Thai Tourism and Sport Minister Weerasak Kowsurat on November 27 pledged to cut tourism-related waste by 50 percent by 2020.
Illustrative photo (Source:
chiangraitimes.com)
The minister highlighted the
responsibility of authorised agencies to clean up the environment and raise
awareness amongst Thais as well as seek cooperation from tourists to safeguard
waters and land.
He stressed that single-use plastic bags, fabric bags, portable water bottles,
foam boxes and single-use drinking straws will all be wiped out.
The minister said one of the main campaigns this year in promoting eco-tourism
is to ask private sectors for cooperation in eliminating the use of
non-degradable products at tourism hot spots.
Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has also banned the use of
single-use foam and plastic containers in all 154 national parks country-wide.
Meanwhile, Thai Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Surasak
Kanchanarat said that waste had created a negative impact in Thailand's forest
ecosystems.
He added that the ministry launched a "Green National Park" campaign
in 2015 and laid out policies amongst stakeholders in all national parks.
There is an immense drop in the use of plastic bags since the campaign was
launched, he noted, underscoring that there are much to do more to tell
international friends that Thailand is very serious in tackling plastic waste.
The environment ministry said in a statement that in the past 10 years, plastic
wastes had accounted for about 12 percent of the total wastes, an equivalent of
2 million tonnes a year. These plastic wastes were also difficult to decompose
and recycle, therefore the best resolution is to eliminate all single-use
plastic bags and foams, said the minister.
According to the Pollution Control Department's information, of the 10.78
million tonnes of garbage generated in 23 coastal provinces in 2016, about 1.3
million tonnes were plastic trash and 74 percent of them were properly disposed
of, while the remaining were washed into seas.
Source: VNA
The danger from the COVID-19 pandemic is still latent, threatening people’s health and lives in the context that the immunity provided from the COVID-19 vaccine has decreased. Many other dangerous diseases are also likely to break out when the global vaccination rate slows down, due to inequality in access to health services, vaccine hesitancy, and consequences of economic recession.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is witnessing a rise in the sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB Research).
The respect paying ceremony for Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong continued on the morning of July 26 at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi, with high-level delegations from foreign countries and international organisations paying their last respects and expressing deep condolences.
A wave of condolences have poured in from world leaders, international organisations, rulling parties, Communist parties and partner parties following the death of Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines has expressed her deepest sympathy over the passing of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and affirmed that he is a revered leader both in Vietnam and across the world.
Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), on June 5 had a meeting with UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop during her working visit to New York.