The Government of Thailand has officially apologized to Bangkok citizens for the air pollution that has affected the country since late December 2018 to well into February 2019. The amount of harmful PM2.5 dust particles in the air exceeded the safe limit in the capital and adjacent provinces almost every day within this period.
In this period, air purifiers were sold out in the Thai capital, and hundreds of schools had to close after a sharp drop in air quality. Some analysts foresee tangible opportunities for firms offering technology for Environmental upgrades.
Recently, Thai academics have called for a clean-air act and an independent Environmental protection agency (EPA) to safeguard the “people’s right” to a healthy atmosphere.
Currently, the agency in charge of tackling the problem is the Pollution Control Department, but its primary work is policy-making, and it is therefore unable to effectively coordinate all the agencies to deal with excessive pollution.
(Sources: The Straits Times; The Nation; Thai Visa)
