On Tuesday May 16, Globalsmog's coordinators in Asia and Thailand met their Thai partner, Dr. Kanchana Nakhapakorn, a researcher in remote sensing and geomatics at Mahidol University. The aim of their meeting was to present the project and discuss current research on air pollution in Thailand.
The GlobalSmog project, to be launched in 10 Asian and African cities in 2022, is starting to be implemented in Bangkok. Dr. Bertrand Lefebvre, Scientific Coordinator of the project and Researcher at EHESP, visited the IRD Representation in Thailand to exchange views with the project leader in Bangkok, Dr. Olivier Évrard, Socio-anthropologist at IRD, and Dr. Kanchana Nakhapakorn, Health Geographer at Mahidol University (Thailand) and long-time partner of Dr. Lefebvre. During the discussions, project members discussed current actions and how Dr. Nakhapakorn's work could fit into the project.
Dr. Xavier Mari, Oceanographer specializing in atmosphere/ocean interactions and IRD Representative in Thailand, joined the meeting to discuss current air pollution measurement capabilities in Bangkok and future project activities.
What is the GlobalSmog project?
Air pollution is a global environmental and health problem. Although it has become a major concern in the major cities of the South, few of them manage to combat it effectively. This inter-disciplinary research project aims to gain a better understanding of what is holding them back, by analyzing perceptions of this public health issue, public policies orientations and the obstacles to their implementation in five African and five Asian cities.
GlobalSmog objectives:
- Better understand the role of international cooperation and globalization processes in defining air pollution problems and circulating knowledge.
- Better understand the interaction between scientific knowledge and political decisions in the context of the Global South
- Explain and analyze local social processes of problem definition and prioritization of ambient air pollution in low- and middle- income countries’ (LMIC) cities
- Analyze cross-sectoral policy-making in the context of major LMIC cities
- Formulate policy recommendations to improve policy development and implementation in cities of the South
Currently, under the supervision of Dr. Olivier Évrard, a student from the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University is analyzing all articles on air pollution in Bangkok published in two Thai daily newspapers: Bangkok Post and Matichon since 1960. The aim of this analysis is to understand the genesis and historical evolution of the perception of air pollution in the Thai capital.
