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.
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Sponsored What do you need before moving from the US to Thailand?
The Thaiger key takeaways The most common medical emergencies for expats in Thailand include motorcycle accidents, tropical diseases, and food or water-borne illnesses. Air pollution and heat-related conditions like heatstroke also pose serious seasonal health risks, especially in northern and...
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Breaking: Huge fire erupts in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Soi 3 near traffic lights
A huge fire has reportedly erupted on Sukhumvit Soi 3 in Bangkok, near the traffic lights. The story is developing. Smoke is engulfing the air above, in what seems to be a fire from a building. Videos below courtesy of Khun Steve and ASEANNOW.
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Over 100 tonnes of garbage estimated near Phuket Fishing Port
Over 100 tonnes of garbage are estimated to have accumulated in a village near Phuket Fishing Port in Ratsada. The garbage has been building up for over 20 years and was recently brought to light through social media posts. The director-general of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), Atthaphon Charoenchansa, visited the village yesterday. Attaphon spoke to villagers…
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Thailand’s Board of Investment unveils transformation plans
Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI) has come up with new ways to attract more investment into Thailand. The board’s target is an easy-to-swallow group of companies dubbed “smart and sustainable” according to Bangkok Post. The government’s effort to create a “new” economy in Thailand is focused, like almost every other Asian nation, on buzzwords. The board’s chosen buzzwords are “innovation”…
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Environmental police arrest 7 over illegal dumping in Bangkok
Bangkok’s pollution problem is rearing its ugly head once again. Environmental police arrested and charged seven people over illegal dumping at 16 sites in the Thai capital. The chief of the Crime Suppression Division ordered environmental police to inspect 16 spots, following reports of illegal dumping causing foul-smelling air. The dumping also reportedly led to the spreading of germs to…
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Greenpeace join fishers’ campaign to save Thailand’s mackerel
Greenpeace has joined a campaign to save Thailand’s mackerel from extinction. The Canadian-based independent campaigning group reported that Thai mackerel today is not as abundant and cheap as it was before because of years of unregulated overfishing. As a consequence, the fish sold in the markets are getting smaller, most of it is imported from other countries, and many believe…
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Venomous snake rescued from beer in Australia
Australian reptile rescuers have come to the rescue of a thirsty snake found with its head wedged inside the ring-pull opening at the top of a beer can. Photos and video posted to Facebook by Brisbane North Snake Catchers and Relocation show rescuers responding to a report of a snake trapped in a beer can in Brighton, Queensland. The rescuers arrived to…
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Three rare cetaceans sighted in Gulf of Thailand
Three rare species of cetacean (whales and dolphins) have been sighted by members of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department trawling the Gulf of Thailand. Scientists were surveying waters along Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram, and Phetchaburi last week when they observed an Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) at the mouth of Tha Chin River in Samut Sakhon and near the coast…
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Thailand plans nuclear reactors with US help
US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States would work with Thailand to create new small nuclear reactors. The programme is aimed at producing nuclear power in the country to fight climate change. The nuclear reactors are part of the Net Zero World programme launched last year. Right now, Thailand doesn’t have any nuclear power. Public sentiment has…
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Thailand leading race in climate change ahead of COP27
It is fitting ahead of the COP27 in Egypt that little Thailand appears to be leading the race in climate change. Last week more than 90 heads of state and an estimated 35,000 representatives of 190 countries gathered at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to discuss how to limit global temperature rises and…
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Dangerously ill elephant returns to Thailand for veterinary treatment
Muthu Raja, a 30-year-old bull elephant who was born in Thailand, is dangerously ill and has been handed over to the Thai Embassy in Sri Lanka to be repatriated for veterinary treatment. Muthu Raja is one of two elephants given by Queen Mother Rajawongse Sirikit Kitiyakar to former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga back in 2001. He was chosen…
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Subsidised Toyota bZ4X finally on sale in Thailand
The long-awaited new electric Toyota bZ4X went on sale in Thailand Wednesday, taking advantage of new government subsidies. In February, the Thai government introduced subsidies of up to 150,000 baht (US$4,000) per electric vehicle (EV). The new Toyota is the first Japanese car to qualify. The tax break for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) covers passenger cars with no more than 10…
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TerraCycle crusade to rid Bangkok canals of plastic goes on
The TerraCycle Global Foundation’s crusade to rid Bangkok canals of waste goes on. The US New Jersey-based non-profit organization believes it is winning the battle to remove toxic waste and plastic from the Thai capital’s polluted canals but admits the fight continues. Thailand has been identified as one of the top contributors to plastic pollution in the oceans. The kingdom’s…
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Mass tree-planting planned for Phuket beach after illegal structures removed
After police removed removed illegal structures from a beach in Phuket‘s Thalang district, they now plan to recover the beach’s nature. Phuket Vice Governor Amnuay announced at a meeting on Monday that a mass tree-planting would start at Layan Beach on Tuesday, November 15. The tree-planting event will begin at 9am, and will include a beach cleanup, he said. Amnuay…
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Banged up abroad – Sweden’s escaped cobra slips home
A king cobra that escaped from his new home in a Swedish aquarium turned up back in his terrarium about a week after he made his daring midnight escape. Skansen Aquarium in Stockholm said in a Facebook post that the cobra, named Sir Vas, or Sir Hiss (before being clumsily rebranded “Houdini”) had returned of his own free will. The deadly…
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Coming soon – giant asteroid ‘hiding in the sun’ dazzles astronomers
Starry-eyed optimists – or astronomers as they are sometimes known – have found a giant asteroid, lurking near the sun. They hadn’t noticed it before, because the sun was in their eyes. It’s the biggest potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA), – known to some sensationalists as “planet killers” – found in eight years, and has been discovered lurking in the sun’s…
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Korat elephants face further persecution from farmers
As if the remains of Thailand’s decimated elephant population have not suffered enough persecution, farmers in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat) still refuse to live in harmony with their big grey neighbours. A local leader has called on authorities to address the problem – if it is one – of wild elephants from Thap Lan National Park invading farmland and destroying crops. Oraya…
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Stockholm’s fugitive king cobra found hiding in wall cavity
While Thailand suffers a plague of serpents, driven out of their natural hiding places by recent flooding, a king cobra, broke out of a new enclosure in a Swedish zoo only days after it arrived. The frightened reptile was found early on Thursday morning, hiding only a few metres from its enclosure. The reptile escaped by squirming through a light…
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Burmese escapees rounded up in annual Florida snake wrangle
In stark contrast to the activities of a single reticulated python that recently swallowed a woman in Indonesia, a 19-year-old south Florida man has captured 28 Burmese pythons in an annual 10-day competition to rid the state of invasive species. Matthew Concepcion was among the 1,000 people who participated in the annual snake hunt, which this year “removed” 231 of…
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Greenpeace study reveals most plastic cannot be recycled
A new study by Greenpeace reveals most of the plastic generated in the world today cannot be recycled. The report, Circular Claims Fall Flat Again, released yesterday, says that while paper, cardboard, and metals are all recycled at a high percentage rate, plastic fails on a massive scale. The Greenpeace study reported that households in the United States generated about 51…
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Carmageddon – Bangkok’s boy racers left standing by Cheshire’s EPL stars
Wilmslow might be one of northwest England’s most desirable postcodes, but the name of the town has a simple ring of humour. Wilmslow in the heart of Cheshire sounds like the place where Monty Python sketches take place. Not exactly Purley, but close. One expects Wilmslow residents to sell insurance for a living, to be avid collectors of used bus…
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Dying of laughter – animals on the brink say ‘cheesy’
The Comedy Wildlife Photo awards have rolled around yet again, annual prizes for bad photography where technical flaws like unwanted foreshortening are revered and the welfare of subjects irrelevant. Presumably, a picture of an adolescent lion falling from a tree in the Serengeti is as funny as an adolescent human falling from a Bangkok balcony. The planet is dying and…
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Google Maps update makes it easy to find EV charging stations in Thailand
As more and more people opt for electric vehicles (EVs) in Thailand, Google Maps has added a feature to make it easy to find a place to charge your car. Google added the feature after searches for EV charging stations in the kingdom grew by 350% over the past year. Simply launch the app and search for EV charging stations…
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Phuket officials say contaminated seawater found last week not a hazard
Phuket officials insist that the contaminated seawater found last week in the south of the island has not caused environmental damage. The contaminated water was reportedly spotted near the Chalong Pier on October 13. It was spotted south of the pier leading to the Phi Phi Islands. After the contaminated water was reported, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources…
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Don’t just sit there – Bangkok gets tough on sofa dumpers
Bangkok is getting tough on people who dump bulky waste like old mattresses and other furniture into waterways. Large objects trapped in drains have been one of the main causes of floods in the city. Now, chucking your old sofa into the nearest storm drain will cost you a 10,000 baht fine. There are also rewards for citizen spies who…
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PM Prayut avoids being pelted with rotten fish & faeces
A group of activists armed with rotten fish and faeces were ready to pelt Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha as he visited flood-hit areas of Thailand yesterday. Fortunately, the PM’s entourage was tipped off about the planned attack and he avoided the activists lying in wait at a temple in Muang district PM Prayut was scheduled to visit Wat Khemaphirataram before…
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Big fat fraud – bear-faced cheating in Alaskan wildlife poll
Katmai National Park and Preserve have announced that Bear 747 is the winner of its annual Fat Bear Week contest. It is the bear’s second win. Tipping the scales at an estimated 635 kilograms, Bear 747 won 68,105 votes, beating first-time contender Bear 901 with 56,876 votes. Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament celebrating the park’s bears’ success in…
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As storms continue, 23 billion baht might not be enough
The Thai government is to spend at least 23 billion baht (US$600 million) on helping people who have suffered in the recent flooding. According to today’s Bangkok Post, at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered all agencies involved in the flood response to speed up efforts to take care of those who suffered in the flood, and the…
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TAT going green to smash a Guinness World Record
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is calling on all diving enthusiasts to help smash an official Guinness World Record. The TAT wants tourists and residents to get involved in their Go Green Active drive, a conservation diving event at Phuket’s famous Patong Beach between November 18 and November 20. The TAT wants to set a new Guinness World Records…
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Australia sets goal of preventing any more species from going extinct
Australia has set an ambitious environmental goal of preventing any more species from going extinct. To do this, the country’s labour government has set another ambitious goal of conserving over 30% of its land mass by 2030. The new 10-year plan was announced on Tuesday. Australia’s new conservation plan will focus on 20 places and 110 species. The areas include…
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Maya Bay reopens once again to the public
After a two-month hiatus, Maya Bay on Koh Pi Pi Leh in Krabi province has reopened to the public. The iconic bay had been closed to tourists to allow for environmental recovery. The closure will be an annual occurrence to try to protect the ecology and wildlife living or visiting the iconic bay. Maya Bay exploded in popularity after serving…
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