PM wants Asean to help curb haze

Haze pollution blankets inner Bangkok earlier this month. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)
Haze pollution blankets inner Bangkok earlier this month. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)

The government is seeking cooperation with neighbouring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to combat the transboundary haze pollution choking the region.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said the issue must be put on Asean's agenda if a solution is to be found.

Prayut said Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai had sent a letter to member countries seeking their support.

"I signed the letter myself. We want to seek their cooperation, particularly in dealing with slash-and-burn agriculture. Meanwhile, Thai farmers must also cooperate," the PM said.

Mr Don said yesterday the ministry has been in regular contact with Myanmar and Laos in recent years to reduce transboundary haze.

Mr Don said he met with the ambassadors of the two countries yesterday and impressed upon them the urgent need to work together on this.

The Thailand Environment Institute said the failure to curb the border-crossing haze is partly due to a lack of serious legal enforcement among Asean countries.

"All they can do is seek cooperation. While we are trying to ban the burning of plants, there are also some Thai businessmen investing in monoculture [agriculture] in neighbouring countries," it said.

Chiang Rai saw the worst level of PM2.5 yesterday at 530 microgrammes per cubic metre in Mae Sai district.

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Vocabulary

  • agenda: a list of things to be discussed - กำหนดการ, วาระ
  • agriculture: the science or practice of farming - เกษตรกรรม, การเกษตร
  • ambassador: a senior official who lives in a foreign country and represents his or her own country there - ทูต
  • Asean (n): the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional intergovernmental organization -
  • choke: to (cause someone to) stop breathing because something is blocking your throat - ทำให้หายใจไม่ออก
  • combat (verb): to try to stop something unpleasant or harmful from happening or increasing - ต่อต้าน
  • cooperation: a situation in which people or organisations work together to achieve a result that will benefit all of them - การร่วมมือกัน
  • curb: to control or limit something - จำกัดขอบเขต, ควบคุม
  • enforcement: the process of making sure that something happens, especially that people obey a law or rule - การบังคับใช้กฎหมาย
  • haze: water, smoke or dust in the air that makes it difficult to see clearly - หมอกควัน
  • lack of: when there is not enough of something - ขาด
  • neighbouring: located or living near or next to a place or person - ติดกัน, ที่อยู่ใกล้เคียง, ที่ตั้งอยู่ใกล้เคียง
  • slash-and-burn: involving the cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields - ไร่เลื่อนลอย
  • support (noun): giving help, encouragement or sympathy to somebody - การสนับสนุน, การเป็นกำลังใจ
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