Thailand
faces many environmental issues as the country grows. A few of the largest problems are
deforestation and pollution. Pollution
encompasses many other problems that continue to get worse as well. According to a piece called, “Environmental
Problems in Thailand,” on www.slideshare.net,
the company is increasing restrictions on logging and resulted in a drop in the
rate of deforestation. Before this, the
forest coverage in Thailand fell from 53% in 1961 to 25% in 1998. Deforestation may be getting mended but the
same impacts are felt by erosion.
Pollution
is a huge problem in Thailand because the country is moving so quickly in
industrial expansion. Pollution is
happening in the air and water. The increasing
population numbers mixed with the polluted air is causing health problems. Citizens grow up breathing in toxins.
“Environmental
Problems in Thailand” listed that, “approximately one third of Thailand’s
surface water bodies are considered to be of poor quality.” Waste such as sewage is finding it’s way into
the water supply of Thailand and causing not just problems for the citizens but
for the wildlife, marine environment, and plants as well. This all puts pressure on Thailand’s water
resources.
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| A canal in Bangkok that is overflowing with garbage Image by Adam Janofsky http://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/thailand-conservation-sustainability-rivers-roads-water-air-pollution-trash-Bangkok |
Solutions
to this are found through organizations like Wildlife Fund Thailand (WFT)
that’s in association with World Wildlife Fund.
The program creates projects across the nation and focuses on bettering
the environment. The organization
establishes goals and furthers development in Thailand. WFT combined with the help of the government;
Thailand has begun dealing with their environmental issues. But before they can stop these problems in
their tracks, climate change is happening.
Climate
change has so much to do with human rights.
How are people and cultures supposed to continue their traditions and
grow as a group if the life and land they know is changing beneath them? The reading last week of “The Inuit Right to
Culture Based on Ice and Snow,” by
Shelia Watt-Cloutier proved just that.
As people have been raised and developed a sense for what’s around them,
elements like the temperature can’t just change. Their lives are used to one thing. Imagine if Missouri quickly changed to being
like Alaska, what would we do? Our
culture is used to being cold but not Alaska cold.
Every
culture has crafted their lifestyle to fit the world around them and climate
change should not take that away. One of
the basic human rights is the right to life.
As humans we have the right to our lives and climate change challenges
our lives.
Dr.
Elizabeth Lindsey gave great points about how the changing world around us is
changing the way the younger generations are learning and growing up. She gave an example of when she was filming
and had to push the equipment across the island in a wheel barrel. A native man stopped her and said, “You all
have watches but you have no time.” Dr.
Lindsey related this back to the lifestyle she is accustomed to. Always being in a hurry but never taking the
opportunity to slow down and live her life.
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| A Thai women protests for her human rights and for her country. |
The main
points of Farish A. Noor in “Beyond Eurocentrism,” were asking if we really had
a universal set of human rights, how could this be judged, how this relates to
different cultures, religions and traditions, and the main obstacles that are
faced. This relates to Thailand because
the human rights that are offered here in the United States aren’t the same as
in Thailand so how are they any different humans than us? Who makes the choices of what rights we
deserve as humans. Noor talks about the
Western dominance in politics and economics.
Everyone around the world may encounter American fast food and know
American pop stars, but the values of American aren’t the beliefs and values of
everyone around the world. Different
cultures and religions see the guideline of human rights differently all around
the globe. We as humans face so many
obstacles just to get the rights we deserve for being humans. Obstacles pop up when we’re a certain race or
religion or just live in a different part of the world. Human rights are difficult concepts to make
everyone in the world believe them all.
Thailand
faces many issues on it’s own through environmental problems and the rights of
humans being unequal. As time goes on
and organizations like WFT team up with the government to get the environmental
problems under control and the rights humans deserve continue to be expressed,
Thailand will continue to grow and become a healthier country.
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