Environment News

Thailand environment news, climate change, sustainability, and natural disasters—stay updated on eco-initiatives, biodiversity conservation, and renewable energy efforts. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for environmental news in Thailand.

  • Sponsored

    Why long-term expats in Thailand say insurance is worth every baht

    Thailand’s warm weather, low cost of living, and good healthcare attract many long-term expats, including retirees and remote workers. Life here feels easy and affordable, but medical costs can be high if something goes wrong. Private hospitals are popular because...

  • Thailand now generating electricity at world’s biggest hydro-solar farm | Thaiger

    Thailand now generating electricity at world’s biggest hydro-solar farm

    As part of Thailand’s push to become a carbon-neutral country by 2050, the world’s largest hydro-solar hybrid energy farm has officially gone online and is now generating electricity. The solar farm floats atop the Sirindhorn Dam in Ubon Ratchathani and is as big as 70 football fields. The massive installation floats on Sirindhorn Reservoir along Lam Dom Noi River, about…

  • 4.4 billion baht Supreme Court corruption case about futsal courts | Thaiger

    4.4 billion baht Supreme Court corruption case about futsal courts

    The Supreme Court of Thailand has accepted a major corruption case to go to trial regarding low-quality futsal courts nearly 10 years ago worth 4.4 billion baht. The wide-reaching case regarding poorly built playing areas for futsal, a game similar to football that is popular in Thailand, will require Thailand’s chief whip, Wirat Rattanaseth, to cease his MP role while…

  • Thailand ranks ninth on Global Climate Risk Index for “extreme weather events” | Thaiger

    Thailand ranks ninth on Global Climate Risk Index for “extreme weather events”

    When it rains, it pours in Thailand… and torrential downpours during the country’s monsoon season is known to cause severe flooding, damaging property and leading to injuries, sometimes deaths. The weather in Thailand is considered so intense that the country is ranked ninth on the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 on nations most affected by “extreme weather events” between 2010…

  • PM says Thailand will step up fight against climate change | Thaiger

    PM says Thailand will step up fight against climate change

    Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has vowed to step up Thailand’s focus on tackling climate change. He made this announcement yesterday in Glasgow at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, also known as the COP26. This convention is a forum in which world leaders can meet and make plans to address relevant climate issues. Prayut…

  • Control measures set to reduce pollution in Bangkok from vehicle emissions | Thaiger

    Control measures set to reduce pollution in Bangkok from vehicle emissions

    To tackle the seasonal haze in Bangkok, Thai officials are coming up with ways to reduce pollution from car and truck exhaust. Road checkpoints will be set up to look out for vehicles emitting clouds of black smoke and drivers of vehicles emitting exhaust that exceeds legal limits will face a 5,000 baht fine. According to the National News Bureau…

  • Bangkok and surrounding provinces warned to prepare for dust pollution | Thaiger

    Bangkok and surrounding provinces warned to prepare for dust pollution

    Now’s a good time to shore up your collection of PM2.5 masks and make sure your air purifier is running smoothly, with dust pollution forecast to hit Bangkok and its surrounding provinces from the end of October. According to a Thai PBS World report, weather conditions – namely the arrival of high atmospheric pressure – will be ripe for the…

  • Largest petrochemical producer to cut greenhouse gas emissions | Thaiger

    Largest petrochemical producer to cut greenhouse gas emissions

    Thailand’s largest petrochemical producer has vowed to do its part in helping in the fight against climate change. PTT Global Chemical Plc announced that by 2030, it intends to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. The company also aims to accomplish the goal of net-zero, or carbon neutrality, by 2050. Carbon neutrality is achieved when the emissions of carbon dioxide…

  • Global Covid-19 recovery efforts will have lasting impact on climate | Thaiger

    Global Covid-19 recovery efforts will have lasting impact on climate

    A comprehensive environmental assessment has warned that the global Covid-19 recovery efforts will have a long lasting impact on the climate. The assessment highlighted countries’ heightened use of fossil fuels as a part of their recoveries, and explained the risk that this poses to the environment and human health. The Lancet Countdown is the largest annual assessment on what impacts…

  • Phuket’s Khai Islands overwhelmed by rubbish | Thaiger

    Phuket’s Khai Islands overwhelmed by rubbish

    Phuket’s UWC Thailand and 5 Star Marine have collaborated with government departments to help clean up the rubbish stricken Khai Islands off the coast of Phuket. Yesterday, staff and students from UWC Thailand International School and 5 Star Marine collaborated as part of the tourism restart plan and program. The popular islands needed a major clean up before they were…

  • Return of the tar balls on Phuket’s northern beaches | Thaiger

    Return of the tar balls on Phuket’s northern beaches

    The tar balls are back. During a scheduled beach clean yesterday along Phuket’s north-coast Nai Yang Beach, volunteers noticed the return of the mysterious tar balls that were washing up along the coast in the weeks before Phuket’s Sandbox started on July 1. Michelle from Sustainable Mai Khao Foundation contacted The Thaiger this morning with the news of the return…

  • Pattaya Waterfront Condo building requests to resume construction | Thaiger

    Pattaya Waterfront Condo building requests to resume construction

    An infamous Pattaya eyesore has been scheduled for demolition, but the owners submitted a surprise request to resume construction on the Waterfront Condo building on Bali Hai Pier. The 53-story condominium at the entrance to the Bali Hai Pier has been abandoned for years since 2014 and last September authorities served a legal demolition order against the owners of the…

  • 6 warrants out for death of 1 million swiftlets, theft of bird’s nest | Thaiger

    6 warrants out for death of 1 million swiftlets, theft of bird’s nest

    Six arrests have been made in connection with the shocking story last month of caves raided in Phatthalung where 1 million swiftlets were killed and their valuable birds’ nest plundered. Swiftlets, unlike other birds, make their nests entirely out of their own saliva which has been prized, especially in Asian culture, as a healing delicacy. Authorities estimated a 5 billion…

  • NACC: Trisara resort faces illegal land ownership charges | Thaiger

    NACC: Trisara resort faces illegal land ownership charges

    Following on from last week’s disclosure of a probe into the upscale Sri Panwa property in Phuket, another luxury property, Trisara resort, faces a similar investigation into illegal land ownership by the National Anti-Corruption Commission. The probe by the NACC into Trisara resort named 29 officials involved in the illegal document issuing, with ex-Phuket Vice Governor Weeraway Janpen being singled…

  • British Airways tests first ever net-zero carbon emissions flight | Thaiger

    British Airways tests first ever net-zero carbon emissions flight

    British Airways has tested the first passenger flight operating on sustainable aviation fuel, while off-setting the remainder of emissions. TTR Weekly reports that BA1476 flew from London Heathrow to Glasgow last week, after the airline pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. BA says it will achieve its goal through a series of short, medium, and long-term measures. The…

  • Government seeks to regulate infectious waste disposal charges | Thaiger

    Government seeks to regulate infectious waste disposal charges

    Government officials are seeking ways in which to regulate the fees being charged for the disposal of infectious waste. According to a Bangkok Post report, the Internal Trade Department will meet tomorrow with the National Municipal League of Thailand, the Health Department, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and waste disposal companies. The rates for disposing of contaminated waste have jumped significantly…

  • Island of rubbish: Koh Samui’s pollution problem remains unsolved | Thaiger

    Island of rubbish: Koh Samui’s pollution problem remains unsolved

    No one can argue with the appeal of visiting Thailand’s exotic, tropical islands. With their glistening palm trees, crystal-clear waters, and powdery, white sands, a trip down south is what many yearn to cross off their bucket lists. One of Thailand’s most iconic islands is that of Koh Samui. As the largest and most developed island in the Gulf of…

  • Koh Larn resorts accused of encroaching on coastlines | Thaiger

    Koh Larn resorts accused of encroaching on coastlines

    The island of Koh Larn, just off the coast of Pattaya, is the centre of a controversy as officials are threatening to pursue 39 private resorts accused of illegally encroaching on the coastlines. The Pattaya Marine Office says these resorts are cutting off the sea from the public, violating the Thai law that reserves beaches as state land and not…

  • 60 of 155 national parks reopened across Thailand | Thaiger

    60 of 155 national parks reopened across Thailand

    With Covid-19 closing or prohibiting many things people love about Thailand – nightlife, massage shops, cheap drinks, even some beaches – the country’s natural beauty is once again be available for people to enjoy. The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation has reopened 60 of the 155 national parks across all of Thailand from now until further notice.…

  • Turtle full of plastic waste being treated in Phuket | Thaiger

    Turtle full of plastic waste being treated in Phuket

    An alarming sign of pollution was found in a young green turtle rescued from a Phuket beach last month and found to have over 150 pieces of garbage and plastic clogging its stomach and intestines. The turtle was first found on Kata Beach in Phuket on July 23rd looking weak and sick. The sea turtle was taken in by veterinarians…

  • Saint-Tropez wildfire forces thousands to leave French resort hotspot | Thaiger

    Saint-Tropez wildfire forces thousands to leave French resort hotspot

    A wildfire in the Saint-Tropez region of Southern France has forced thousands of people to evacuate, says the fire service today. AFP reports that round around 750 firefighters responded to the fire while Reuters estimates the number of firefighters is closer to 900. Aircraft also dropped water on the blaze. The high temperatures and strong winds made the situation even more…

  • Environmental groups urge government to ban the import of plastic waste | Thaiger

    Environmental groups urge government to ban the import of plastic waste

    The Thai government is being urged to push ahead with a ban on importing plastic waste, instead promoting the recycling of domestic plastic waste. Over 100 environmental groups say this is essential to protecting the environment, as well as creating a circular economy. According to a Bangkok Post report, 107 groups have released a joint statement calling for a ban…

  • Thailand’s national parks ban the use of some sunscreens containing particular chemicals | Thaiger

    Thailand’s national parks ban the use of some sunscreens containing particular chemicals

    Fair-skinned travellers beware – visiting Thailand’s beautiful natural parks just got a bit harder and may leave you literally seeing red. Get ready for sunburn, as a new law announced last night in the Royal Gazette has banned the use of some sunscreens that contain certain chemicals (below) within the grounds of Thailand’s national parks. The rule was enacted in…

  • Indian landslide kills 9, injures 3 | Thaiger

    Indian landslide kills 9, injures 3

    Yesterday, 9 people died and 3 were injured after their car was struck by falling boulders in Himachal Pradesh, a northern Indian state. The landslide also sent rocks crashing down on a bridge that crossed the Bapsa river Jairam Thakur, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh characterised the incident as “heart wrenching”. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers his “heartfelt…

  • Tak landslides blocks highway 105, army helps clear | Thaiger

    Tak landslides blocks highway 105, army helps clear

    Highway 105 in Northern Thailand’s Tak province was blocked by trees/landslides between the Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang district due to result of heavy rains last night. The highway had to be closed at approximately the 81 kilometre marker in the Tha Song Yang district, also between Ban Samae and Mae Tuen. Tha Song Yang and Mae Ramat chiefs…

  • Chemicals being used to prevent further fires at Samut Prakan factory | Thaiger

    Chemicals being used to prevent further fires at Samut Prakan factory

    Today, 2 chemicals are being employed to help prevent more fires from breaking out at the Ming Dih Chemical factory, in Samut Prakan, says the Department of Pollution Control. The chemicals being used are the F-500 encapsulator agent and Diethyl hydroxylamine, or DEHA. F-500 stops the styrene monomer from igniting and evaporating. DEHA halts polymerisation wherein reacting monomer molecules join…

  • Residents near burned-out factory return home, environmental concerns remain | Thaiger

    Residents near burned-out factory return home, environmental concerns remain

    The Pollution Control Department has confirmed that residents within 2 – 5 kilometres of a factory that burnt down in the central province of Samut Prakan can now return home. The air quality in the surrounding area has been tested and deemed safe. However, a number of environmental concerns remain. According to a Bangkok Post report, governor Wanchai Kongkasem says…

  • Calls for factories to be moved out of residential areas after blaze at plastics plant | Thaiger

    Calls for factories to be moved out of residential areas after blaze at plastics plant

    The Federation of Thai Industries is calling on the government to move factories away from residential neighbourhoods, following the devastating blaze in Samut Prakan, outside Bangkok. According to a Bangkok Post report, FTI chairman Supant Mongkolsuthree suggests factory owners could be given incentives to relocate, such as a reduction in corporate income tax and land tax. “Factory relocation requires support…

  • Crocodiles escape from farm in Trat | Thaiger

    Crocodiles escape from farm in Trat

    Yesterday, dozens of crocodiles managed to escape from their enclosures in a crocodile farm. Due to heavy rains, the crocodiles were able to swim through a flooded “ditch area” that was conveniently located near the farm. The flash flood and subsequent crocodile escape happened in the eastern province of Trat, which is next to the Cambodian border. The farm owner, Pirom Kannak…

  • Tar balls spreading along Phuket’s west coast beaches | Thaiger

    Tar balls spreading along Phuket’s west coast beaches

    Just in time for Phuket’s grand reopening, an oil spill has been depositing tar balls on beaches running the entire length of the island’s west coast. Now Patong Beach, the 3 kilometre-long beach fronting the island’s most popular tourist town, has seen a slew of oil and marine debris washing up on its shores. The tar balls were first found…

  • Beached sperm whale covered in oil rescued in Phuket | Thaiger

    Beached sperm whale covered in oil rescued in Phuket

    Animal rescue and care facilities often are tasked with coming out and taking a wild, sick, or injured animal into care, but it’s not often that it takes more than 50 people working together to take that animal in. That was the case yesterday, however, as rescue workers managed to collect a beached sperm whale with scratches on its body…