The People’s Party (PP) has called on the government to tackle arsenic contamination from foreign mining, spreading from northern rivers to the Mekong in the Northeast. It is urging immediate talks with China, Myanmar and Laos.

PP deputy spokesman and Chiang Mai MP Phattarapong Leelaphat posted on Facebook on Saturday, accusing authorities of ignoring the toxic contamination. Arsenic levels in Mekong River passing Loei, Bueng Kan, Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces exceeded safety standards, yet officials withheld the information from the public, he said.

The pollution originates from neighbouring countries’ mining operations, but the government has failed to act. While contamination in northern rivers such as the Kok, Sai and Salween has long been known, the problem is now spreading to the Northeast, he added.

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The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is gearing up to join forces with its ASEAN counterparts to combat air pollution, specifically honing in on the issue of fine particulate matter PM2.5. This announcement took flight during the annual ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, which concluded today, with a mission to ‘clean up’ the skies.

The conference serves as a platform for air force leaders from the ten-nation bloc to deliberate on defence cooperation, counter-extremism measures, and disaster relief strategies. This year, the conference has also zeroed in on environmental cooperation efforts.

The RTAF’s commander-in-chief, ACM Alongkorn Wannarot, highlighted the force’s initiatives to combat the PM2.5 problem, largely attributed to widespread crop burning across Southeast Asia. He revealed that the RTAF, in association with the Department of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation, established the Royal Rainmaking operation unit in 2015. The unit’s mandate is to extinguish wildfires, mitigate PM2.5 pollution, and augment water levels in Thai dams.

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HCM City (VNA) – An energy transition seminar on Norwegian-Vietnamese business partnerships opened in Ho Chi Minh on September 13, hosted by the Norwegian Embassy in Vietnam in collaboration with the Oil, Gas and Coal Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

According to experts, the participation and collaboration of the private sector will play a vital role in the implementation of the Vietnamese government’s Power Development Plan VIII with priority to be given to the development of renewable energy.

They also said that the plan is an opportunity for business communities both home and abroad to introduce their expertise and competitive advantages, particularly technology. Specifically, Norwegian energy firms boast strengths in offshore wind power, clean hydro, carbon storage, and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Deputy Ambassador Mette Møglestue said Norway and Vietnam share a determination to become countries with low carbon by 2050. Energy transition is an inevitable process and all countries on the globe must take efforts to achieve this goal.

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In a bid to prevent the spread of wildfires and haze in the country, the Thai government has imposed a three-month no-burning rule across all localities.

The rule, which kicked in on Feb 1, will be in effect until the end of April.

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Cambodia on December 30 submitted its                                                egy (LTS4CN) to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) , according to the Ministry of Environment.

The ministry said that the strategy aimed to provide a roadmap based on comprehensive analysis and scenarios related to key economic sectors as well as priority mitigation activities to achieve future carbon-neutral development. The strategy included an analysis of the balance between greenhouse gas reduction, economic growth, social justice and climate resilience.

In a press release on December 31, the ministry stated that the submission of the strategy was in line with the commitment that Prime Minister Hun Sen made at the UN Climate Summit 2020 to be implemented by the end of the year 2021. The development of the strategy was an important step for Cambodia as a country that supports multilateral activities in climate change to demonstrate leadership through practical implementation of climate action.

Cambodia is one of just 49 UNFCCC Parties that have submitted this strategy to the UNFCCC Secretariat to date.

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To the surprise of many, Thailand announced at the recent COP26 climate summit in Glasgow that it would increase its long-term ambition on climate action — pledging to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and to achieve an economy with net-zero GHG emissions by or before 2065.

While this was a welcome and serious declaration of climate ambition, these sorts of commitments are so far out in the future that they are hard to place in a tangible context. What do the plethora of recent commitments — by governments — to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century mean for the average person in Thailand, or in any country?

When you dig into most of these mid-century commitments — whether by governments or corporations — there is often little, if any, detail presented on how the current ways in which we live and do daily business will change next year, or within five years, in order for the realisation of these promises to begin. And writers on this editorial page have recently criticised Thailand for avoiding any potentially painful commitments to joint international action at COP26 on deforestation, methane reduction, and coal phase-out. In this context then, what does the recent Thai pledge to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 mean for Thailand?

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Peatlands are one of the most important ecosystems on Earth for capturing and storing carbon. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is playing a key role in efforts to ensure their protection, delegates attending an event on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow heard.

Of the 10 ASEAN nations, Indonesia has the largest area of tropical peatlands in the world and the fourth largest extent of peatland overall, at over 20 million hectares. Its peatland landscapes hold an estimated 57.4 gigatonnes or 65 percent of ASEAN’s total peatland carbon. Malaysia is next, holding around 9.1 Gt or 10 percent of the total.

Peat, the accumulation of leaves, branches and other parts of vegetation that are kept intact through immersion in water, is more commonly known as a “swamp” or “bog.” Over centuries, this accumulation can become meters deep, storing massive amounts of carbon that would otherwise have been emitted to the atmosphere through decay or burning. In total, Southeast Asia’s tropical peat volume is estimated to be over 1,300 cubic gigameters or 77 percent of global tropical volume. The region’s peat carbon pool is estimated at 68.5 gigatonnes, representing 11 to 14 percent of global peat carbon.

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It is a commendable goal to end and reverse deforestation within a decade, one which if met would protect both people and the planet, but this is a crisis now. The Amazon is hurtling towards a “tipping point” beyond which it may be lost. In Brazil, Indigenous communities are facing an existential threat from miners, loggers and land grabbers emboldened by the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro.

In Southeast Asia, orangutans, including the Tapanuli orangutan only discovered in 2017, are on the brink of extinction as a result of forest loss, along with a host of other irreplaceable endangered species. Globally, deforestation accounts for a significant chunk of all carbon emissions. Ending and reversing this onslaught would be a huge step forwards.

If world leaders are truly serious about ending this crisis, they can and must prove it now. In recent years President Bolsonaro has been the chief architect of destruction in the Amazon, and the horrific abuses of Indigenous people it has brought with it. If he truly wishes to protect it, he does not need a new international agreement to do so; he could start by reversing his own decisions to unleash a wave of devastation on this essential ecosystem and its inhabitants.

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Vietnam is targeting carbon emission neutrality by 2050, the country’s industry and trade minister said on Monday, joining scores of countries that have pledged to halt emissions by mid-century or thereabouts in order to stop global warming.

Nguyen Hong Dien, speaking at a roundtable on the sidelines of a UN climate conference in Glasgow, said Vietnam will embark on a roadmap to reduce coal-fired power generation.

Instead the country aimed to double the installed wind and solar power generation capacity to 31-38 gigawatts by 2030, he said.

World leaders are gathering in Glasgow to take steps to cap global warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a level scientists say would avoid its most destructive consequences.

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A relatively low but increasing carbon price could play an important role in helping Vietnam meet its emission reduction targets, Thang Nam Do and Paul Burke write.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a matter of national interest for Vietnam, one of the most vulnerable countries to global climate change. Serious local air pollution, particularly in large cities, has also increased the case for effective emission reduction policies.

A revised Law on Environmental Protection, which will take effect on 1 January 2022, legalises carbon pricing in the form of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) for greenhouse gases. A carbon tax could also be developed under the overall framework provided by this law.

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