While many can shield themselves from the scorching sunlight by staying in the shade or even in cool air-conditioned places, many others have to simply brave the hot weather as their jobs require them to be outdoor to make ends meet. These include construction workers, motorcycle taxi riders, vendors, labourers and farmers. Commuters also have to face the heat on jam-packed buses or while waiting at bus stops or ambling down pavements seeking shade from neighbouring buildings. This year, the Thai Meteorological Department announced that the start of the Thai summer was on March 3 and predicted its end around mid-May. April saw the hottest temperature readings of 40-42 degrees Celsius, coinciding with the Sun’s zenith phenomenon in the provinces until early this month. The summer heat is reported to be particularly severe in the north and northeast, where many cities are at a high altitude or surrounded by mountains that block the winds that give respite from the overhead sun. Summer in the south, although also beset by a strong sun, is more frequently soothed by winds and rain. Thai health authorities have warned people to avoid staying outdoors too long and to keep sipping water to prevent dehydration. People, especially the elderly, could suffer heatstroke when the mercury soars beyond 40 degrees Celsius, they say. Those in need of emergency medical aid can call the hotline 1669.

The spokesperson for the Network to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forestland, Bunnaroth Buaklee, said yesterday that the group was dissatisfied with Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s remarks on Friday on the government’s solution to the controversial housing project. The group insisted that the authorities must send a clear message that they would heed the people’s wishes in ending the dispute.

The group’s latest call to the government came after Prayut said on Friday night that he intended to cancel the project and reforest the area, while he would also send Prime Minister’s Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana to meet with the citizens group to find mutually agreeable mitigation measures over this conflict.

The PM did not specify on demolishing the controversial buildings.

“A leading member of the Network to Reclaim Doi Suthep Forestland said that the talks with Minister Suwaphan would not be the end to the conflict, as the PM has still not made it clear that all buildings in the project would be demolished,” Bunnaroth said.

“At the very least, we want clarity and confirmation from the government that they will not use tomorrow’s [today] meeting as another tactic to buy more time.”

He said the group understood that it was not possible to solve the conflict in one day, but he insisted that the government should at least come out with a clear road map to reforest the area as per the public’s demand, or they may have to face continuous protests.

“We have expressed to the authorities about the Chiang Mai citizens’ demands. We want the government to ensure that the encroached area would be totally reforested and forestland from Mae Jork Reservoir to Haui Tungtao Stream would be transferred to be under the administration of the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department to ensure there would be no more forest encroachments in the future,” Bunnaroth added.

Meanwhile, Prayut said that he and the government were also disturbed by the conflict over the judges’ housing project, but they wanted all citizens to believe in the government, as they were working hard to find the best outcome for all the country’s problems.

“I have already ordered Minister Suwaphan to go to Chiang Mai to talk with the concerned citizens and find mutually acceptable solutions to this problem. As far as I was informed the negotiation to settle this dispute has progressed well,” he said.

The PM insisted that he intended to reforest the area first, while there would be negotiations on other matters. He also asked the people not to be hateful towards Justice officials, as they were not the ones behind the project. Moreover, he would also not allow anyone to live on that land.

“I would like to ask all sides to resolve this issue through negotiations and avoid a social movement, as someone could seize this opportunity to cause social unrest,” he added.

The negotiations between the government representative and the public today will be organised and facilitated by the Army Region 3.

Meanwhile, at an academic forum yesterday on the impacts of the judges’ official residence project at Doi Suthep to the ecosystem, community and society, Sumitrchai Hattasan, director of the Centre for Protection and Revival of Local Community Rights, emphasised that even though the project was legally correct, it was severely lacking in good governance, hence the project could be considered as unjust.

“If normal people encroach on forestland like this, they may face the charge of aggravating climate change and in the past there were several cases where poor people were penalised with compensation demands up to Bt150,000 per rai for making the world warmer by deforestation,” Sumitrchai said.

“In this case, the authorities may have to pay up to Bt90 million if they were subjected to the climate change allegation for deforesting Doi Suthep.”

Now Bangkok, stifling hot and choking on engine fumes, is starting to follow the trend.

“We live in a sick city, full of pollution and limited in public spaces, and many urban dwellers are physically ill,” Yossapon Boonsom of the Thai Association of Landscape Architects (TALA) said at a seminar on Wednesday.

“Everyone needs a healthy city, so we’re working closely with the National Health Commission Office and brainstorming with the government, private sector and civil society to propose policy to the Health Ministry for turning Bangkok and other big urban areas into ‘Public Cities for all’.”

Bangkok, with an official population of around 9.7 million, metes out a mere 6.4 square metres of green space per resident, whereas the World Health Organisation says cities should have a minimum of nine square metres for health’s sake.

In embarrassing contrast, Singapore gives each of its citizens 66 sqm of public greenery and Kuala Lumpur 44sqm.

But Bangkok might yet turn the numbers around. It was pointed out at the “Public City” seminar at ASA Expo 2018, a gathering of architects ending today at Impact Arena, that Thailand has in the last decade seen a trend towards more accessible public space.

And Bangkok has seen more and more green projects, ranging from government-run parks and green areas within shopping malls to a new waterfront learning centre courtesy of the Bank of Thailand.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) aims to establish 950 rai (152 hectares) of new public parkland this year, adding to the existing 35 parks.

Cosmos blooms in summer at Suan Rod Fai. Nation/Prasert Thepsri

Arom Wongmaha, director of the BMA’s Parks Department, said the push for more greenery is getting help from the TALA and Big Trees Project, a non-profit environmentalist group. “We just opened a 400-metre-long walkway linking Sirikit and Chatchak parks to Suan Rod Fai [Railway Park] that occupies nearly 700sqm in total. And we’re also planting more trees around the city to help keep the heat down.”

Big Tree is meanwhile training BMA staff to take better care of old, large trees instead of cutting them down when they pose a risk of causing injury or damage.

“On its own, the BMA can’t reach the WHO standard, but with the help of the private sector and civic groups, we hope we can make it together,” Arom said. Chalerm Phra Kiet Phanat Nikhom Park in Chon Buri is good example of the benefits of cooperating. A firm called Redland-scape transformed an abandoned match factory into a new “lung” to help the industrial district breathe easier. The 24-rai park, sporting a public library, is another Big Tree undertaking.

“The funds for the Bt35-million park came mainly from local government, and residents also donated money,” said Phanat Nikhom Mayor Vijai Amaralikit. “We got a lot of support from civic society, and Interface Flor Co donated 200 trees. The park has become a new leisure area for families.”

Public spaces aren’t necessarily parkland, Yossapon noted. The United Nations agrees they can also be walkways and libraries. Bangkok does have walkways, but none are accessible to disabled people, said Santi Opaspakornkij, a Big Tree coordinator. The group has been tackling walkway projects for more than a decade and in 2007 created the Ratchadamri elevated pedestrian loop in downtown Bangkok, a major convenience for everyone walking through the area.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be done at the Ekamai and Siam intersections because the stakeholders couldn’t agree on plans.

One of the chief problems, Santi said, was that removing all sidewalk barriers blocking the path for disabled citizens – telephone booths, fire hydrants and the like – requires the involvement of “dozens” of BMA departments.

“The Ratchadamri Walkway was a great example of everyone cooperating. We raised the necessary funds at an auction and in donations” – with seed money taking the form of an early donation from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Bank of Thailand’s Learning Centre is Bangkok’s newest waterfront public space. Nation/Prasert Thepsri

Bangkok’s newest waterfront public spaces include the Bank of Thailand’s Learning Centre and a grand garden at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok Noi district.

“When we were planning the centre, with its museum and a library for the general public to use, we needed to change our mindset about what constituted a ‘public area’,” said Prapakorn Wannakanok, director of the central bank’s Finance Literacy Department.

“We hope to educate people about finance and support start-ups, and the centre has become a new hangout for people.”

Administrators at Siriraj Hospital converted a backyard storage area on the Chao Phraya River into a green recreational park that anyone can enjoy.

“Because Thailand is becoming an ageing society, the hospital is working with Siam Cement Group to establish the ‘Bangkok Noi Model’, utilising universal design and green space to make the district an ‘ageing city’,” said Dr Naris Kitnarong.

Among the retail malls paying more attention to ecological sentiments is Mega Bangna. Landscape Collaboration Co has given it a tropical waterfront garden and a walkway that accommodates disabled people and the elderly.

Mall executive Montri Thanadkha calls it “our marketing point”. “We plan to plant more trees around our 400-rai-property and turn the mall into a public city.”

Tara Buakamsri, Thailand country director for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, which campaigns against pollution, has observed the phenomenon with concern. It’s the tip of the iceberg, Tara said, referring to the plastic trash problem.

“The plastic problem is actually serious, just like other global environmental problems. But we did not see it, as it did not appear to our eyes – not until recent years,” said Tara.

He cited new scientific evidence showing the health impact of plastic as well as ever-growing patches of plastic trash floating in the oceans worldwide, including the one which appeared off Chumpon’s coast last year.

A problem getting out of control

The plastic trash problem had reached its tipping point when the Earth Day Network this year decided to kick off a long-term campaign on the problem to commemorate 2018 Earth Day on February 22. They hoped that the focus on plastic would be a wake-up call for the world’s citizens to realise the situation and do what they could to help solve it.

Since plastic was first introduced in the 1950s, the network claims some 8.3 billion tonnes have been produced to date. However, almost 91 per cent of waste plastic had not been recycled, leaving a great deal of the long-lasting material piling up in both land and ocean environments.

The network estimates that around 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in oceans each year.

A great plastic patch has reportedly accumulated in the Pacific Ocean, where the North Pacific Gyre has swirled and swooped it, but the fact that has shocked the environmentalists here, including Tara, is that Thailand is among the world’s worst.

It is the sixth worst offender for dumping plastics into the sea, according to the 2015 Stemming the Tide report by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment.

As noted by Thailand’s Pollution Control Department (PCD), plastic waste in the country continues to increase, and at the annual rate of 12 per cent, or around 2 million tonnes.

Only 0.5 million tonnes of this waste can be reused, while the remaining 1.5 million tonnes, 80 per cent of which are single-use plastic bags, accumulate in official dumping sites or elsewhere.

“Although plastic is durable, its use is short-lived. So, it’s increasingly dumped along with wet garbage and has accumulated in the environment, where it lasts for years as it cannot be biodegraded,” the PCD noted in its five-year integrated plastic waste management plan draft for 2017-21.

Plastic impacts

Tara can cite even more reasons to be concerned about plastic waste.

As learned from new scientific studies, Tara said that petroleum-based plastic could have impacts on both human and animal health. They can release carcinogens, and while breaking down in the oceans become microplastics which are able to enter the food chain.

In his blog, Tara cited last year’s report by the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, which noted that at least 300 sea animals on average died from consuming plastic-based fishing gear and trash each year, 60 per cent of which are whales and dolphins.

The other study, “The Effects of Microplastics on Sessile Invertebrates on the Eastern Coast of Thailand”, published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in November last year, also showed how microplastics have affected marine animals on the eastern coast. The study has found that some molluscs in the area have been contaminated by microplastics beyond the standard.

End of plastic pollution

The PCD noted that management of plastic waste has a problem at every stage – from production to consumption to getting rid of it.

The various types of plastics produced by the industry are not yet addressed by law, and neither is their labelling, which causes difficulties in sorting them out for reuse and recycling. In addition, plastic is still wastefully used during the production process. Research and development to substitute plastics is not yet in place.

Furthermore, when plastic is released into the market, consumers often use it wastefully, most critically with single-use plastic bags. There has so far been only a voluntary approach to regulating the use of plastic for consumption, the PCD noted.

Consumers, it added, lacked awareness about plastic waste and barely sorted their garbage before dumping.

When it is dumped, there is no systematic management of plastic waste in place, and often, it’s mixed with wet garbage, contaminating the environment for years to come, as it does not biodegrade.

The government has, to some degree, realised the situation, leading to the 2016-21 wet-garbage management master plan, along with a plastic trash management draft developed by the PCD. That plan is also in line with the draft 3Rs strategy – reduce, reuse, recycle – for wet garbage. The prime goal is reducing plastic waste, while reusing it up to 60 per cent by 2021.

Fast moving consumer goods versus circular economy

For Tara, the goal set in the drafts is not yet sufficiently clear to lead to concrete action among all concerned. The goal of cutting plastic waste remains vague, he said, thus lacking the force needed to get the concerned parties to take responsive action.

Plastic waste, he said, actually has something to do with the way people consume and the way plastic is produced.

As long as people still lead the so-called fast-moving consumer goods lifestyle, under which goods are produced and consumed quickly, plastic will continue to be wastefully produced and consumed. Tara questioned such a lifestyle and the economy behind it.

He said that globally there is a trend being explored, under a new circular economy where zero waste is set as a prime goal from the start.

Policymakers should try embracing the philosophy so that plastic and waste could be managed right from the start.

It is possible, he noted, citing a trend being adopted by some groups of environmentally minded people, whose force he hoped will accumulate and reach a “critical mass” that could help drive policy changes.

“By putting forward the right question in the first place, we will be able to tackle the problem right from the start, and our action will encourage more new thinking and innovations. What you need at the very first is the right question,” said Tara.

Box: Reduce, reuse, recycle approach needed

AS A NOTED marine ecologist, Thon Thamrong-nawasawat is particularly worried about the plastic patch problem in the oceans.

Thon said plastic waste is a global issue, as is climate change, and is in fact globally critical, particularly where plastic in the seas is concerned.

If left unattended, it is predicted that plastic waste would increase to over 10 billion tonnes, requiring a load of management.

Thailand, he said, has become the sixth among countries worldwide for dumping plastic into the seas, most of it single-use plastic. And the Mekong River, he added, is ranked among the top 10 rivers polluted by plastic and a major source of plastic waste flooding into the seas, according to Germany’s Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

The trend worldwide is to try to reduce plastic from single usage, and Thailand – under the 20-year strategy – will also focus on the three prime actions of reducing, reusing and recycling plastic waste, Thon noted.

However, he also hopes to see the problem being tackled at the source, which is production and consumption.

“We also want to see responsibility being placed on users and producers – it’s the most effective way to deal with the problem,” said Thon, who is a member of the national strategy committee on sustainable growth and environmental sustainability.