Citizen science new tool to empower vulnerable communities

Manila Bulletin 04 November 2020 | Ellalyn De Vera-Ruiz

Environment advocates are making use of citizen science as a unique opportunity for vulnerable communities to empower themselves with data and information amid the threats of chemical wastes to health and environment.

“Through the years, citizen science has developed into a practical and potent tool for helpless victims who often suffer in silence from the destructive pollution caused by powerful commercial and industrial interests,” Penchom Saetang, EARTH executive director and a citizen science practitioner for over 20 years, said in a statement.

Online Regional Conference Touts Citizen Science as a People’s Tool for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

PRESS RELEASE: 4 November 2020 | Bali/Bangkok/Manila

The International Pollutants Elimination Network-Southeast and East Asia (IPEN-SEA) Virtual Conference that is taking place amid the COVID-19 pandemic is co-organized by Nexus3 Foundation-Indonesia, EcoWaste Coalition-Philippines and the Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand with support from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and IPEN.

Thailand Passes Strict Ban on the Importation of Electronic Waste

PRESS RELEASE: 06 October 2020

Strict Enforcement and Similar Actions by other Countries Called For

Bangkok, Thailand and Seattle, WA, USA. October 6, 2020. Following repeated revelations of the dumping of electronic wastes, from countries such as the US, Japan, and Australia, the Thai government has finally passed a full prohibition on the import of such hazardous wastes into Thailand. Environmental groups that had been calling for such a ban for several years applauded the move but now call for vigorous enforcement of the law, the addition of plastic wastes and the ratification by Thailand of the Basel Convention's Ban Amendment. Further they urge all other countries in the region to do likewise.

65 Organizations Calling for Banning the Imports of Plastic Wastes

10 September 2020 | EARTH Team at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

The statement and recommendations endorsed by 65 organizations, including academics, and individuals, has been submitted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment this morning.

Groups of representatives who are affected by the waste disposal industry have also gathered and presented their concerns outside the Ministry, calling for banning the imports of plastic wastes and proposing 8 key demands to the government.

Polluting Factories in Nong Pawa Ordered to Shut Down after a Decade of Community Outcry

06 June 2020 | Reported by EARTH

After repeated complaints to several government agencies over the past ten years by Nong Pawa villagers in Bang But subdistrict, Ban Khai district of Rayong province, who have been affected by chronic water pollution caused by Win Process Company’s recycling factories, the local residents have witnessed that their decade-long polluting problems in the area remain unsolved.

Lock Down Mining, Stop Exploiting Opportunity to Give Mining Concession

Statement by the Network of People Who Own Mineral Resources | 28 April 2020

The Network of People Who Own Mineral Resources issued a statement today (28 April) calling for the authorities to equally impose the Emergency Decree by halting all mining operation and mine licensing process. 

Pollution taints seaside community's prosperity

Bangkok Post 09 February 2020 | Anchalee Kongrut

Samut Sakhon is seen by some as a success story but the riches have come at a toxic price.

Bangkok's seaside neighbour Samut Sakhon is known for many things -- as a fishing hub, a thriving seafood market, and also as the largest location of Myanmar's migrant community in Thailand.

Activists decry plastic ban loopholes

Bangkok Post 21 January 2020 | William Hicks

Increase in waste imports from China may mean no net decrease from government plan

The recent ban on single-use plastic bags at major retailers created a stir for consumers and businesses, with social media abuzz with workarounds such as shoppers using wheelbarrows and stockings to carry off their 7-Eleven hauls. But is this step enough to reduce Thailand's massive plastic waste epidemic?

Waste imports are flooding Asian countries like Thailand

Sustainability Times 14 January 2020 | Darunee Sukanan

Thailand is one of the world’s worst plastic polluters, but local businesses are taking steps to change that. Numerous retailers, including convenience stores, have stopped giving out single-use plastic bags to customers this year.

The Price of Recycling Old Laptops: Toxic Fumes in Thailand’s Lungs

The New York Times 08 December 2019 | By Hannah Beech and Ryn Jirenuwat

The e-waste industry is booming in Southeast Asia, frightening residents worried for their health. Despite a ban on imports, Thailand is a center of the business.

KOH KHANUN, Thailand — Crouched on the ground in a dimly lit factory, the women picked through the discarded innards of the modern world: batteries, circuit boards and bundles of wires.

Thailand taking on far more of world’s garbage

The Nation 31 October 2019  

The amount of waste shipped to Thailand from around the world skyrocketed by 2,000-7,000 per cent between 2017 and this year, according to the watchdog group Earth (Ecological Alert and Recovery – Thailand).

The dramatic leap came after China decided it no longer wanted to be the world’s garbage bin and halted all imports of waste, which it had initially accepted because of the money to be made from recycling.

EARTH Finds Outdoor Play Equipment Coated with Dangerous Levels of Lead

EARTH 21 October 2019

Bangkok, Thailand: High levels of lead have been discovered on public playground equipment. The painted play equipment containing dangerous levels of lead poses a serious lead poisoning risk for young children. Environmental health advocates call for urgent action to enforce the ban on the sale and use of lead paint, especially for applications that can expose children to lead contamination.

The Ecological Alert and Recovery - Thailand (EARTH) sounded the alarm over lead-painted play equipment as the UN-backed International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week of Action is observed from October 20-26 with the focus on eliminating lead paint.

New law in Thailand risks drawing an avalanche of plastic waste

Nikkei Asian Review 27 June 2019 | MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR

BANGKOK -- Thai environmentalists are pressing Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to slow the enactment of a law they say could create a loophole in monitoring pollution and result in Thailand importing more plastic waste from abroad.  

The law amends the 1992 Factory Act and is set to take effect in October. The amendment was approved in late February by the National Legislative Assembly, the then military-government's rubber-stamp parliament, to create a business-friendly environment, according to the government.

ASEAN Urged to Adopt Full Ban on Plastic Waste Imports

VOA 19 June 2019 | Zsombor Peter

BANGKOK - Environmental activists from across Southeast Asia are urging their governments to present a united front ahead of a major summit in Bangkok against a surge of plastic and electronic waste imports that are turning the regions into the world's "dumpsite."

Thailand, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), will host the leaders of the 10-country bloc for a four-day summit starting Thursday under the banner "Advancing Partnership for Sustainability."

As World’s Trash Floods Thailand, Activists Call for Waste Import Ban

Khaosod English 19 June 2019 | Pravit Rojanaphruk

BANGKOK — Thailand and its Southeast Asian neighbors are becoming major dumping grounds for the world’s plastic garbage and electronic waste. Environmentalists now want to see a ban on waste imports imposed across ASEAN.

Environmentalists from Greenpeace Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines gathered at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Tuesday to discuss the sharp rise in waste imports seen by the three countries after China banned plastic and electronic waste imports in 2017.

Ratchaburi villagers sue toxic waste factory to pay for pollution clean-up

EARTH 11 June 2019

At the Civil Court for the Environmental Case on 11 June 2019, the villagers of Nam Pu subdistrict in Ratchaburi province who filed a lawsuit against the industrial waste treatment plant, Wax Garbage Recycle Center Company, refused to put further mediation process with the company.

Suffering repeatedly for nearly two decades, the villagers said they started to notice water contamination in their area in 2001, the same time as the company began its operation.

New factories 'dodging green rules'

Bangkok Post 07 June 2019 | Thana Boonlert

Locals near plants suffer, forum told

Given loopholes in laws, construction of new factories has kicked off before their environmental impact report has been finished which in many cases has caused environmental problems for locals, a seminar was told on Thursday.

Penchom Saetang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH), said work began on building many factories before the Office of the National Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (Onep) had finished reviewing the reports.

Environmental campaigners urge new govt to focus on sustainable development

The Nation 07 June 2019 | PRATCH RUJIVANAROM

Environmental campaigners are urging the new government to overhaul what they see as its “overly pro-industrial investment policy” and move the country down the path of sustainable development, in order to protect its citizens and the country from costly environmental and health damages.

Penchom Saetang, director of EARTH, said that despite Thailand’s “quite good” environmental protection law, the country’s environmental protection standards had recently been significantly downgraded to a worrisome level, as many laws and regulations were changed to make it easier to construct factories.

Amended Factory Act Aggravates PM2.5 and Undermines Environmental Protection

EARTH THAILAND 31 January 2019

(BANGKOK) – On 31 January 2019, EARTH, EnLaw, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and Center for Peace and Conflict Studies of Chulalongkorn University held the Press Conference on “The NCPO’s Draft Amendment of the Factory Act: The Hidden Agenda – Aggravating PM 2.5 Problem?” in Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. The forum criticized the draft amendment of Thailand’s Factory Act that will aggravate the fine dust particles, PM2.5 problem and undermine the environmental protection.

The Press Conference on “The Draft Amendement of the FACTORY ACT By NCPO”: The Hidden Agenda – Escalating the PM 2.5?

31 January 2019, 10-12 am
LIVE from Chulalongkorn University via https://web.facebook.com/EarthEcoAlert

Organised by: EARTH, EnLAW, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies of Chulalongkorn University

The Amendment of Factory Act Undermines Environmental Protection: CSO Group Claims

BANGKOK – Parliament House of Thailand (23 JAN 2019)

EARTH and EnLaw, together with local people from Rayong and Phetburi Provinces petitioned against the new amendment of the Factory Act, pointed out that the amendment undermines the environmental protection and lack of public participation.

The petition letter endorsed by 67 civil society organisations and 34 individuals, urging to immediately withdraw from the parliament approval and demanding the amendment to be implemented under the elected government.