CHIANG MAI, 12 December 2013 The Prime Minister has chaired a meeting on wild fire and smog prevention on Thursday.
The meeting was held in the northern province of Chiang Mai, which was hit with severe smog from wild fire and slash-and-burn agriculture during last year’s dry season.
The PM ordered the Interior ministry to hold a meeting at the beginning of the dry season this year and invited related units, which included the Ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, Public Health, and Agriculture as well as the governors of ten northern provinces affected by the wildfire and smog last year to brainstorm preventive measures.
Between February and April each year, local farmers in Northern Thailand and neighboring countries burn huge amounts of vegetation to clear fields and get rid of agricultural waste. The result is a serious regional smog problem that causes health problems for millions of people and affects the tourism sector, which is the major source of income for those cities.
