Briefs

 

 

 

Andrew Liveris, chairman and chief executive officer of Dow Chemical Company, was in Bangkok recently.

 

Aside from attending to business matters, he got involved in the donation of US$500,000 (Bt15 million) to the Thai Red Cross Society.

 

This donation is to support sustainable flood response preparedness in Thailand.

 

Power funds for communities

 

The Office of the Energy Regulatory Commission has approved over Bt43 million to cover the expenses of 20 approved electricity development funds, expecting them to submit details of investment projects at the end of this month.

 

According to Naruepat Amornkosit, deputy secretary-general of the ERC office, the expenses account for 15 per cent of all funds. The remaining amount would be allocated accordingly to their projects.

 

The projects supported by these funds – established using power plants’ contributions for the benefit of communities living around power plants nationwide – would cover 11 areas including health, agricultural development, education, religion and culture. They are established to promote coexistence of power generation and communities.

 

Japan aids ecosystem in Nong Khai

 

Wastewater, mono crop cultivation and pesticides can be deadly to rivers and the ecosystem as a whole.

 

In Faorai district, Nong Khai province, the situation is expected to change thanks to a Bt3.5 million grant from the Japanese government. The Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects Scheme (GGP) recently opened a training centre under the Protection of the Ecological System of a Songkhram Tributary project.

 

In the Khammit River basin, a Songkhram tributary flowing through Faorai district and Sophisai district of Bung Kan province, river fish have declined due to pollution caused by wastewater. It is obvious that agricultural effluent from mono crop cultivation using a lot of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is causing a serious decrease in the number of fish. On top of that, illegal logging has caused frequent floods, giving rise to natural disasters such as landslides. Besides this, soil degradation has progressed due to agricultural use of large amounts of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

 

The fund will be managed by the Network Group for Patriotic People, to recover the biodiversity of the basin as well as to improve organic agriculture and stock raising for the purpose of poverty reduction and income generation.