World
As Thailand Gasps Through Another Haze Season, Researchers Hope A Fire-Charting App Can Help
Samoeng, Thailand — When the hazy season arrives, village chief Nanthawat Tiengtrongsakun and his tribesmen prepare the land for fires.
They chop bushes and trees on their little plots of land, then conduct controlled burns to clear their fields for planting – resulting in smoke clouds contributing to some of the world’s worst air. It’s a pleasant grey haze that reduces the mountains in this region of northern Thailand to a faint outline, makes the air feel solid, and makes breathing and swallowing difficult for some.
The Pakanyo, who have been practicing it for as long as they have lived in these hills around 90 minutes from Chiang Mai, a popular tourist destination, claim they are accused by city inhabitants of polluting the air and ruining forest land.
“We are the ethnic group that preserves the forest, but other people have the concern that we are destroying the forest,” stated Tiengtrongsakun. “My argument to them is that we’ve lived here for generations. If we are the ones who caused the devastation, the forest around us must be completely destroyed.”
The Pakanyo is just one example of several reasons demonstrating how deeply fire is embedded in local behaviors and why Thailand’s air pollution problem is so intractable.
During the haze season, which lasts from February to April, Chiang Mai is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most polluted cities. In March and April, the levels of fine particulate matter — dust, dirt, soot, and smoke that enter the lungs and even bloodstreams — are almost 20 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit for exposure.
Thailand | AP News Image
As Thailand Gasps Through Another Haze Season, Researchers Hope A Fire-Charting App Can Help
The city is in the vanguard of Thailand’s fight against air pollution, not only because of its deadly air quality index readings but also because it has a strong civil society and a significant local government effort to address the issue. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has reinforced this endeavor, having visited Chiang Mai four times since entering office last summer. He has referred to Chiang Mai as a “model” that other Thai cities should follow, and he promised last autumn to push through clean air legislation to “ensure that access to clean air is a basic human right for all.”
Air pollution in northern Thailand has typically been blamed on farmers who grow maize and sell it to large agro-food corporations such as CP Foods for animal feed. There are alternative ways to deal with stubble, such as biochar, which includes burning in a low-oxygen atmosphere, resulting in lesser particle emissions. However, this needs a large amount of labor in highland locations. Even if most subsistence farmers had the necessary tools, tilling the stubble into the soil would be difficult due to the mountainous terrain.
CP announced in March that it has implemented a traceability system to prevent the purchase of maize grown on deforested or burned land. The same month, Srettha stated that he intends to ban the import of maize cultivated on land cleared by burning.
However, the problem extends beyond northern Thailand. According to researchers, corn planting has transferred primarily to neighboring Myanmar and Laos, where stubble burning is also practiced. Srettha has formed a working group with those countries to reduce the practice and urged Cambodia to join.
Chiang Mai University researchers investigated the origins of the city’s air pollution and found in April in the journal Atmospheric Environment that biomass burning accounted for more than 51% of the haze. According to the report, long-range pollution from other nations, most likely India, accounted for the second-largest percentage, almost 23%.
Fire is an important component of northern Thai culture, with local sayings predicting a period of development and rejuvenation. In everyday life, it is used to clean the forest floor to manage wildfires, to open space for an expensive fungus to develop that will bring in more money, and to remove the ground of loud leaves as part of hunting techniques.
Thailand | AP News Image
As Thailand Gasps Through Another Haze Season, Researchers Hope A Fire-Charting App Can Help
According to Olivier Evrard, a senior researcher at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) headquartered in Thailand, fire is also frequently used as a protest method. A national issue emerged in 2018 when residents found that a judiciary branch had erected a dwelling and residential complex on protected forest property at the base of a sacred mountain outside Chiang Mai. They subsequently left the property due to the outrage, although fires are still set around the spot each year, most likely in protest.
There has been no shortage of policies aiming to control burning. Beginning in 2013, Thailand implemented a national zero-burning directive, with different provinces enforcing a blanket ban on burning at different times.
However, residents responded by burning before and after the zero-burn time, extending the haze season, according to Mary Mostafanezhad, a University of Hawaii professor researching air pollution in Chiang Mai. After determining that the zero-burning policy was ineffective, Chiang Mai province implemented a different policy: fires could be started as long as they were pre-approved.
The fires will be reported through FireD, an app Chiang Mai University professor Chakrit Chotamonsak created. The program utilizes weather and satellite data to anticipate if a fire on a specific day will increase pollution or if conditions will clear the smoke and pollutants.
The researchers estimate that up to half of the fires in the province are not registered, but they still see the app as a significant start. Even the decision to use FireD, a transliteration of “good fire” in Thai, in 2021 was significant, according to Chaya Vaddhanaphuti, an independent researcher who cooperated with the FireD team.
“This changes the perspective that fire was seen as a bad image, as savage,” he added, pointing out that many people in rural northern Thailand rely on fire.
Thailand | AP News Image
As Thailand Gasps Through Another Haze Season, Researchers Hope A Fire-Charting App Can Help
However, the villagers find it weird that they are being asked to fill out papers for permission to do something they already know how to do: set a planned burn in favorable weather to clear a section of land for the future year’s crops.
This year, Tiengtrongsakun, the Pakanyo chief in the village of Ban Mae Lan Kham, completed documentation for 100 households that needed to start a fire to clear fields. Only some people in the area speak Thai or know current government policy.
“If we hand them the document or registration form, they don’t know what to do with it,” he stated. “Often they just throw the papers away.”
According to researchers, officials must evaluate people’s living conditions and the specifics of where land is being burned and why. However, it is tough due to politics and economics. Many people who live in the hills around Chiang Mai belong to tribal tribes that the Thai government does not officially recognise. Others need help with obtaining a solid education and finding work. For now, burning remains the most efficient and cost-effective means for people to accomplish their tasks, whether farming, hunting, or clearing the forest floor.
“If burning is the easiest and most cost-efficient way to grow your crops, or to make a living, until that is not true, it’s going to continue to happen,” stated Mostafanezhad.
SOURCE – (AP)
Mount Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site and Japanese icon, has implemented new climbing limits in response to concerns about overpopulation.
Beginning July 1, climbers must pay 2,000 yen ($12.40) per person, and there is a daily limit of 4,000 climbers.
Mount Fuji | Japan Times
Japan’s Mount Fuji Implements Tourist Tax In Response To Overcrowding Concerns
“By strongly promoting comprehensive safety measures for climbing Mount Fuji, we will ensure that Mount Fuji, a world treasure, is passed down to future generations,” stated Koutaro Nagasaki, governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, when he announced the new laws earlier this year.
“To revitalize traditional mountain climbing from the foot of Mount Fuji, we shall get a thorough grasp of the Fuji-ko and Oshi cultures that fostered Mount Fuji worship. We hope to connect different civilizations through mountain climbing, which is steeped in religious cultural values.”
Fuji-ko is a religion unique to the mountains.
Human traffic bottlenecks, garbage-strewn hillsides, and poorly dressed hikers – some attempting the trip in sandals – are among the challenges afflicting the renowned Japanese destination.
In addition, new guides will oversee trail safety and notify climbers if they violate mountain etiquette, such as sleeping along the trail, making a fire, or wearing inappropriate attire.
According to prefectural data, five million people hiked Mount Fuji in 2019, up three million from 2012.
“Overtourism – and all the subsequent consequences like rubbish, rising CO2 emissions, and reckless hikers – is the biggest problem facing Mount Fuji,” Masatake Izumi, a Yamanashi prefectural government official, told CNN Travel last year.
In 2023, a volunteer named Tomoyo Takahashi told CNN that she planned to ask tourists to donate 1,000 yen ($6.20) to help maintain the mountain.
“Not everyone pays the 1,000 yen, which makes me sad. “There should be a much higher mandatory entrance fee so that only visitors who truly value Mount Fuji’s heritage come,” she stated.
Takahashi will finally achieve her wish.
Mount Fuji | CNN Image
Japan’s Mount Fuji Implements Tourist Tax In Response To Overcrowding Concerns
The new limitations, however, only apply to Yamanashi prefecture, which has the most popular hiking trails. Fuji is also located in Shizuoka prefecture, which has yet to have any tariffs or visiting restrictions. Governor Nagasaki told reporters that he and Shizuoka’s governor will meet at the end of the climbing season to swap notes.
Overtourism has become a major issue in Japan since the country reopened during the pandemic.
Locals in Kyoto’s historic Gion area have expressed concern over tourists flocking to photograph and sometimes harass the geisha who live and work there, giving them the term “geisha paparazzi.”
While the city has posted signs and boards urging visitors not to photograph geisha, several locals told CNN Travel that more is needed. The neighborhood council proposed issuing fines or penalties.
Hatsukaichi, in Hiroshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has also been hit. The little hamlet is notable for its orange “floating shrine” torii gate, part of a 1,400-year-old Shinto complex.
In October 2023, the town started charging 100 yen (62 cents) for visitors to the temple. The “tourist tax” funds the site’s maintenance and infrastructure.
SOURCE – (CNN)
Hurricane Beryl is raging over the Windward Islands as a Category 4, bringing high gusts, heavy rain, and a life-threatening storm surge after landfall on Monday.
According to NOAA statistics dating back to 1851, it is the strongest storm to pass through this region.
Beryl | AP news image
Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall As Life-Threatening Category 4 Storm
Beryl made landfall shortly after 11:00 a.m. EDT on the Grenadines’ Carriacou Island in the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm caused power outages, flooded streets, and brought storm surge flooding to sections of the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Tobago on Monday.
Beryl’s arrival marks a particularly early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. On Sunday, it became the Atlantic Ocean’s earliest Category 4 storm on record and the only one in June. The bathtub-warm ocean conditions that aided Beryl’s worrisome strengthening strongly indicate that this hurricane season will be abnormal due to global warming caused by fossil fuel pollution.
According to Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at the charity First Street Foundation, Beryl is smashing June records because the ocean is as warm as it would be during hurricane season.
“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they only know what their ambient environment is,” Kossin told CNN on Wednesday. “Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it’s September.”
Kossin noted that the ocean heat driving Beryl’s extraordinary power “certainly has a human fingerprint on it.”
Beryl is the Atlantic’s first big hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in 58 years. According to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan, the storm’s quick intensification is unusual for this early in hurricane season. According to NOAA statistics, tropical systems, particularly strong ones, rarely form in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June.
The storm isn’t simply early in the season. It is presently the Atlantic Ocean’s third-earliest significant storm. The first was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which reached major hurricane status on June 27, 1957.
Beryl also broke the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the Tropical Atlantic in June, surpassing the previous record established in 1933.
Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall As Life-Threatening Category 4 Storm
August is generally a more active month in the Middle and Eastern Atlantic because warmer water temperatures fuel emerging systems.
This year, the Atlantic basin has had above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the shift from El Niño to La Niña season, fueling tropical development.
“Beryl has found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” she said.
According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, systems forming in this section of the Atlantic early in the summer signify the upcoming hyperactive hurricane season. Normally, water temperatures in June and July do not support tropical ecosystems.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan said.
SOURCE – (CNN)
World
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, strengthened into an extremely hazardous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph Sunday morning as it approached the Windward Islands.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 storm to occur in June.
Tropical storm-force winds will likely hit the Windward Islands late Sunday or early Monday.
The early timing of the season’s first storm is rare, considering the average date is August 11.
As of 11 a.m, ET, Beryl was about 355 miles east-southeast of Barbados and headed west.
“A life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore flow near where the eye makes landfall in the hurricane warning area,” the National Hurricane Center stated, adding that the surge could bring huge and damaging waves near the shoreline.
Hurricane Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
The hurricane is rapidly strengthening, reaching 55 mph in the 24 hours preceding Sunday morning. The National Hurricane Center defines rapid intensification as an increase in maximum sustained wind speed of 35 mph or more within 24 hours.
“We’re forecasting rapid intensification and expect Beryl to become a major hurricane before it reaches places like Barbados and the Windward islands, and to continue to be a powerful hurricane as it moves into the eastern and central Caribbean as we go into the early portions of next week,” Mike Brennan, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.
Brennan advised residents in hurricane-prone areas to prepare for major storm consequences. Beryl increases the possibility of torrential rainfall, damaging hurricane-force winds, and severe storm surges and waves. According to the center, rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches could cause localized flooding in the Windward Islands on Sunday night and Monday.
According to the weather center, the hurricane is anticipated to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain on Barbados and the Windward Islands through Monday.
Beryl is the Atlantic’s first big hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in 58 years. According to Brennan, the storm’s quick intensification is rare at this early stage of the hurricane season. According to NOAA statistics, only a few tropical systems, particularly powerful ones, formed in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June.
Hurricane Beryl | Getty Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Beryl is not only early for this hurricane season but also the third-earliest significant hurricane in the Atlantic. The first was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1996, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which became a significant storm on June 27, 1957.
The storm has already broken the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the Tropical Atlantic in June, surpassing the previous record established in 1933.
August is generally a more active month in the Middle and Eastern Atlantic because warmer water temperatures fuel emerging systems.
This year, the Atlantic basin has had above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the shift from El Niño to La Niña season, fueling tropical development.
“Beryl has found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” she said.
Warmer waters in the Atlantic Basin have allowed tropical storms and hurricanes to develop at a faster rate in an eastward direction, according to Brennan. This allows storms to become more powerful and thus more destructive earlier in the hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30.
“These are ocean water you’d normally see like in August or September, but now we’re seeing them in late June,” according to Brennan. “It’s kind of opening up more of the deep tropical Atlantic for formation before we get to what would be the traditional peak of the hurricane season.”
Caribbean islands encourage citizens to prepare ahead of the hurricane.
Authorities are encouraging inhabitants to take precautions, with many Caribbean nations under hurricane watches and warnings as Hurricane Beryl approaches and intensifies.
Hurricane Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Officials in Barbados believe the hurricane will hit the island as early as late Sunday night. Its meteorological agency predicts storm-force winds, 3 to 6 inches of rain, “hazardous” maritime conditions, and strong thunderstorms that may cause power outages.
“All of the regular hurricane preparations that we do are in full swing,” Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams stated. “We have less than 48 hours till we may observe the consequences of this system on Barbados. Please spend your time wisely.”
According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, systems forming in this section of the Atlantic early in the summer signify the upcoming hyperactive hurricane season. Normally, water temperatures in June and July do not support tropical ecosystems.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service estimate 17 to 25 named storms this season, with eight to 13 developing into hurricanes, including four to seven major hurricanes.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan said.
The National Weather Service says that’s “due to a confluence of factors, including near-record warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, development of La Nina conditions in the Pacific, reduced Atlantic trade winds and less wind shear, all of which tend to favor tropical storm formation.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
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