PM Prayut praises tourism activities to protect environment

The Prime Minister, Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, has praised activities arranged by government agencies and private companies in the tourism sector promoting environment conservation, stressing the government’s commitment to reduce environmental impact from tourism and development.

Gen. Prayut praised the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), other related government agencies, and private companies for their efforts to promote environment conservation from various activities. He gave examples on the Trad Dream Islands Run 2018, where runners helped collect garbage, and the World Ocean Day event in Phuket joined by some 60 entrepreneurs from Africa who also helped collect garbage on the beach.

The premier acknowledged concerns and complaints regarding environmental impact from tourism, such as the violation of building restrictions on Phi Phi Island, the operation of diving tours outside authorized areas, the modification of commercial buildings into accommodation, as well as illegal employment and hosting of foreigners, all of which are being handled by related state agencies.

Gen. Prayut stressed that the government has over the past 4 years been working to solve the waste problem by promoting the reduction of wasteful items production, and promoting the practice of reuse and recycling, and to manage 30 million tons of left over waste, and 27 million tons of new waste generated annually.

One of the efforts the government has successfully achieved is the ban of plastic cap seal usage with bottles, and the promotion for the use of environmentally friendly material usage of containers. The government has also announced marine national parks in 15 provinces to be plastic bag free areas, and ban smoking and littering at 24 beaches.

The Prime Minister said markets, retail shops, and houses by the sea have also been inspected, and they have been encouraged to reduce the use of plastic bag to minimize waste. All the efforts have received recognition from the United Nations’ (UN) environmental agencies.

NNT

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