Environment News
Discover the latest Environment News in Thailand, providing comprehensive coverage on environmental issues, climate change solutions, and natural disasters in Thailand and the world. We bring compelling stories, investigate eco-friendly initiatives, and bring you closer to the rapidly evolving green landscape. Stay informed about Thailand’s efforts towards sustainable living, biodiversity conversation, and renewable energy promotion to better understand the world’s ecological challenges.
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Sponsored Do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?
Thailand’s healthcare system is well-regarded across Southeast Asia, with options ranging from public hospitals to world-class private facilities. But when it comes to foreign residents or tourists, healthcare access isn’t as straightforward. So, do foreigners get free healthcare in Thailand?...
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No ammonium nitrate stored in Bangkok – BMA
The spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, aka. City Hall, has confirmed that no ammonium nitrate is stored in the capital. His remarks come after Tuesday’s devastating explosion of the chemical in Beirut that killed more than 150 and injured over 5,000. Pongsakorn Kwanmuang sent condolences to those affected in the tragic blast and said that no ammonium nitrate is…
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Samui ferry company facing legal action over environmental impact of capsize
Thailand’s Ministry of National Resources and the Environment is threatening to sue the Raja Ferry company as a result of environmental contamination from the capsizing of a ferry off Koh Samui. The cargo ferry sank in rough weather last Saturday night, while attempting to transport rubbish from Samui to the Surat Thani mainland, resulting in dead and missing crew. The…
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US ambassador visits Thai clean-tech company Equator Pure Nature
The United States Ambassador to Thailand, Michael George DeSombre visited American-founded Thai clean-tech pioneer Equator Pure Nature yesterday to discuss perspectives on US businesses and American-founded companies in Thailand, their contributions to Thai society, primarily during the Covid-19 pandemic, and their role in assisting the development of Thai entrepreneurs, particularly women. Thailand is among countries recognised worldwide as having best…
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New electric ferries have a test run on Bangkok’s klongs
The Bangkok Marine Department has completed a test run of a new electric boat on Saen Saeb klong. The tests have been part of the development for a replacement of Bangkok’s deisel-powered, noisy and dirty canal and river ferries. Marine Department Director General, Wittaya Yamuang says the tests of the eco-friendly passenger boat on Saen Saeb canal was all over…
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PHIST – Asia’s largest online tourism event, returns this September
PHIST, the Phuket Hotels for Islands Sustaining Tourism, is set to break down boundaries again with a “virtual” version of Asia’s largest sustainable travel and hospitality event on September 7. Over 1,200 of the industry’s leading figures are expected to attend this socially-distant online gathering. The online event will include keynote addresses, interactive sessions, educational workshops and a green exhibition.…
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Lopburi police powerless to stop sex-crazed, junk food-addicted monkey gangs
Since March, the city of Lopburi has battled monkey riots, as the Covid-19 pandemic dried up tourism, and thus, the primates’ main food source. Locals, in an effort to appease beasts, began feeding them, largely a diet of sugary junk food, with predictable results. Police, armed with slingshots, say there’s little they can do to stop the sex-crazed macaques who’ve…
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Phuket plans a drought-proof future
In the high season of 2018/2019 a water shortage emerged on Phuket and reached a critical phase just as the wet season of 2019 began. For a few months there seemed to be more water trucks delivering expensive water to residents than tourist passenger vans on the road (usually ubiquitous). Phuket’s three water sources were critically low, one of them…
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Pattaya mayor on the defensive over recent floods
Struggling with severe drought just months ago, Pattaya is now facing the opposite problem. The city’s mayor has addressed criticism on social media this week regarding widespread flooding last week during a significant rainfall, telling The Pattaya News and media yesterday that the heavy rain flooded several areas, including Soi Khao Noi, the town’s railway road as well as other…
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A recovering China faces worst floods in decades
As China is still reeling from economic impacts of Covid-19, a new struggle has ensued as the nation is now seeing the worst flooding in decades which have destroyed the homes and livelihoods of millions. The devastating floods have impacted 38 million people. According to the Ministry of Emergency Management, some 2.24 million people have been displaced, with 141 people…
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Officials confirm billion baht make-over for Pattaya’s Jomtien beach
Thailand’s Marine Department has confirmed a 1.1 billion baht project to widen Jomtien beach in Pattaya after years of sand erosion at the tourist favourite. Officials say they plan to widen 7 kilometres of the beach to a width of between 35 and 50 metres in a project that will consist of 2 stages. The first stage will involve transporting…
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Elephant’s death prompts plea to “say no” to plastic bags
Thailand’s ministry of natural resources and environment fears that the public campaign to reduce plastic bags is “falling on deaf ears”, after the latest loss of a wild elephant which died with plastic bags in its intestines and stomach. Officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation found the male elephant, weighing about 3.5 tonnes and aged…
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1 dead, 6 injured by bee stings in Chantaburi – VIDEO
A woman is dead and 6 irrigation workers are in hospital after they accidentally disturbed a large nest of bees yesterday while clearing grass on the side of the road in the eastern border province of Chanthaburi. Police learned of the incident in the Laem Sing district yesterday afternoon. A 43 year old woman, identified as Nongnuch Tangman, was pronounced…
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Report claims air pollution “kills thousands”, costs billions annually
“In mere months, major cities around the world have lost tens of thousands of lives and well into the tens of billions of dollars in economic productivity.” New data released by environmental groups makes claims that air pollution in Bangkok alone has caused some 6,800 deaths and an economic loss of 81.4 billion baht so far this year. The data,…
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Rare big cats spotted in Thai national park
The Facebook page of Khlong Lan National Park in Thailand’s northwestern Kamphaeng Phet province, report that camera traps, set up to track the population of tigers, instead managed to capture a sighting of a black panther and leopard. “The appearance of the panther and leopard prove that the forest has become more abundant and attracted the return of these animals…
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Rescuers remove 4 metre python from Chon Buri car
A 4 metre long python has been carefully extracted from a car in Chon Buri’s central city district. It took rescue workers around 2 hours to locate and remove the reluctant reptile. Earlier, the snake was spotted by an unnamed local motorist, who stopped traffic to let the python safely cross Bypass Road in the Huay Kapi area. Afterwards it made…
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Thai agriculture minister to take a delegation on a coconut harvesting tour
The ‘Monkey Business’ story has drawn a lot of attention following the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ companies about alleged abuse and misuse of trained macaque monkeys to pick Thai coconuts for commercial purposes. After a week of articles, videos and debate about the relative merits of using monkeys to pick coconuts, the Thai Agriculture Minister formerly invited…
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Government defends “monkey business” after PETA call for boycott on Thai coconut products
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the US-based animal rights group, is no stranger to controversy and has been accused of double standards in the past. Now it faces accusations of “cultural racism” after its open call to ban all Thai coconut products because some of the coconuts may have been harvested by monkeys. In a statement issued this…
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Pattaya Museum denied the origins of the blackwater, then changed their mind – VIDEO
A heritage museum in Pattaya is blaming a “faulty pump” for the flow of black wastewater that was flowing into the coastline on the Pattaya beachfront at Wong Prachan Bay. The “Sanctuary of Truth Museum” VP denied that they’d intentionally allowed the dirty water onto the beach. But later the vice president of the Sanctuary of Truth, Warakorn Wiriyahan, added that the…
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Poll shows most Bangkok residents dissatisfied with public bus service
A recent survey by Bangkok Poll showed most of the city’s residents aren’t satisfied with the capital’s bus services, citing long waiting times, shabby conditions and thick black exhaust. The poll, conducted June 25-29 by the Bangkok University Research Centre, surveyed 1,299 people aged over 18 to gauge public satisfaction with city buses. The largest group, 46.7%, said they were…
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Major international retailers banning monkey-picked coconuts – VIDEO
Allegations of animal abuse are prompting major Western retailers to pull Thai coconut products from their shelves, amid accusations that the coconuts are picked by monkeys treated inhumanely. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claim monkeys are snatched from the wild and trained to pick up to 1,000 coconuts a day. The animal rights group says pigtailed macaques are…
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Government nominates Tham Luang park for ASEAN heritage ranking
The Thai government has nominated Tham Luang Forest Park in the northern province of Chiang Rai for ASEAN heritage status. The park made headline news around the world when 13 young boys and their football coach became trapped in Tham Luang cave following flooding. Today marks two years to the day that all 14 were found alive by a team…
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International charity exposes Thailand’s abuse of elephants for tourist trade
The international non-profit organisation, World Animal Protection, has released distressing video footage that blows the lid open on the cruelty involved in the use of Thai elephants for the tourist trade. The footage, secretly filmed at several unnamed camps over two years, shows how elephants are beaten into submission so they will perform tricks for tourists. The training begins when…
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Phuket’s Sirinat National Park to open again from Wednesday
Sirinat National Park, along the west coast of the north end of Phuket, is set to re-open on Wednesday, according to the province’s deputy governor, Wongsakorn Numchukan. It follows the re-opening of other national parks around the country 2 weeks ago after a 2 month shutdown initiated to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. And as with re-openings elsewhere,…
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Baby elephants abused to “break” them for tourism- VIDEO
The plight of Thailand’s many elephants has made plenty of headlines since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in January, especially in the North, where the many elephant camps and “sanctuaries” were the a major draw for tourist revenue until the Emergency Decree and travel ban forced many to close. To avoid starvation, thousands made the long journey back to…
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More sea turtles lay eggs on Koh Samui
It’s been years since sea turtles have been seen laying eggs on Koh Samui beaches. But this year more than a dozen sea turtle nests have popped up around the island’s coast. Just over the weekend, 70 eggs were found by villagers at Laem So beach by the Ban Sai Ree Hotel. It’s rare for the turtles to come to…
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Baby elephants killed by electric fence in Chantaburi
2 baby elephants have apparently been electrocuted in the Tha Mai district of the eastern province of Chanthaburi, near the Cambodian border, when they touched an electric fence put up by an orchard owner to keep foraging animals out. A local police officer said he would summon the orchard owner for questioning about the electrified fencing. Authorities are awaiting the…
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Bangkok’s Skypark could inspire more green areas across the region
“It is an example of how to repurpose an abandoned structure and increase green spaces in Bangkok through cost-effective design.” Bangkok’s new “Skypark,” built on an abandoned, never-completed Skytrain track, could become be a model for turning the capital’s unused spaces into much-needed green areas. Such an initiative would also boost public health and mitigate the impacts of climate change,…
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British expat petitions government to help desperate elephants, handlers
The closure of elephant camps and sanctuary-style tourist attraction throughout the northeastern provinces has left thousands of elephants facing starvation. Some have made the long march back to their home villages, where their arrival is creating more problems than it solves. Susan Field, a British citizen living in Koh Samui, yesterday presented a petition with nearly 65,000 signatures to the Thai…
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Injured whale shark looks for help from divers – VIDEO
Video footage of a huge whale shark swimming toward a diving instructor while showing its tail that was caught in a rope has gone viral on the internet. The encounter took place near Koh Pha Ngan in the southern Surat Thani province last Saturday. A 3 metre long whale shark, injured by a rope tightening around its tail, swam toward…
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Bangkok removing trees to make way for underground walkways
As part of a new “landscape improvement project,” the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has begun removing trees along Na Phra Lan Road, to pave the way for an underground network of walkways. 34 trees on the road will be removed, and the “Silpakorn Nokrob” (around Silpakorn) Facebook page yesterday called the decision “heartbreaking” for locals and conservationists. In April the BMA…
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