Submitted to:

OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ANDPLANNING

MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGYAND ENVIRONMENT
Royal Thai Government,
Bangkok, Thailand
4G-5
Mandar Parasnis
Dr. Cltaiyod Bunyagidj
THAILAND ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE
Bangkok, Thailand
THE UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL
DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (UNIOO)
Bangkok, Thailand
1"0
Th::Jiland Erwiloomer.1 In"Ml!tR
Supported by:
Prepared by:
338.609593
P212C
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A number of other specific problems could also be identified:
2.4 Barriers and Problems in Environmental Management Practices
In addition to the above mentioned Thai organizations a number bilateral and multilateral international
organizations have been working in Thailand viz. UNIDO, UNEP, GTZ, US AEP, DANCED etc.
2.3 Role of other institutions, academia, NGOs in environmental management
in Thai/and
January 1998
Page 10 of39 Contribution To The Formulation of National CP Policies in Thailand
o Much of the relevant legislation and many of the associated standards are based on the American
model. They are inappropriate because in many cases too stringent, and therefore unenforceable.
o The design of standards was not linked to the investigation of technologies that would enable
industrialists to comply.
o Without a central environmental agency, responsibility for enforcernent is unclear and spread
across a variety of Governmental bodies with conflicting jurisdiction.
o The proliferation of un-enforced or unenforceable laws and regulations arising from a large
number of agencies has created an atmosphere of tolerance that further hampers enforcement.
o The factory permitting system is not designed to allow for a close day-to-day supervision of
industrial plants by the Department of Industrial Works (DIW). Moreover, DIW suffer a severe
shortage of qualified staff.
o Costs to polluters, even if leveled, are too low to induce investments in pollution control
equipment. However, when factories can afford the fines and do not have the fear for their
The eXisting legislative and regulatory framework in Thailand has been largely ineffective in
controlling industrial pollution. The fundamental underlying problem is two-fold:
o Lack of dornestic capabilities and capacity related to sampling, monitoring and other aspects of
waste management, and to the enforcement of regulatory measures.
o Lack of co-ordinated management of the environment sector.
o Insufficient Government staff to meet the groWing need of monitoring of industrial pollution and
enforcement of environmental legislation (This problem is further complicated by the Government
policy of freezing the existing staff and stopping any new recruitment).
A number of other institutionslorganizations have also been acting as catalyst in the environmental
management in Thailand.
o The Thailand Productivity Institute, a semi-autonomous institution under the Mol. Once buyers put
increased pressure on Thai sub-suppliers to improve their environmental performance in order to
attain ISO 14000 certification it can be expected that industries will look to the Productivity Institute
for advice..
o Thailand Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) is the key institution for the definition and
implementation of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certification.
o The Federation of Thai Industries, FTI has more than 3000 member firms divided into 26 industry
groups and 16 provincial clubs. At the policy level, the FTI serves as representative for Thailand's
manufacturers to ensure that changing policies and regulations reflect the private sector
perspective. FTI helps member firms to identify cost-effective technologies, promotes awareness
and adoption of technologies through demonstration, education and training, encourages
development of linkages in order to ensure self-sustainability of process technology changes and
serves as the voice for Thai industry in the development of policy and regulations on the
environment. FTl's IEM (Industrial Environmental Management) programme tries to promote sound
environmental practices in member firms.
o The Thailand Environment Institute, TEl is a non-profit organisation formed in 1992 which strives to
playa catalytic role in promoting close co-operation between the Government, the private sector,
NGOs, the media and academia for the environmental management and sustainable development.
TEl is secretariat for Thailand's Business Council for Sustainable Development (TBCSD) and also
the secretariat for the Thai Green Label program jointly implemented with TISI.
o Among the universities, the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Kasetsart University and
Chulalangkorn University are the key players in developing environmental engineering curricula at
graduate level as well as in the form of short professional development courses.
Prepared by UNIDO - TEi
For OEPP, MOSTE
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