National—
At 1:30 PM, on December 19th, 2023, Mr. Chai Watcharong, the Thai Government spokesman, publicly revealed after the cabinet meeting that the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment proposed measures to solve the problem of PM 2.5 in 2024.
According to a report by the Government spokesman, the ongoing PM 2.5 smoke problems have become intense at an alarming rate as Thailand faces the El Niño phenomenon, and smoke from wildfires, traffic, and industrial factories.
Therefore, the measures to solve the problem of PM 2.5 were proposed as a national interest, especially in 17 provinces in north Thailand, and the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, said the Government spokesman.
Furthermore, for alert areas such as protected forests, national forest reserves, and agricultural areas with records of repetitive man-made burning, the law would be amended and improved to solve obstacles with cooperation from the private sector to reduce costs. The Thai government would raise up issues and present the measures from the ASEAN level to the bilateral level, said the Government spokesman.
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) would be appointed to the Governors of 17 northern provinces by reducing the burning in protected forests, national forest reserves, and agricultural areas by 50% and other provinces by 20%. Meanwhile, the KPI for toxic smoke level aims to reduce it by 40% in northern provinces and 20% in Bangkok. The KPI for the number of days when smoke particles exceeds the Thai safe standard aims to be reduced by 30% in northern provinces and 5% in Bangkok, remarked the Government spokesman.
Additionally, other measures are being considered such as implementing operations centers to inspect the burning activities without permission, and measures to encourage the private sector as an incentive to have special tax privileges and interest subsidies, concluded the Government spokesman.
