Netherlands and Thailand team up to tackle floods and river pollution
The Netherlands and Thailand, both of which face increasing seasonal flooding, are boosting cooperation to mitigate flood risks, Dutch Ambassador Remco van Wijngaarden has said.
Environmental news from Thailand — climate, air quality, conservation and sustainability, in English from Thai PBS World.
The Netherlands and Thailand, both of which face increasing seasonal flooding, are boosting cooperation to mitigate flood risks, Dutch Ambassador Remco van Wijngaarden has said.
Beach goers and swimmers on Phuket are warned not to touch a small and pretty sea creature, called a blue dragon sea slug (Glaucus atlanticus), after a number were found washed up on Karon Beach.
The sea around Phayam Island, in the Andaman Sea off the southern province of Ranong, covering a total of 240 hectares, has been declared a protected zone, in which all kinds of water sports and fishing activities, garbage dumping and discharge of waste water are banned.
The amounts of heavy metals detected in the Kok, Sai and Mekong rivers, from Tha Ton in Mae Ai district to the Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai province, still exceed the standard level, despite the rainy season, according to the Pollution Control Department.
A black panther was spotted at Kaeng Krachan National Park in Phetchaburi province yesterday, roaming near the popular butterfly-watching spot.
A water resource engineering professor and an environmental advocate have expressed concern over the ability of check dams, to be built across the Kok River in Chiang Rai province, to trap toxic substances discharged from mining operations in Shan state of Myanmar.
The operation to salvage a Myanmar-flagged freighter, grounded on a coral reef in the Mu Ko Surin National Park in the Andaman Sea, began on Saturday, with salvage teams attempting to raise the half-sunken vessel from the coral reef.
The Fisheries Department has announced that deformed fish caught in rivers flowing through the northern province of Chiang Rai are infected with a Digenea parasite and that their deformities were not caused by heavy metals.
Thailand’s chronic air pollution continues to worsen and is destroying people’s health. Mitigating the negative impacts of this problem requires collaboration across boundaries.
More deformed fish were caught by fishermen in the Kok, Sai, Ruak and Mekong rivers last month, causing concern among fishermen and consumers in Chiang Rai province about the health risk of consuming them and the condition of the water in the rivers, according to the Living River Siam Association, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the protection of rivers’ health.
Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid boat on Monday, preventing the activists on board -- including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg -- from reaching the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The government has been told to treat the transboundary pollution problem in the Kok River, in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Rai, as a serious national security threat because the toxic discharges from mining activities in Shan state of Myanmar are threatening people’s livelihoods.