BANGKOK: Sonthi Kotchawat, an environmental and health expert with the Thai Environmental Scholars Association, posted on Facebook:
"China declares victory in the PM2.5 dust war with the 'Blue Skies by 2025' policy. How did they do it? Meanwhile, Thailand remains at the same point.
“China began its national action plan to tackle air pollution, especially PM2.5 dust, in 2013.”
1. The policy involves closing, upgrading, and relocating fossil-fuel-based factories from the capital.
2. The government established an environmental-protection police unit to strictly enforce air-pollution laws.
3. Beijing implemented a policy to replace over 70,000 old taxis with electric ones and converted diesel and gas buses to electric vehicles. The government also produced affordable electric cars for personal use.
4. The green spaces in Beijing were increased to cover 50% of the city's area. Strict enforcement of laws against illegal outdoor burning in all areas, including agricultural land. Outdoor grilling is banned, and forest burning is punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
5. Raising awareness and establishing regulations for the public, especially factory operators and individuals involved in illegal outdoor burning. Afterwards, strict law enforcement is applied.
“As for Thailand, the burning of rice stubble, sugarcane fields, hunting fires, diesel vehicles emitting black smoke, outdoor grilling with thick smoke, factories in urban areas near communities, garbage fires at mountains of waste, cross-border and cross-provincial dust, etc are normal occurrences.
“Thailand... has the problem not been solved, or is there no intent to solve it?
“It becomes an event... after the dust clears, we forget, and when the dust comes back, we talk again... this cycle has continued for nearly 10 years.” - The Nation/ANN
