Thailand battles marine pollution with 507 tonnes of waste collected in 2020

Marine pollution issues have impinged on Thailand‘s coastal regions, with increasingly alarming statistics emerging, according to updates from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Throughout last year, there were reports of 22 oil spill events within the Gulf of Thailand, and an astonishing 507 tonnes of various waste gathered from surrounding seas, as noted by deputy government spokeswoman, Traisulee Taisaranakul.

Traisulee also indicated that these insights are derived from the ministry’s comprehensive assessment of the environmental condition in the country’s length of 24 shoreline provinces in the previous year. The sea water quality saw a marginal increase in marine pollution due to spills of oil and the indiscriminate dumping of waste predominantly originating from industrial facilities.

The report categorised the purity of seawater—concluding that just 7% of the sample tested was indeed in a very clean state; water cleanliness was rated at 57%, moderate cleanliness at 30%, with the remaining 6% identified as polluted.

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Mitch Connor