By Mick Elmore
A group of Thais recently returned to the Kingdom armed with PhDs and masters degrees from Monash, determined to raise environmental consciousness. Although not working directly in the field, they are emphasising the need for environmental awareness in all sectors of society and believe the government must move towards sustainable development policies.
"It will take a long time to change the people's perspectives, but we can try to get environmental thought and issues into our jobs," said Ms Busanee Praevisavakij, who now works with the Department of Town and Country Planning in the Interior Ministry. "My time at Monash widened my perspective, and taught me how to look at problems and how to tackle them. Now it is very important that we educate people."
For her masters, Ms Busanee looked at planning policy to reduce damage to mangroves caused by shrimp farming. "The situation is very difficult," she explained. "We are a developing country, and most of the people who have power just don't think about environmental problems."
Dr Songphon Sukijbumrung undertook his PhD by comparing water pollution policies in Bangkok and Melbourne, as did Dr Chapica Sangkapitux, who now lectures at Bangkok's Kasetsart University.
Dr Songphon is working towards Thailand's future generations gaining a better understanding of and more concern for the environment. "My environmental values increased with my time in Australia," he said.
Now with the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, he is designing education programs for secondary schools to teach environmental awareness and encourage Thais to live in a more environmentally sound way. "We need to do more than just pass on knowledge. We are trying to make people wake up and do what is needed."
Another member of the group, Dr Chamnong Paungpook, is at the forefront of efforts to incorporate environmental considerations in calculations of economic growth. It is an interest he took with him to Monash in 1992, where he undertook a PhD on estimation of green national accounts in Thailand. "We have a national accounting system to estimate the gross domestic product, but it is measured without looking at the environmental part of it," he said.
The UN proposed a new system in 1993 which includes the cost of environmental degradation, and Dr Chamnong's role is to prepare the bureaucracy for its introduction. It's a formidable challenge considering the national accounting division at the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has 30 staff and he is the only one working with the new accounting system.
Dr Sompote Kunnot faces much the same challenge. He is introducing a new concept to 50 staff in NESDB's government, private and corporation division that coordinates industrial policy.
"The modelling technique I studied at Monash is very useful in analysing the impact of policy on industry," he said, adding that the real challenge was encouraging others to accept new ideas.
Clockwise from top left: Dr Sompote Kunnot, Dr Chamnong Paungpook, Dr Songphon Sukijbumrung and Ms Busanee Praevisavakij hope what they've learned at Monash will help them raise environmental awareness in Thailand.