A very small northeastern town of roughly 22,000 people, Muang Yasothon has proved it can set an example for other bigger cities across Thailand, including Bangkok, to follow.
The municipality's initiatives to cut its carbon footprint and reduce waste have earned it seventh place in this year's global sustainable city competition, known as the One Planet City Challenge, organised by the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF). The result was announced last week in San Francisco. The Swedish city of Uppsala was crowned the winner.
What Muang Yasothon in Yasothon province has achieved is the fruit of its own ideas. Several initiatives implemented since 2013 have proved to be simple, affordable, executable and replicable in other cities. What is needed is concrete commitment by local leaders and the willing participation of local people.
The small Isan city perfectly exemplifies that a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions does not have to end up as a talking shop.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, in Paris in 2015, the Thai government told the world it intended to cut emissions by 20% by 2030. Since then, it has not done much to reduce the country's fossil fuel dependence and reduce energy consumption. Instead, it has shelved two coal-fired power plant projects, due to public pressure, while planning to build more motorways that will encourage more personal car use.
Muang Yasothon, however, succeeded in its carbon action plan to reduce and recycle waste, improve municipal energy efficiency and promote environmentally friendly means of transport. Its overall goal is to cut community level emissions by 20% by 2020 based on 2013 levels. And its initiatives have yielded results.
Last year, municipality data shows it had reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 23.9% or 5,731 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Co2e), slightly higher than the 2020 target.
On waste management, the city has made available facilities for classifying different types of garbage and recycling organic waste into fertiliser. The recycling programme has cut emissions by 8,545 tonnes of Co2e a year, the carbon credit that the city plans to trade for a sum of 2.7 million baht with a German fund.
Local people have actively joined the projects, partly because they benefit from selling recyclable waste.
On energy saving, the municipality has replaced energy-intensive light bulbs with LED ones in its offices and streets. Now two fresh markets and three schools in the city plan to do the same. It is expected households will follow suit.
It has also run campaigns to encourage people to use bicycles, with a weekly public cycling event, and with a "one family, one bicycle" campaign in the pipeline. Additionally, the city will develop tram networks as a means of public transport.
With more people and rapid urbanisation, many major Thai cities are facing a garbage crisis. But there is some progress. Across the country, there was a 47% increase in the recycling of waste in 2017 compared to the year before, according to the Pollution Control Department. But the volume of waste also increased by 1.26% over the same period. The department highlights a lack of participation by local people and a lack of readiness on the part of local administrative agencies as main obstacles to improved waste management.
But these agencies will never be ready as long as they remain reluctant to act and engage local people. They can replicate Muang Yasothon's models without reinventing the wheel. They can also opt to use LED bulbs and other energy-saving appliances.
Of course, everyone needs an incentive to act. Muang Yasothon has shown that green initiatives can bear fruit if they make the city more livable for its residents, while helping the municipality save money on energy and local people earn more from recycling waste and other projects.