Thailand Must Lead ASEAN to Combat the Air Pollution
The 34th ASEAN Summit will be held in Thailand in June, and as normal regional leaders will gather to discuss a wide range of issues from North Korea Denuclearization to Rohingya crisis to 2020 ASEAN Vision to the ASEAN concept of Indo-Pacific. But with residents of Bangkok being suffocated by the hazardous haze recently, it is far more important and urgent for Thailand now to bring up the air pollution on the agenda of the ASEAN meetings.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha recently has acknowledged the importance of fighting against air pollution, saying that his government would put the issue on the national agenda to ensure that it can tackle it “in a sustainable manner”, according the Bangkok Post. But this is not enough as this is a borderless issue, and the smog coming from various sources can come back at whatever time without addressing the causes, and other countries in the region can anytime fall victim to the issue in the future. As the current ASEAN chair, Thailand has greater role to play in order to secure a long-term solution to this alarming problem and safeguard the health of hundreds of millions of people across the region as well as to prevent the tremendous economic losses.
Under the theme of “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”, Thailand has to unveil its strategic priorities and very innovative initiatives to tackle the more complex challenges especially the air pollution which harms the region’s public health and disrupts the sustainable development in many aspects.
As reported by World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills up to 7 million people every year — most of whom are from developing countries, and most importantly “98% of cities in low- and middle-income countries with more than 100,000 inhabitants do not meet WHO air quality guidelines.” And ASEAN region is one of the most susceptible to the issue with the deaths of over 694 people per 100.000 in 2015, according to 2017 air pollution report by Our World in Data, and notably death rates from outdoor pollution were significantly high in Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
When it comes to intensifying peril of air pollution, we have to recognize that its causes include some main factors such as rapid expansion of agriculture, heavy industries, energy production and also the mismanagement of fossil fuel burning in the big cities. As the current chair, Thailand’s most focal responsibility is to bring about the collective effort among the member states to sort out the air pollution and guarantee the public health — the most commanding goal of ASEAN community building.
In fact, the haze pollution is no stranger to ASEAN, and some countries like Singapore and Malaysia have already suffered from this man-made issue. That is the reason ASEAN countries came up with ASEAN Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) in 2002 with the purpose to monitor and tackle the cross-border haze pollution, promising a very ambitious goal of achieving the ASEAN haze-free by 2020. But Indonesia, the biggest source of the haze, just ratified the accord in 2014 and has been still reluctant to strictly uphold the rules.
Despite the fact that ASEAN has legal binding document to deal with trans-boundary haze, this only targets forest and land fired haze, not the air pollution caused by the expansion of heavy industries and fossil fuel burning. Additionally, AATHP has the weak enforcement mechanism, which only prioritizes sovereignty over the effective cooperation among the member states, making it even more difficult to take responsive measure.
But the AATHP can still play its part. When strictly enforced, the agreement can deal with the pollutants from agricultural practices especially the rapid deforestation and increasing activities of food productions in the region, predominantly in Mekong countries which are involved in frequent slash and burn to clear lands for agriculture in the dry season. Thus, strengthening the enforcement mechanism will be very crucial.
Besides haze pollution from agricultural activities, Thailand also has to encourage ASEAN to seriously take on the other sources of air pollution especially the constant rising of coal-fired power plants, industrialization and growing high number of vehicles in the cities across the region resulting from rapid developments. I would say different region might need to deal with different forms of air pollution, but ASEAN should unveil some common policies as such:
First of all, ASEAN countries have to prioritize the effective control of the number of vehicles in the big cities and begin to invest more in cleaner transport system such as electric cars and trains, tumbling the use of fossil fuel combustion engines. ASEAN should have a common policy on regulating vehicles, but the enforcement may vary and rest upon on each member state.
It is worth mentioning that ASEAN has undergone the Singaporean flagship Smart Cities Network (ASCN), and literally the smart cities should also come with smart urban planning and smart transportation system as its pillars. Smart may be difficult to define, but it doesn’t exclusively mean technology; strict regulation of the vehicles in the cities, boosting the use of electric vehicles and diversifying public transports should be included.
Second, ASEAN should strictly control and reduce the greenhouse gases emitted from industrial companies and urbanization. ASEAN currently is ranked the world’s sixth largest economy, and its economy continues dynamically advancing with strong industry, services and construction sectors as its backbone. Despite the fact that industrial expansion is one of the engines of growth, more troubling problem — the pollution in air, water and land — is predicted if ASEAN members just take it for granted. Thus, to ensure low greenhouse gas emissions, ASEAN should spare more effort to support public-private partnership that can seek for more environmental friendly and creative low-carbon technologies in industrial sector.
Besides industrial pollution, ASEAN will also witness more rapid urbanization taking place in the region, meaning more and more people will be living in the cities in the upcoming years. According to the United Nation, over two-thirds of the world population will live in cities by 2050–90 percent of whom are expected to be in Asia and Africa. When cities are more populated, there will literally be pollution.
It is important to note that reducing the carbon footprints in fact is a part of each country’s commitment under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Reducing carbon emissions is of the essence not only to deal with the air pollution itself but also to tackle climate change by keeping the temperature below 2°C above ‘pre-industrial’ levels. Thus, improving air quality now means you are combating climate change for the future of your younger generation.
Third, ASEAN must boost investments in renewable energy and assist the least developed members with financial and technical assistance. ASEAN has more potential in wind, solar and also biomass energy, and pursuing this can make the region greener and cleaner in the future, commendably preventing the severe air pollution. So far, the regional grouping has had the ASEAN Action Plan for Energy Cooperation 2016–2025 (AAPEC) which generally aims at shoving environmental friendly way of energy production to cope with increasing demand of energy and assure the energy security as the region keeps growing economically.
However, each individual member state is still free whether to integrate fully the renewable energy into its national energy policy. For example, Cambodia — one of ASEAN newcomers — doesn’t include “a specific target of how much clean energy will share in total energy mix” in spite of its dedication to achieving renewable energy goal. With the lack of investment and technological backing, it makes even more challenging for the countries in the region to prefer clean over abundant and affordable energy.
Bad news is there is a recent report that ASEAN countries are moving in the wrong direction by planning to construct more coal power plants — the most polluting way of generating electricity. According to the report by ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE), in Southeast Asia, coal is projected to rise from 47 gigawatts (GW) in 2013 to 261 GW in 2035. But good news is ASEAN countries still have time to reconsider their energy transition strategy for the sake of regional public health, and working hands in hands to advance the common energy policy which promotes more affordable and cleaner power.
Last but not least, ASEAN should also take aim at raising public awareness among the general public through regional campaign. People in the region don’t have a broader knowledge of air pollution in general, let alone taking precarious step to address the causes and reduce the impacts. As people have to play their part, it is focal to promote the knowledge on air pollution issues especially the causes and how each individual should do to add up to the effective solutions. For instant, people can jointly shift from driving the fossil fuel combustion cars to taking public transports or even biking or walking. Plus, they can also learn to change their daily habits such as saving energy to cut down the carbon footprints.
All in all, the ball now is in Thailand’s court to lead and encourage ASEAN nations to do more about combating the regional air pollution. And, under any circumstances, ASEAN community spirit is always to keep its citizens’ health and welfare the top priority.
