Bangkok--14 Nov--UNISBKK
Thailand is increasingly addressing problems of air quality in tandem with those of climate change, recognizing the “co-benefits” of such an approach, said Supat Wangwongwatana, director-general of Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD) at the Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2008 workshop.
As examples of actions that improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time, Dr. Supat cited programs to save energy and boost energy efficiency, to reduce open burning in the agriculture sector, and to promote biofuel in electricity generation.
In another example, the National Environment Board recently approved a Pollution Control Department proposal for fuel economy standards that limit fuel consumption per kilometer for vehicles.
Dr Supat said the PCD also works closely with the Office of National Environmental Policy and Planning, the agency responsible for climate change, to determine measures that will bring benefits to air quality and climate change. The country recently established the Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization. Thailand also approved its first National Strategy for Climate Change, Chintana Thaweena, deputy director general of the Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, told the plenary session on Thailand at the BAQ workshop.
“We are already integrating air quality issues and climate change,” said Dr. Supat.
“Thailand has long been a leader in air quality management and Bangkok is now one of the few cities in Asia with a Climate Change Action Plan to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases,” said Cornie Huizenga, outgoing executive director of CIA-Asia Center, one of the organizers of BAQ 2008.
“Thailand can again show leadership by integrating approaches to air quality management and climate change mitigation.”
Over the past decade or so, Bangkok’s environmental officials can point to convincing evidence that efforts to combat air pollution have been paying off.
The pollutant of greatest concern, particulate matter (PM10), has decreased by 30% over the past 10 years, from 79 micrograms per cubic meter in 1997 to 53.8 in 2007, according to data compiled by Clean Air Initiative for Asian cities . Bangkok was second after Singapore in 2006 in terms of PM10, or particulate matter with a diameter of not more than 10 microns.
The PCD posts a daily index of the main pollutants in Bangkok on its website www.pcd.go.th. It operates 55 monitoring stations nation-wide, including 13 permanent stations and 20 roadside units in Bangkok alone.
With vehicles the biggest source of air pollution, European Union emission standards were introduced in 1997, starting with vehicles running on heavy duty diesel, followed by cars in 1999, and motorcycles in 2003.
By 2006, 65% of motorcycles had switched to less polluting 4-stroke engines. New 2-stroke tuk-tuks were banned and old ones were encouraged to run on liquefied petroleum gas. The government began urging car owners to turn to natural gas in 2003 and, in more recent years, to gasohol.
The worst polluters, ageing buses and diesel-powered trucks, face daily inspections by the police, the Land Transport Department, the Pollution Control Department and the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA).
The Government has tried to curb the use of private cars by encouraging more use of public transport, car pools, and introducing the Sky Train and the Subway, respectively in 1999 and 2004.
The Bangkok Mass Transit Authority operates a fleet of 3,535 buses and oversees the operation of another 13,405 buses run by subcontractors. From next year, the Government will enforce a requirement for oil distributors to attach vapor recovery units, first to oil depots, then to nozzles that feed petrol into vehicles at petrol stations.
Pollution from construction sites has abated with stricter regulations from the BMA, including the requirement for builders to put up partitions at sites. Garbage burning has declined significantly since the BMA set up two landfills to receive waste.
More improvements may be on the way. The BMA's Action Plan on Global Warming Mitigation 2007-2012 calls for a 15% reduction of greenhouse gases by 2012 through five initiatives:
expanding the mass transit and traffic systems;
promoting the use of renewable energy;
improving electricity consumption efficiency;
improving solid waste management and waste water treatment
efficiency; and
expanding park areas.
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