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 Where to travel in Thailand in April [2025]
Travelling in Thailand is peak during April if you are looking for a real taste of summer. With high temperatures, amazing beaches, and exciting events, April is an amazing time to visit the country as a whole. Due to the...
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Mauna Loa, world’s largest volcano, erupts for the first time in 40 years
After sitting dormant for nearly 40 years, the largest active volcano in the world erupted in Hawaii. Emergency crews were put on high alert yesterday as the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa corrupted late Sunday night. The lava flow was minor and contained, but a further eruption for any changes to the situation could easily threaten nearby inhabitants. The United States…
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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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Dying elephant Muthu Raja’s misery continues in Sri Lanka
The misery of the dying elephant Muthu Raja is set to continue in Sri Lanka as local politicians blame one another for the creature’s plight and the head of the national zoological association declares that everything is fine. Minister of Agriculture and Wildlife Mahinda Amaraweera has told the Secretary to the Ministry Chandra Herath to take whatever steps are necessary…
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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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Bangkok dwellers float over half a million krathongs on Loy Krathong night
Bangkok dwellers floated more than half a million krathongs down the city’s waterways during the Loy Krathong celebrations last night. This year, there were as many as 572,602 krathongs. A spokesperson for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) said that almost all of the krathongs, 548,086, were made from natural materials but added that 24,516 krathongs were made from foam. The…
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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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Hornbills fly again over Lampang Chae Son
Absent from Thailand’s northern forests for more than 20 years, a pair of great hornbills have been released into Lampang Chae, Son National Park. The release was described by the Zoological Park Organisation (ZPO) director Attaporn Srihayrun as only the first batch of birds that the organisation plans to return to the wild. The ZPO first bred great hornbills in…
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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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No chance of parole for Bangkok’s imprisoned gorilla
After the latest round of public outcry, authorities claim for the umpteenth time that little can be done about gorilla Bua Noi, 33 years old, confined to a small cell in a Bangkok shopping mall. According to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Varawut Silpa-archa, the owners are free to continue doing as they please with the beast they have kept…
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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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Bangkok levies heavy fines for those who litter in waterways
The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is levying heavy fines for those who are caught throwing rubbish into the city’s waterways. The administration says it collects 9,000 tonnes of trash a day from the city’s canals. Some of those items include old mattresses and waste. Governor Chadchart Sittipunt says most of the waste is collected around Phra Khanong pumping station as…
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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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Island in eastern Thailand listed in ‘Top 100 Green Destination Stories’
A small island in eastern Thailand has been listed in the Green Destination Foundation’s Top 100 Green Destination 2022 Stories. The island of Koh Mak is located off Trat province. The Green Destinations Foundation is based in the Netherlands, and is dedicated to sustainable tourism. Koh Mak’s story is titled, “Koh Mak, the journey to becoming the first low carbon…
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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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Ao Kung gets green light for marina despite opposition
Conservationists are opposed to plans to build a new marina in a sleepy bay in Phuket. Developers believe it will reignite tourism blighted by the Covid-19 pandemic but preservationists hit back saying the project will damage the island’s coral reefs and affect marine life in the area. A developer has targeted Ao Kung, a sleepy bay north of Phuket Island,…
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Hurricane Ian lashes South Carolina
A reinvigorated Hurricane Ian battered South Carolina Friday, deluging neighbourhoods with calf-high water. The storm caused calamitous damage in Florida and trapped thousands in their homes. Streams of rain whipped trees and power lines and left many areas under water. Four piers along the coast collapsed into the waves and were washed away. Online cameras showed seawater in Garden City…
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5-star squatters evicted from Layan Beach
Heavy earth-moving equipment was taken to Layan Beach, Phuket, yesterday to demolish the last remaining illegal beachfront buildings. Eviction notices were served in 2017 when the Supreme Court ruled that occupiers were illegally encroaching on state land. Several “final warnings” were issued, with the last eviction notice delivered on September 12. Layan Beach is a beautiful but little-known bay on…
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