Environmental news from Thailand — climate, air quality, conservation and sustainability, in English from Thai PBS World.
The Living River Siam Association (LRS) and local fishermen in Chiang Saen district, of the northern province of Chiang Rai, are urging authorities to investigate whether skin diseases, found in several species of fish caught in the Kok River, are related to the arsenic and other heavy metals detected in the water.
Many venders selling food and drinks to tourists from their rafts on the Kok River, in Chiang Rai’s Muang district, are complaining that they barely had any customers over the Songkran break, which they blame on contamination of the river with arsenic and other heavy metals, discharged by upstream gold mining activities in the Shan state of Myanmar.
The governor of Chiang Rai province has ordered officials at the provincial natural resources and environment office to take water samples from the Kok River, for testing for traces of cyanide.
People’s networks dumped five tonnes of dead blackchin tilapia fish in front of Government House today, demanding that the prime minister address the problem of the invasive species immediately.
The injured adult gaur, which was suffering with an eye infection, has returned to the forest in Tap Lan National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province after being treated by a vet yesterday,
A male Green sea turtle has swum non-stop for five days, covering a distance of about 200km, from Phuket back to its home in the seas around Mo Ko Similan National Park in the Andaman, after eight years of treatment and rehabilitation at the Phuket-Sireetarn Marine Endangered Animal Rescue Centre.
A rare fresh-water Thai crocodile, which is listed as a critically endangered species, has recently been photographed by a camera trap in Thung Salaeng Luang National Park in Phitsanuloke province.
A submarine earthquake, measuring 2.4 on the Richter scale, was detected in the Gulf of Thailand at 1.10am today, about 45km from the coast of Chumphon.
Air pollution is a chronic problem in Bangkok and many parts of Thailand. Throughout January and February, the capital has faced a particulate matter (PM) 2.5 air pollution crisis, with several districts categorized as “red” (hazardous to health) because of the tiny toxic dust particles, putting residents at risk of severe health effects.
A small initiative with a big dream has taken root on the banks of the Bang Khunthian canal, a waterway steeped in history and yearning for a return to its former glory.
A total of 2,021 hotspots have been detected in 17 northern and western provinces today by a Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) satellite, signalling the return of wildfires and airborne pollution in the north.
Forest fires are still raging today in Tap Lan National Park in Thailand’s north-eastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, but park officials have managed to prevent them from spreading.
