Rayong Province is the largest industrial area in Thailand, in which petrochemical and related productions are key industries. The area has been facing several severe environmental problems which have imposed serious impacts on the health and quality of life of the local people. The most important pollution in Rayong's industrial area is air pollution and the major air pollutants are VOCs, SO 2 , and NO x . Several relevant government agencies have been trying to mitigate the problems through several measures mainly under the Rayong's Pollution Reduction and Mitigation Action Plan, nevertheless, the problems still exist. Hence, the objectives of this study are to study air pollution situation in the Rayong's industrial area, to examine the management of air pollution in the area, and to suggest ways for improvement of the management. The modified Balanced Scorecard (BSC) technique was employed for analysis of the management. Data were collected both from secondary sources and primary sources which are factories in the area using questionnaires. The study found that the average VOCs levels exceeded the standards in several areas while the average SO 2 and NO x levels were still well lower than the standards. The evaluation of the air pollution management revealed that: 1) Effectiveness perspective, about 80-90% of the factories reported that they had better controls over leaking and emissions of VOCs SO 2 , and NO x ; 2) Stakeholder perspective, most of the factories received supports and co-operations from central government agencies, other factories and local communities but not NGOs; 3) Management process perspective, most of the factories had plans and projects concerning pollution reduction with sufficient budget, personnel and equipment but the proportion of factories conducting monitoring was not high; 4) Learning and development perspective, most of VOCs target factories continuously developed the ability of their personnel but the proportion was low for the SO 2 , and NO x target factories. This study then suggests ways to improve the Rayong's air pollution management in 4 perspectives according to the BSC technique.
Development of power plants in Thailand has become very difficult for several years especially a coal-fired power plant as it draws a very strong resistance from local communities and NGOs. The most concern of these people is air pollution with perceived serious impact on the health of local people and the environment. On the other hand, demand for electricity in the country has been soaring in line with the economic development. Hence, this study attempted to find a new approach to respond to both people's concern and the demand of the country. Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a tool to assist decision-makers in considering benefits and impacts of proposed development policies, strategies or plans in a more comprehensive manner, in other words, to ensure the sustainable consequences of such development. A Regional Environmental Assessment (REA) which is a type of SEA focusing on analyzing the potential of a certain area against different kinds of development was selected for this study. The study started by interviewing relevant administrators and policy makers. In addition, public meetings with local people living around a power plant and also a proposed coal-fired power plant development site were organized. The 4-dimension REA then was developed in which initial indicators were proposed. This REA framework was presented for discussions in a stakeholder focus group meeting and in the second public meetings. Subsequently, a set of issues, indicators and criterion were established for analyzing the potential of any area against the development of power plant.
Eco-Industrial Town (EIT) is one of the important policies of Thailand since 2011 aiming at developing operations of related parties in the target EITs. With emerging concepts, threats and challenges to Thailand, EIT framework and indicators need to be developed to be able to cope with them. This study aims to develop a framework and indicators for monitoring and evaluating progress of EIT implementation in the target EITs in Thailand. Methodology used in the study are the documentary research, two rounds of questionnaires distributed to 30 experts to gather feedback and recommendations and focus group discussion with 52 stakeholders from 6 target EITs in Thailand to gather feedback and recommendations. The results provided an EIT framework which contains of 6 perspectives, 32 dimensions, and 54 indicators which appropriate to EIT implementation in the Thailand context. Implication of the study is that the EIT framework, indicators and recommendations are useful for the future EITs in Thailand and EITs in other countries where under developing the project by selecting perspectives, dimensions, indicators, and recommendations that appropriate to their context.
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