Thailand loses big in global environment ranking
Lack of measures and government interest has pulled Thailand’s environment ranking down from 78 to 108 among 180 countries, an academic said citing a Yale University survey.
Kasetsart University lecturer Witsanu Attavanich said on Sunday that Thailand has dropped eight points from 85 to 93 in the ranking for air quality. Similarly, the country has dropped to 100 and 129 from 84 and 101 in waste management and eco-preservation, respectively.
Even though biodiversity and natural habitats in Thailand have improved and it has risen in ranking to 107 from 114, the country still does not meet the global criteria, he said.
Witsanu said this drop in ranking proves that Thais pay little attention to the environment, as evidenced by the drop in funds allocated for tackling this issue.
Even though the budget for the environment has been raised to 10.22 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, it is still lower than the 10.94 billion baht allocated in 2019, 12.86 billion baht in 2020 and 16.14 billion baht in 2021, he said.
He said Thailand’s environment will suffer further if the government does not tackle this issue immediately.