Environment and natural resources

With water levels still critical at several dams around Thailand, officials speculate that drought impacts could persist into 2020, possibly having a catastrophic effect on next year’s growing season.In the West, Vajiralongkorn Dam in Kanchanaburi is at 51 per cent capacity with 4,500 million cubic ...

Water levels at Southeast Asia’s largest river may be at its lowest levels in a century.Low rainfall, high temperatures and poor dam regulations are contributing to a historic low at the Mekong, affecting the region’s agriculture and fishing industries and leading to rapidly drying taps.Keep ...

An animal lover, nature lover and a Thai national, CEO of World Wide Fund-Thailand, Natalie Phaholyothin is particularly proud of Thailand’s national environment and wildlife heritage.“We have 127 national parks, which is quite a high number, and that in itself should be an indication of ...

Prime Minster Prayut Chan-o-cha will be asked to approve seven urgent measures to deal with the looming water scarcity in 20 northern and northeastern provinces.The solutions, part of the national anti-drought scheme prepared by the Office of the National Water Resources, include supplying water to ...

The Mekong River’s extremely low level of water caused by upstream hydropower dam projects has triggered the death of masses of fish and heightened the risk of mass extinction of aquatic life in the entire Mekong River Basin, environmental experts highlighted on Friday.Keep reading ...

The new leadership at the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry plans a series of measures to deal with the imminent drought situation.Chief among them is a reduction in the release volume of water from two key dams in the North, expected to save 10 million rai ...

Thailand has adopted a DNA barcoding system in order to protect herbal plant species.The Biodiversity-based Economy Development Office (Bedo) is in the process of applying the barcoding system to identify the origin of herbal plants, fruit trees, and related species to preserve ecological biodiversity.Keep reading ...

The Royal Irrigation Department (RID) is speeding up efforts to mitigate the impacts of the looming drought after water levels in several major reservoirs fell below the levels of last year.Eighteen major reservoirs are holding less than 30% of their storage capacity including Pasak Jolasid ...

Piles of industrial and electronic waste dumped in protected forest in the eastern province of Sa Kaew were cleared on Wednesday, making way for the Pollution Control Department to soon move in to check whether toxic residues would endanger the health of local residents.Keep reading ...

The Pollution Control Department (PCD) has developed a system for accurately forecasting air pollution with the aim of boosting the authorities’ effectiveness in tackling the issue of PM2.5 dust – airborne particulates 2.5 microns or less in diameter, according to department director-general Pralong Damrongthai.The system ...