Thailand - model of environmental improvement

Since 1991, Thailand has come up with a plan to gradually remove lead, sulfur and other toxic substances from gasoline used daily.

Piyasvasti Amranand, who is currently the minister of environment, said at the time he had met bitter opposition from Western oil companies and Japanese car makers. However, thanks to the determination, only in 1995, Thailand completely eliminated lead-based gasoline.

As a result, the rate of children with high blood lead levels (100 micrograms per liter of blood) in Bangkok has decreased from 28% in 1993 to only 3% in 2000. Former mayor of Bangkok Bhichit Rattakul took office since 1996 400,000 green trees have been planted here and gradually eliminated polluting trucks. He also made a bold decision when he decided to turn an 18-hole golf course on the outskirts of the city into a giant park, despite being opposed by hundreds of golfers.

The Thai government now encourages oil companies to produce cleaner fuels, to impose higher taxes to phase out two-wheeled vehicles that cause a lot of pollution and require all taxis to turn to gas. to reduce pollution. Local governments have adopted simple but highly effective measures, such as regularly washing the city to reduce urban dust, crematoriums are required to switch from wood burning to electric incinerators.

Although there are more and more vehicles, the environment is in place
Bangkok is still not worrisome (Photo: TTO)

As a result of these processes, although the number of vehicles in Bangkok has increased by 40% in the last decade, the concentration of polluted gases has decreased by 47%, from 81 to 43 micrograms per cubic meter of gas. . This ratio is still higher than the European standard (40 micrograms) but is below the standard of the US Environmental Protection Agency (50 micrograms).

Many air quality experts in Asia judge Thailand's success as a model in combating air pollution for many other countries.

THANH TUAN