environmental issues effecting thailand at the moment
AIR POLLUTION - Due to industrial growth in Thailand, high levels of air pollution have been recorded of late. Not only industries and factories contribute to the pollution, vehicles contribute as well especially in Bangkok. Some action have been done to reduce car emissions, factory fossil fuels and improve water and air pollution but more will need to be done. If increasing hazardous chemicals are continued to be pumped into the air and water, Thailand will have an extreme environmental problem on their hands in the future. Agencies including the Pollution Control Department have put strategies in place to reduce air pollution from certain sources. These ideas focusing on lower emission engines for vehicles and improving public transport will start to improve the air pollution once implied. Motorcycles make up 75% of vehicles on the road in Thailand followed by cars, trucks and buses which all contribute many pollutants. Other sources of air pollution are garbage burning, open cooking and agricultural burning practices, including deliberate forest fires. Wild fires are started by Thai farmers in northern Thailand during the dry season. The fires are the main reason for intense air pollution in the Thai highlands.
DEFORESTATION - Forest cover has been greatly reduced in Thailand as people convert forested land for agricultural purposes. In 1961 forest cover was 53% but fell drastically to 25% in 1998 as more rice fields and urban expansion have converted what was originally wetlands and forests. Recently a government measure has been put in place to prohibit logging. Since the rule was put in place deforestation rates have dropped. However, the impacts on deforestation, such as erosion, are continued to be researched and dealt with. Other environmental problems are being caused by deforestation, such as dry lands, sedimentation of rivers and animals losing their natural habitat. Wetlands and mangroves have been extremely downgraded because of commercial fishing and shrimp aquaculture, industry and tourism expansion. This has caused a lot of Thailand's biodiversity losses.
WATER POLLUTION - The biggest and most critical environmental problem in Thailand at the moment, is water pollution. Apart from the south-west monsoon in Thailand, the north-eastern area of the country is particularly subject to drought. Since 2002, Thailand has had the least amount of available water per person than any other country in Asia. Nearly one third of its water is unsuitable for human consumption. This in-consumable water is the result of untreated domestic sewage, industrial waste water and solid hazardous wastes. Like air pollution, water pollution poses the most threats in the populous central region of Bangkok. High levels of industrial and domestic waste water have led to the depletion of the capital cities water table. The depletion in the water table has recently caused land subsidence.
Coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Thailand are also facing challenges. The gulf is severely polluted by domestic waste water and also by waste from industries and tourism. In addition to the Gulf, many rivers such as the Chao Phraya, Pattani and Ranong, have high pollution levels.
In 1997, hundreds of thousands of fish and other marine animals died as a result of the industrial river pollution. Large amounts of arsenic were found in ground water in the Nakhon Si Thammarat province because of the mining industry in that area. These chemicals and pollution greatly affect aquatic life. Excessive algae growth is the results of oil spills and pollution which has led to red tides and invasive species which are some of the factors affecting Thailand's marine biodiversity.
Another major pollution is the heavy metals that have seeped into Thailand's rivers for many years. mercury levels are now far above normal standards which poses a serious threat to ecosystems.
Many people every year are hospitalised because of infections and diseases caused by water pollution. These include typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, trachoma, hookworm infection and diarrhea. In 1999, 100,000 people were hospitalized because they drank unsafe drinking water resulting in the previous illnesses. Exposure to heavy metals in water can lead to skin disease, liver cancer and birth defects. Klity Creek in Kanchanaburi province was found in 1998 to carry dangerously high levels of lead from a lead separation plant upstream. Lead levels have been proven to be the cause of Down syndrome in the village children along with sick adults and numerous cattle deaths. The plant has since been closed down but a recent study has showed the lead levels are still unsafe.
Thailand's government have been working hard of late to research and invest in waste water treatment plants. At the moment 30% of the population use treated water as there primary source. With more treatment plants under construction, more people will be able to benefit from the safe drinking water.
DEFORESTATION - Forest cover has been greatly reduced in Thailand as people convert forested land for agricultural purposes. In 1961 forest cover was 53% but fell drastically to 25% in 1998 as more rice fields and urban expansion have converted what was originally wetlands and forests. Recently a government measure has been put in place to prohibit logging. Since the rule was put in place deforestation rates have dropped. However, the impacts on deforestation, such as erosion, are continued to be researched and dealt with. Other environmental problems are being caused by deforestation, such as dry lands, sedimentation of rivers and animals losing their natural habitat. Wetlands and mangroves have been extremely downgraded because of commercial fishing and shrimp aquaculture, industry and tourism expansion. This has caused a lot of Thailand's biodiversity losses.
WATER POLLUTION - The biggest and most critical environmental problem in Thailand at the moment, is water pollution. Apart from the south-west monsoon in Thailand, the north-eastern area of the country is particularly subject to drought. Since 2002, Thailand has had the least amount of available water per person than any other country in Asia. Nearly one third of its water is unsuitable for human consumption. This in-consumable water is the result of untreated domestic sewage, industrial waste water and solid hazardous wastes. Like air pollution, water pollution poses the most threats in the populous central region of Bangkok. High levels of industrial and domestic waste water have led to the depletion of the capital cities water table. The depletion in the water table has recently caused land subsidence.
Coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Thailand are also facing challenges. The gulf is severely polluted by domestic waste water and also by waste from industries and tourism. In addition to the Gulf, many rivers such as the Chao Phraya, Pattani and Ranong, have high pollution levels.
In 1997, hundreds of thousands of fish and other marine animals died as a result of the industrial river pollution. Large amounts of arsenic were found in ground water in the Nakhon Si Thammarat province because of the mining industry in that area. These chemicals and pollution greatly affect aquatic life. Excessive algae growth is the results of oil spills and pollution which has led to red tides and invasive species which are some of the factors affecting Thailand's marine biodiversity.
Another major pollution is the heavy metals that have seeped into Thailand's rivers for many years. mercury levels are now far above normal standards which poses a serious threat to ecosystems.
Many people every year are hospitalised because of infections and diseases caused by water pollution. These include typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, trachoma, hookworm infection and diarrhea. In 1999, 100,000 people were hospitalized because they drank unsafe drinking water resulting in the previous illnesses. Exposure to heavy metals in water can lead to skin disease, liver cancer and birth defects. Klity Creek in Kanchanaburi province was found in 1998 to carry dangerously high levels of lead from a lead separation plant upstream. Lead levels have been proven to be the cause of Down syndrome in the village children along with sick adults and numerous cattle deaths. The plant has since been closed down but a recent study has showed the lead levels are still unsafe.
Thailand's government have been working hard of late to research and invest in waste water treatment plants. At the moment 30% of the population use treated water as there primary source. With more treatment plants under construction, more people will be able to benefit from the safe drinking water.