Representatives of civic groups in Thailand’s Chiang Mai province filed class action lawsuits with the Provincial Administrative Court today (Monday) against Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the National Environment Board (NEB) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for their alleged failure to enforce the laws to tackle PM2.5 pollution, which has been threatening the livelihoods and health of the people in northern provinces.

Sumitchai Hatthasan, director of the Centre for the Protection and Revival of Local Community Rights, said that Section 9 of the Enhancement and Conservation of the National Environmental Quality Act gives full power to the prime minister to solve environmental problems, but he has never invoked this law.

Dr. Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, an oncology specialist at the Faculty of Medicines of Chiang Mai University, said that people in Chiang Mai have been living with PM2.5 dust levels of over 50 microns for a long time and are at risk of suffering from epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) positive lung cancer, heart diseases and stroke.

“We want to see changes in the government’s policy and determination to protect the people in general, instead of the industries,” said Dr. Rungsrit.

Chatchawan Thongdeelert, of Chiang Mai Breathe Council, said that people in the province have to live with the PM2.5 pollution, which is getting worse every year, adding that the government must have both long and short-term measures to deal with the problems caused by forest and maize waste fires.

The groups read a statement about the air pollution in northern provinces and the health impacts it has which, they claim, have affected more than two million people this year.

The regulators, said the group, have the duty, including extraterritorial obligations, to set rules and conditions regarding the filing of reports on encompassing information in a “56-1 One Report” about supply chain, concerning the sources of transboundary PM2.5 pollution.