Every day Hong Kong empties 2 million tonnes of largely untreated waste into
coastal waters. As well as sewage, this effluent includes a range of acids,
alkalis and industrial solvents – many of them the by-products of making
printed circuit boards. The build-up of heavy metals in coastal areas has
reached critical levels.

In Kowloon Bay, some samples of sediment have been found to contain 8800
milligrams per kilogram of copper and 9.6 milligrams of cadmium. The
government’s recommended levels are 25 milligrams per kilogram for copper
and 0.4 milligrams for cadmium.

The plant is being built in the heart of an industrial area on Tsing Yi
Island by a consortium led by the American company Waste Management. Last
month, it began treating effluent from 1500 of Hong Kong’s largest
generators of waste.

The decision to offer free waste collection and disposal reflects the deep
concern in Hong Kong over the environmental damage from so much waste.
‘There are so many generators of waste in Hong Kong it is impossible to
police them all. The free service is the only way to get the plant up and
running,’ according to an environmental consultant working at the plant.

But John Boxall, assistant director of the territory’s Environmental
Protection Department, says the government believes polluters should pay for
the service and expects to introduce charges that will eventually cover the
costs of the system.

In 1992, the government introduced a registration programme to identify
where waste is produced. Any manufacturer who fails to register is liable to
a heavy fine and up to six months in jail. ‘We believe 100 per cent of the
9000 chemical waste generators have now signed up and that’s quite an
achievement,’ says Boxall.

Dengue fever is caused by four strains of virus and transmitted by infected
mosquitoes, mainly of the species Aedes aegypti. With increased movement
of human populations and environmental changes that favour the breeding
of the mosquitoes, the disease is becoming more and more widespread. Dengue
fever can progress to the more serious dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF),
which affects mainly children, killing up to one in five if it goes untreated.

A team at Mahidol University in Bangkok, led by Natth Bhamarapravati,
has tested the new vaccine in 200 Thai adult volunteers and a smaller group
of teenagers. The vaccine is based on live, weakened virus. It appears to
be safe and it also stimulates an immune response against all four dengue
viruses, says Natth. ‘We don’t know if it gives protection for life but
the longest lasting antibody we can detect is about 9 years,’ he says. Now
the team plans to put the vaccine to its ultimate test, by conducting field
trials in up to 15 000 children at risk of natural infection with dengue
viruses.

Preliminary estimates of sulphur dioxide emissions have already been
compiled and mapped for 14 Asian countries. Asian, European and North American
researchers met in Bangkok last month to discuss the future of the project.

Speaking after the meeting, Wesley Foell of the environmental engineering
company, Resource Management Associates (RAM), said that the project was
more than a mapping exercise. ‘Our goal is to assist countries in devising
policy strategies for emission reduction.’ RAM collaborated with the Argonne
National Laboratory in the US and the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok
in the early stages of the project.

The researchers rely on a computer model called RAINS, which was developed
in Vienna at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. RAINS-EUROPE
has now been adopted by the European Community to guide policy makers tackling
problems caused by acid rain.

RAINS generates maps showing where acid rain will fall, using data on,
for example, acid-forming emissions from power stations, their positions,
and wind and rainfall patterns. Details of critical loads of ecosystems
– the amount of a pollutant that a habitat can tolerate before sustaining
permanent damage – are also fed into RAINS to model the damage that acid
rain will cause over relatively small areas.

‘We must look at the pros and cons in each situation,’ he told a press
conference during the Second Princess Chulabhorn Science Congress in Bangkok.

His comments came immediately after a meeting with the King of Thailand
at which they discussed the sensitive issue of the social and environmental
impact of dams in the country, said Tolba. ‘The King is concerned that environmentalists
are causing a good deal of discontent on the matter.’

Tolba’s stance surprised the environmental community in Thailand, a
country which plans to build a number of large dams in protected national
parks. ‘I think Mr Tolba should reserve his comments. Environmentalists
in Thailand have been very careful to study each dam to ensure we are not
saying negative things unless we have adequate knowledge or information
about the likely impacts,’ said Suraphol Sudara, a marine scientist and
president of the Siam Environment Club.

The Royal Irrigation Department plans to build four large dams to head
off an imminent crisis in water supply. ¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵs say that within a few
years a water shortage will cause severe problems in Bangkok and in the
country’s ‘rice bowl’ – the region of the central plain.

The Kaeng Sua Ten dam, which is to be built in the Mae Yom National
Park in the northern province of Lampang, is particularly controversial
because it is estimated that it will flood more than 4000 hectares of golden
teak forest. ‘That is one of the biggest of the few areas of golden teak
forest remaining in the country,’ said Suraphol.

The irrigation department defends the decision because of the severity
of the looming water crisis. ‘There must be flooding; it is unavoidable.
It is an unintentional coincidence that the area to be flooded is forest,’
says Pramote Maiklad, a senior official in the department.

Witoon Permpongsachareon, director of the Project for Ecological Recovery,
says dams are not the answer: ‘The effects of large dams reverberate endlessly.
One dam destroys forest and rain catchment and then when there is less water,
the irrigation department will call for another dam and another.’

‘What Thailand has done places them at the forefront of energy conservation
and energy efficiency in the developing world,’ says Mark Cherniak, director
of the Asian office of the International Institute of Energy Conservation,
a nongovernmental organisation based in Washington DC.

Thailand achieved the highest economic growth rate in the world during
the late 1980s. If this growth continues, the country is likely to suffer
blackouts similar to those in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines
and Vietnam, where demand for electricity is outstripping supply. The package
of measures now introduced is based on calculations that show it is cheaper
to improve the efficiency with which electricity is used than to build new
power stations. One other hope of the programme is that it will stop Thailand
considering nuclear power as a solution to its power supply problem.

The Thai plan includes setting up a $60 million energy conservation
fund to stimulate consumer demand for energy efficient products. The money
will be used to convince consumers to buy household goods such as air conditioning
units, refrigerators and light bulbs that are economical with energy. A
tax on oil and other refinery products is expected to raise $55 million
a year for the fund.

A second arm of the programme is a five-year scheme to introduce a ‘set
of tools’ to enable generating companies to supply electricity at the lowest
economic and environmental cost. The companies will be encouraged to adopt
a new tariff system to smooth out the peaks and troughs in demand, and to
convince their consumers to reduce their energy use. This part of the project,
which is projected to cost $183 million, is funded partly by the World Bank’s
Global Environment Fund.

The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) estimates that
by 2010 it will have to more than triple its generating capacity to 30 000
megawatts. The capital investment for an expansion of this size could reach
$30 billion.

EGAT and the institute claim that the package of measures which has
now been introduced has the potential to cut growth in the electricity supply
by a quarter over the next decade. Koomchoak Biyaem, assistant director
of EGAT’s economic policy department, says the initiative will ‘free up
new power’ more cheaply than building new power plants.

Under an updated Environmental Protection Act, which came into force
in June, the government declared the two holiday centres priority areas
for environmental restoration and conservation. The government and the city
authorities now have sweeping powers to control developments along the coast
and to force polluting businesses and hotels to clean up.

Since 24 July, 30 businesses in Pattaya have been fined for pollution-related
offences. Consistent offenders face fines of more than £2000 and six-month
jail terms.

Under the new act, an environment fund has been created with an initial
£100 million to pay for environmental rehabilitation schemes. Nearly
80 per cent of the money is being devoted to cleaning up Phuket and Pattaya.
The first priority is to provide sewage treatment facilities.

‘Most of the polluted water comes from hotels and these people never
seem to have shown any concern about the environment,’ said Kasem Snidvongse,
a senior official in Thailand’s new Ministry of Science, Technology and
Environment. ‘Some hotels have installed the proper treatment facilities
but they have simply refused to use them.’ He warned that unless quick action
was taken to save the resorts ‘our tourist industry is ruined.’

The industry, which brings in around £2 billion a year, has been
badly affected by the bloody clashes between troops and pro-democracy protesters
in May. And the growing number of reports about the country’s environmental
problems are expected to put off many prospective visitors. Last year 5.1
million people visited the country; this year the number is expected to
fall below four million.

Thailand, a country with a poor record on environmental issues, has
taken several steps this year to address its problems. Added to the Environmental
Protection Act are five other pieces of environmental legislation, including
the Wildlife Conservation Act, Hazardous Substances Act, Promotion of Energy
Conservation Act, the Public Health Act and the updated Factories Act.

Environmental groups argue that with the exception of Singapore, a city-state
with vigorous controls over the number of cars allowed on the road, the
steps will do little to prevent further deterioration of air quality in
cities where the number of vehicles is projected to grow rapidly.

A study in Bangkok in 1990 suggested more than 900 000 of the city’s
7 million inhabitants suffered chronic respiratory problems and other illnesses
caused by air pollution.

In May, the World Bank’s 1992 World Development Report said: ‘Estimates
for Bangkok suggest that the average child has lost four or more IQ points
by the age of seven because of elevated exposure to lead . . . in adults
the consequences include risks of higher blood pressure and higher risks
of heart attack, strokes and death.’

The region is the fastest-growing market for cars, with Thailand and
Indonesia at the top of the league. Sales in Thailand grew 30 per cent a
year between 1988 and 1991 and there are now more than two million vehicles
in the capital.

At best the laws will maintain a bad situation, said Mike Dunne, a consultant
on Southeast Asia for the car industry. The most effective way to improve
air quality would be to limit the number of new registrations. ‘They do
it in Singapore but it is unlikely to happen in the other countries,’ said
Dunne.

In mid-March, 9000 tonnes of molasses leaked from a silo into the Nam
Pong river in the province of Khon Kaem. The pollution has now spread into
the Chee and Mool rivers, two other tributaries of the Mekong, turning the
water black. Bacteria proliferating in the polluted rivers consumed all
the oxygen dissolved in the water, suffocating fish and other freshwater
animals.

In the past month, the traditional fishing communities along the three
rivers have reported large numbers of dead fish. Government officials estimate
that half a tonne of fish have died for each kilometre of contaminated water.

¿ìè¶ÌÊÓƵs say recovery of fish stocks will be hindered by the construction
of a dam on the Mool river 5 kilometres upstream from the Mekong. ‘It is
clear that the polluted water has killed most of the fish that are about
to breed. The Pak Mool Dam will prevent new fish from swimming up from the
Mekong to breed. It could lead to the extinction of many fish species in
the rivers,’ says Phinit Seepitakkiat, of the Freshwater Fisheries Centre,
in Ubon Ratchathani province.

The Mekong and its tributaries are home to 141 species of fish. ‘Nothing
can compensate for the loss of these species,’ added Phinit.

Officials from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment have
been investigating the impact of the pollution. According to Wijai Simachaya,
of the ministry’s pollution control department, the biological oxygen demand
– a measure of how much of the oxygen in the water is being consumed – reached
extremely high levels. ‘Dissolved oxygen levels upstream of the river were
measured at 5 milligrams a litre while below they had fallen to between
one and zero,’ says Wijai. Attempts have been made to dilute the molasses
by releasing water from two dams upstream.

The factory which caused the pollution, the Khon Khaen sugar mill, has
been closed while officials investigate the spill. Although the owners of
the mill can be prosecuted, they will not face the tough fines and possible
prison sentences which will be used against polluters when Thailand’s National
Environment Protection Act comes into force in June.

Officials from the two countries say that the agreement by 41 multinational
companies – 30 Japanese and 11 American – should be a model for other companies
working in Asia and in Latin America and Africa.

In Bangkok the companies agreed to phase out their use of CFCs and other
ozone-depleting chemicals on the same schedule that they have agreed in
their own countries – and faster than they are required to by the Montreal
Protocol, the international agreement to protect the ozone layer.

The protocol calls for a ban on all CFCs by the year 2000. But after
the recent finding that the ozone layer is disappearing faster than first
anticipated in both northern and southern hemispheres, several countries
have decided to phase out the chemicals much sooner. President Bush announced
last month that the US would cease all production of CFCs by the end of
1995.

Under the Montreal Protocol, developing countries such as Thailand were
given an extra 10 years to comply, in an attempt to ensure that their development
is not held up by the restriction.

Although Thailand does not manufacture any of the ozone-destroying chemicals
itself, imports of CFCs have increased fivefold since 1986. Some environmentalists
claim that the massive increase in imports is a sign that foreign companies
moved industries to get round restrictions in their own countries.

‘The big advance for Thailand is that these Japanese and US companies
are phasing out CFC solvents and refrigerants and other ozone-depleting
substances on the same schedule as their home countries. Some of the US
companies are committed to (phasing out CFCs by) 1992, 1993 and 1994,’ says
Stephen Andersen, director of technology transfer and industry programmes
with the US Environmental Protection Agency. ‘What it means for Thailand
is that it’s going to get a large reduction in CFCs very fast. This development
shows a new standard of corporate responsibility – it can be used as a model
by countries and companies worldwide,’ adds Anderson.

‘This agreement comes because of Japanese companies’ obligations as
global citizens in the international community. They know they are responsible
for quite a big percentage of ozone-depleting substances in this country,’
says Yoshihiko Sumi, of the Ozone Layer Protection Office at Japan’s Ministry
of International Trade and Industry.

The campaigners are also concerned that the hundreds of animals seized
during police raids around the country are being kept in poor conditions.
The Thai authorities have not provided holding centres equipped to take
animals such as tigers, Asiatic black bears, crocodiles, simbar, barking
deer and many species of birds.

The 1992 Wildlife Conservation Law brings Thai legislation into step
with the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna which the country signed in 1984. The law
was drafted last year after an international campaign co-ordinated by the
World Wide Fund for Nature highlighted Thailand’s key role in the trade
in endangered specIes.

‘The 1992 law does have many good elements but it was rushed through
parliament and there are problems,’ says Corrigan. ‘The temporary facilities
for keeping the animals are very poor but they cannot be reintroduced to
the wild because animals raised by humans lack basic survival skills and
they are often infected with diseases you don’t find among wild populations.’