The government plans to offer tax incentives for companies that provide financial aid to reduce fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, or PM2.5, caused by forest fires.
Jatuporn Buruspat, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said on Wednesday the ministry was concerned about haze pollution, which is expected to dominate the central and northern regions from November to March due to a longer drought period, an impact of the El Nino phenomenon.
Many measures have been implemented, yet air pollution during the dry season gets worse every year, he said, adding that one approach is stopping the hot spots in forests after fires start.
The ministry has created a list of the top 10 national parks and top 10 reserve forests with a record of damage caused by forest fires. Most are located in the North. Sri Nan National Park in Nan was hit the most by forest fires last year, or about 71.95% of its total forest area, he said.
He said measures to prevent forest fires have been set up under close cooperation from national park officials and villagers to limit the number of hotspots in northern forests. The measures need financial support, he added.
The ministry, the Board of Investment and the Ministry of Finance have discussed the issue and come up with a policy to provide a tax reduction of 200% to any company that offers financial support to the project, he said. The proposal will be submitted to the National Environment Board today.
"We need a huge budget to tackle forest fires. A delayed budget will cause difficulty so we have proposed the idea of raising funds to support our work. The money will go to local communities and forest officials to control hotspots," he said, adding that participating companies should get something in return more than just praise.
The ministry on Wednesday opened a Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation (CAPM), giving information on haze pollution through its Facebook page, including daily Facebook Live briefings at 2pm.
The move is also in response to adjustments of the air quality index, in which the safety level of PM2.5 rises from 50 microgrammes per cubic metre to 37.5/cu mec.