Thailand working jointly with Laos and Myanmar to tackle border smog

Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday presided over a meeting with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing to discuss transborder smog and how to jointly resolve the crisis that is affecting the lives of people in the three countries.

Senior officials from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar also met with Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment personnel to establish a framework for addressing the issue together.

The meeting was aimed at setting up a framework for negotiations to foster collaboration in addressing the issue, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acting as the Thai secretary and the Pollution Control Department serving as the central agency to coordinate implementation.

The higher northern provinces of Thailand, which border Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, continue to experience severe smog, caused by forest burning, which is one of the main causes of the PM2.5 dust crisis.

PM2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter) dust can penetrate deep into the lungs and cause chronic diseases, including lung and heart problems.

Thailand has set the safe level for PM2.5 at 50 micrograms per cubic metre of air (50μg/m3), far higher than the 12μg/m3 set by the World Health Organization.

On Friday, Chiang Mai again topped the list of the world’s most polluted cities.

PM2.5 in the northern city was measured at 299.9μg/m3, according to IQAir, an air quality monitoring website.

The Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) revealed the high number of hot spots in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

There are 3,280 hot spots in Thailand, 302 of them in Chiang Mai, according to data released by GISTDA from the Suomi NPP satellite.

Laos has the most number of hot spots among neighbouring nations with 9,653, followed by Myanmar with 7,161, Vietnam 1,516, and Cambodia 767.