VZCZCXRO4335
PP RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0091/01 1611013
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091013Z JUN 08
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0781
INFO RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU PRIORITY 0072
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0843

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000091 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ECON EAGR ECIN TH BM CH LA
SUBJECT: REDUCED BURNING LESSENED AIR POLLUTION DURING DRY SEASON 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000091  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. Chiang Mai's notoriously polluted dry season showed markedly 
improved air quality conditions from last year.  Although the 
causes of March and April pollution remain the same (crop 
burning, forest fires, and vehicle emissions), government 
efforts to make the public more aware of the dangers of burning 
seem to have had a positive affect this year.  Factors working 
against further progress, however, include high crop and fuel 
prices that make farmers reluctant to shift away from the 
expedience of burning, and the ancient practice of man-made 
forest fires among impoverished hill tribe communities.  End 
Summary. 
 
------------------------------ 
Looking Back at the Dry Season 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. With rainy season now underway, a look back at the 2008 dry 
season shows a noticeable improvement in northern Thailand's 
annual March and April air quality crisis from recent previous 
years.  The number of days when PM10 (small particles in the air 
that can cause health problems)exceeded the hazardous threshold 
(120 micrograms per cubic meter) decreased from 30 days in 2007 
to only six days during the first five months of this year.  The 
peak PM10 volume in the air also dropped from the very high and 
dangerous peak of 396 micrograms per cubic meter in 2007 to 206 
micrograms per cubic meter in 2008. 
 
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Causes of Poor Air Quality 
-------------------------- 
 
¶3. Agricultural burning, man-made forest fires, and vehicle 
emissions are the primary sources of pollution in Chiang Mai, 
said a local environmental official.  Agricultural burning 
remains the leading cause of air pollution.  Although government 
efforts to suppress the age-old slash and burn techniques of 
northern Thai farmers have been partially successful 
domestically (see para 7), burning of crop fields in Burma, 
Laos, southern China, and Vietnam means this problem is a 
regional one that is less easily fixed. 
 
¶4. Vehicle emissions contribute the least to overall pollution 
and are centralized in the urban Chiang Mai area.  Also within 
Chiang Mai, the geographic nature of the city as a river valley 
nestled between mountain ranges means the immediate area traps 
air with high PM10 content that cannot easily dissipate without 
sufficient winds or rain. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Crop Burning Under High Global Prices 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. Crop burning, seen as the main cause of poor air quality in 
March and April, is largely considered by farmers to be an 
efficient and productive means of transitioning from the harvest 
of the dry season to the initial planting of the rainy season. 
One farmer told us that his wife would be angry if he stopped 
burning for fear that a lower yield would result in low sales 
and leave the family hungry. 
 
¶6. Unfortunately, the recent spikes in the prices of 
agricultural commodities has increased the propensity to burn 
crop fields rather than to use the environmentally friendly 
option of plowing and adding organic fertilizers.  For poor 
highland farmers who tend to grow corn because of the low cost 
of necessary inputs, burning is viewed as a means of quick crop 
turnover, which is important for this low income bracket.  In 
the rice sector, the appeal of high prices is pushing farmers to 
be even more change-averse with regard to production methods. 
Moreover, the high price of fuel makes plowing rather than 
burning an unappealing option. 
 
---------------------------- 
Government More Active . . . 
---------------------------- 
 
¶7. With the aforementioned factors working against change in 
agricultural practices, the provincial government has sought a 
more active role in reducing crop burning.  Its efforts to 
reduce crop burning since 2007 are considered to be having a 
positive impact, although the practice remains relatively 
widespread.  After last year's acute air quality crisis, 
national and local level government committees were formed to 
address the issue.  The Chiang Mai governor led a campaign to 
stop burning and to educate the public about the negative health 
impact of the practice. 
 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000091  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶8. Chiang Mai is currently the only province in Thailand that 
legally bans burning and makes the practice punishable by fine 
or arrest.  Enforcement is uneven, however.  Strict enforcement 
leads to angry farmers which means fewer votes for 
locally-elected officials.  So to keep enforcement more genteel, 
officials relied on warnings and public notices against 
burnings.  Local officials told us that arrests for burning were 
few in Chiang Mai, as villagers tended to cooperate with these 
warning by law enforcement officers.  However, many Chiang Mai 
farmers reportedly avoided penalty by burning their fields at 
night. 
 
----------------------------- 
. . . But Sends Mixed Message 
----------------------------- 
 
¶9. Chiang Mai's provincial government appeared to operate with a 
different set of priorities when it came to advising the public 
about unhealthy air threats.  While this year Chiang Mai did see 
a marked reduction in the frequency and intensity of hazardous 
air days, the government elected not to issue public health 
warnings during the peak period.  Chiang Mai University radio 
reported that the Governor pleaded with local media to "tone 
down the air pollution situation" to avoid harming Chiang Mai's 
lucrative tourism industry.  At one point he publicly assured 
tourists that the air quality was not a public health concern 
this year. 
 
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No Smokey Bear 
-------------- 
 
¶10. Forest fires are increasingly a major cause of pollution in 
Chiang Mai, now accounting for 40% of the region's air 
pollution, according to local officials.  Almost always 
man-made, these fires are ignited easily in the dry foliage of 
mountainous areas as the tail end of the dry season.  The fires 
are purposefully set by minority hill tribes who believe that 
burning the soil before the rainy season will generate a high 
yield of wild mushrooms and edible plants that can be sold and 
consumed locally.  With these man-made fires taking place in 
remote areas and being set by poor and isolated communities, 
enforcement of the burning ban is costly.  Moreover, there is no 
Thai "Smokey Bear" campaign to dispel these ancient myths about 
forest fires leading to more wild vegetation. 
 
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Comment 
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¶11. Chiang Mai can (safely) breathe a sigh of relief that it 
survived a dry season with improved air quality conditions.  The 
provincial government's successful public awareness campaign 
appears to have had a real positive impact, with the peak levels 
of PM10 almost half of what they were last year.  Nonetheless, 
further progress in improving dry-season air quality will 
require the region to address pollution sources beyond Thai 
farmers; namely, burning in neighboring countries and man-made 
forest fires in remote hill tribe communities. 
MORROW