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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Health Minister insists chemical ban must stay, as farmers plead for compromise
As disagreement continues over the current ban on paraquat and chlorpyrifos, Thailand’s farmers are calling for a compromise. Both paraquat (herbicide) and chlorpyrifos (pesticide) were popular in Thai agriculture until a controversial ban this year. But the farmers, who support a proposal by the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry that the ban be overturned, say the proposed alternatives simply don’t work.…
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Health Ministry up in arms over possible return to toxic chemicals
Following a report that the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives is proposing that a ban on the use of toxic chemicals be overturned, the Public Health Minister has called an urgent meeting with his officials. The use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos, and glyphosate has been banned since June, with farmers ordered to hand over their supplies or face heavy fines. It’s…
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Environmentalists concerned with rise of takeaway trash during lockdown
How much plastic do you toss in the garage bin when you’re done eating your takeaway order? An environmentalist says 1 person throws away about 1.5 kilograms of trash each day. With many stuck at home during the lockdown period, food delivery sales skyrocketed, but so did the amount of trash each person throws away. Thai environmentalists are concerned and…
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Surveys show the majority support protesters but fear violence
In apparent contradiction, separate opinion polls have found that, while a majority of people agree with the demands of pro-democracy demonstrators, a majority also fear that the ongoing wave of protests could lead to division and violence in society, particularly if protesters touch on the subject of the Monarchy. An opinion survey by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan…
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Lack of tourists sees return of endangered sea turtles to Koh Samui
Thailand’s ebach resorts maybe bereft of tourists, but another population is making a comeback: endangered hawksbill and green sea turtles are returning in droves. This year, as the Covid-19 pandemic emptied the nation of tourists, nests on Koh Samui in the southern Surat Thani province have burgeoned. Since February, some 838 baby turtles have scuttled their way across the island’s…
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Aussie hailed as hero after fighting off shark to save wife
An Australian man saved his wife from a shark attack yesterday by punching the shark until it released her. Police say the couple were surfing at a beach near Port Macquarie, 4 hours north of Sydney, yesterday morning when she was bitten twice on her right leg. Paramedics treated the 35 year old at the beach before she was later…
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Mauritius oil spill tanker splits apart
A Japanese tanker ship that ran aground on a reef off the island of Mauritius last month, threatening an ecological disaster in the Indian Ocean, has broken apart, authorities said yesterday. The Mauritius National Crisis Committee said the condition of the MV Wakashio was worsening early on in the day and by the afternoon it had split. A statement issued…
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Camera captures rare footage of tiger at Kanchanaburi national park
A camera installed by rangers at Khao Laem National Park, in the western province of Kanchanaburi, has captured rare footage of a tiger patrolling the park. The discovery has been confirmed by park chief, Thewin Mesub. “This sighting of a tiger proves that natural resources in Khao Laem are still abundant, and that park rangers have done a great job…
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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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Farmers call on Thai government to overturn ban on pesticide use
A group of Thai farmers has submitted a letter to PM Prayut Chan-o-cha, citing the ineffectiveness of products used to replace Paraquat and Chlorpyrifos, and calling for the ban on those chemicals, introduced on June 1, to be overturned. In the letter, they suggest the Hazardous Substances Committee impose restrictions on use of the products instead, while educating farmers on…
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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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Nonthaburi man says pythons ate 20 of his cats
It took snake catchers 15 minutes to capture a 4 metre long python after a scrap dealer in Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok, discovered it at his store in the province’s Pak Kret sub-district yesterday. The snake weighed in at 15 kilograms and the handlers say it put up a fierce fight, even breaking some of their equipment. The dealer…
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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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Koh Lan to get “neo” branding to attract tourists
The popular resort island of Koh Lan, about 8 kilometres off the Pattaya coast in the Gulf of Thailand, will become “Neo Koh Lan”, as Pattaya is being upgraded as a tourism and investment hub under the Thai government’s poster economic project, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) scheme. Pattaya’s mayor says the island, along with Koh Sichang (north of Koh Lan)…
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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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Activists want Thailand to lead total ban on wildlife trade
With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to sweep the globe and the World Health Organisation saying 75% of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, campaigners against wildlife crime say Thailand could become a global leader in helping to prevent pandemics by cracking down on poaching and ceasing to be a gateway for illegal wildlife trade. Activists believe this could help stop…
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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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Opposition questions ministry’s plan to buy firefighting helicopters
Thailand’s interior minister yesterday defended his plan to purchase 6 firefighting helicopters, saying the ministry doesn’t have any such helicopters and relies on military choppers to fight wildfires, “which aren’t up to the task”. Anupong Paojinda was responding to an objection raised by the opposition during yesterday’s House debate on the budget bill for the financial year 2021. “I’m sure…
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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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