subject: Thailand Lawyers Facing A Mess Of Environmental Impact Guidelines [print this page] Thailand is a rapidly developing country; one where the needs of big business and people living a rural lifestyle, heavily dependent on their environment, must somehow co-exists. These clashing needs have come to a head recently in Map Ta Phut, where villagers are experiencing extensive pollution problems, greatly impacting their quality of life, due to industrial development projects.
Business and the public have gone head to head over the past months in a Thai law battleground. Today, law firms in Thailand are examining the problem, key considerations, and legal developments that may impact developers.
Villagers in Map Ta Phut and environmental groups believe that the change is long overdue. The residents of the area have seen enormous environmental changes over their lifetimes, with large industrial buildings going up year after year. One year, every child and teacher at the local school was struck down with respiratory disease at the same time. There have been reports of mercury in the sea, and the cancer rate in the Rayong district where Map Ta Phut is, stands at 156 per 100,000 people, compared to a national average of 131.
Local water samples are high in iron, manganese, and lead - far beyond the acceptable standards set out by Thai law. The villager's court win means that Thai law consulting firms for the villagers had a more convincing argument than the corporate legal services in Thailand representing the big business in the area.
In what seems like a small win for the villagers, there have been enormous shock waves go through the industrial world. Over seventy projects in the area have been halted under a Thai law injunction, and the Stop Global Warming action group is trying to have a further 181 halted, pending community approval.
It is this community approval that is at the heart of the debate. Article 67 is at the heart of this Thai law debate, which states that industrial developments would have to seek community approval, not council or government approval, to go ahead with their projects. This puts Thai law directly in the hands of the people, in a move that is almost unprecedented in the world.
Big business (SCG Chemicals president Chonlanat Yanaranop) says that 17,000 jobs are at stake - many of which might belong to the same villagers whose health is being affected by the plants currently in operation. There have also been estimates of a 0.4% lowering of GDP this financial year due to the injunctions, by the Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij.
Currently, the debate centers around the government's criteria as to which projects should be stopped, and which well-managed and environmentally sound ones can continue to go ahead. In the future, though, Thai law consulting firms expect that this will be the beginning of a long and drawn-out debate, particularly if the public will be adjudicating business affairs.
Thailand lawyers are advising that the wisest course is for business to ensure that their projects are managed properly, include checks and balances in the environmental stakes, and include long term measures to ensure that pollution doesn't affect nearby residents.
