle against forest fires continues as pollution levels rise
Residents in many parts of the upper northern Thailand continued to suffer dangerous levels of air pollution on Thursday, while officials and volunteers battled forest fires.Keep reading ...
The Nation Reporter
Northern fires killing off wildlife, protected plants
Beyond the harm done to human health by the North’s smouldering blanket of forest fires, concern has arisen for wildlife and rare plants on the slopes of Doi Luang Chiang Dao in Chiang Mai. The mountain is protected as the only locale in Thailand where “sub-alpine ...
Sakaorat Sirima
Wildfires Turn Thailand’s Air Into the Planet's Most Toxic
Top Asian finance ministers and central bankers are due to have a summit in northern Thailand this week, and they’ll need pollution masks if they want to avoid breathing toxic air.Wildfires and crop burning are blanketing the region with smog, prompting Thailand’s junta leader Prayuth ...
Enough water but use wisely: irrigation chief
Chief of the Royal Irrigation Department (RID), Thongplew Kongchan, said yesterday that areas under the RID irrigated zones will not run short of water despite the El Nino effect, which is expected to prolong the dry season. “The water we currently have is sufficient for ...
The Nation Reporter
Toxic dust levels continue to plague 8 northern provinces
Unhealthy smog levels continue to plague eight northern provinces, with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha due to discuss the crisis with provincial governors in Chiang Mai on Tuesday.Chayapol Thitisak, director-general of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, said on Monday that hazardous levels of fine ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
No shortage despite El Nino, RID assures
The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) on Monday assured that areas served by its network of irrigation canals will not experience water shortages, after forecasts predicted that this year’s summer will be longer and drier because of the El Nino weather anomaly. Keep reading ...
Bangkok Post Reporter
Fisheries Dept bans fishing in Andaman Sea
The Department of Fisheries has banned fishing in the Andaman Sea off four coastal provinces for three months to allow marine creatures to breed and the ecosystem to rehabilitate.The Director-General of the Department of Fisheries, Dr. Adisorn Promthep, said the fishing ban, covering 4,696 square ...
Where the smoke is coming from
The haze is coming mainly from forest fires and farm-clearing fires raging across the North as well as in neighbouring countries.Satellite images show 1,151 fire hotspots in the North, mostly in forests.Most are in Mae Hong Son, with 407, while Chiang Mai has 193, Chiang ...
The Nation Reporter
Cooperation vital to end haze crisis
More than a decade after fine dust particles known as PM2.5 emerged as a health threat in Chiang Mai, the province has started to embrace a new approach that opens the doors to cooperation between state and civic sectors to tackle the problem. Keep reading ...
REPORT: Sustainable solution sought to human-elephant conflict
Fah Sai was only a month old when veterinarians from the National Parks Department found her trapped in a snare set on the edge of the Ang Rue Nai wildlife sanctuary in Rayong province in mid December.Keep reading ...
Piyaporn Wongruang