Questions/Answers

The air pollutant originated from forest fires, smog, particulate matter (PM2.5) occurs every year in Thailand and becomes more violent. This situation caused not only a loss of a 13-year old Karen girl who volunteered on fire line construction as well as firefighters, but also long-term health problems such as respiratory symptoms, aggravated asthma, etc. One of the key factors is human activities such as open burning for agriculture and forest products, industrial emissions, air pollutants, etc. Moreover, coupled with a supporting factor like climate near-equatorial during November to May, the fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), situation is getting worse because of low pressure, and limited air circulation. Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (Public Organization) or GISTDA recognized the issue seriously and aimed to support any collaborations with technology, innovation, and expertise in order to solve the problems in Thailand. The Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5), Forest Fires and Smog Detection System with Satellite and Geo-Informatics Innovation under the responsibility of GISTDA has been developed from the concept of integrating satellite imagery with geo-informatics technology and simulation models of hotspot detection, burnt area assessment, risk area prediction, smog, and PM2.5 monitoring. The information is published through the application which is accessible for the public and all stakeholders and illustrated in the smart dashboard as well as supports local organizations and decision-makers for planning, preventing, and reducing losses from forest fires, smog, and PM2.5.

The initiative is linked to “Category 2: Enhancing the effectiveness of public institutions to reach the SDGs.” Detection and extinguishing forest fires were formerly implemented by field surveys of officers. On many occasions, geographical conditions were obstacles to tackling the situation. GISTDA developed an innovation for forest fires detection and time-series monitoring in order to increase efficiency and support local government officers by collaborating with more than 20 agencies such as Pollution Control Department, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Provincial Office of Natural Resources and Environment, etc. to generate transparent, verifiable, and compatible information.

The Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5), Forest Fires and Smog Detection System with Satellite and Geo-Informatics Innovation is conformance with SDGs according to these agendas. 1) Goal 15: Life on Land – As a smart tool for protection, restoration, and promotion of sustainable use of ecosystems by integrating satellite imagery with geo-informatics technology for hotspot detection, situation monitoring, burnt area assessment, and risk area prediction, people can equally get information and can be early-warned. 2) Goal 13: Climate Action, Climate Change – Integration of geo-informatics innovation with strong collaboration at all levels for open burning management significantly reduces the loss and degradation of forest ecosystems. 3) Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being – This measurable and reliable application monitors the situation at the regional scale and alerts people to be aware of a high level of PM2.5 which causes health problems. People can avoid outdoor activities or prepare themselves properly.

As the result of successful collaboration of all stakeholders, the ad hoc plan of solving particulate matter of which geo-informatics technology and satellite imagery are applied for reporting and managing burning activities through “Burn Check” application is implemented in order to reduce particulate matter and other air pollutant emissions. The application is strongly supported by the Pollution Control Department through a fund of Thai Health Promotion Foundation under the command and control of 17 Governors. Private sector and entrepreneurs support budget, food, and drinking water to officers, firefighters, and volunteers. Moreover, the lesson learned would be shared among neighboring countries.

In the past, people and government officers invaluably suffered from forest fires, smog, and particulate matter which caused health problems, poor well-being, as well as loss of beloved persons who sacrificed for forest protection. Relying solely on the government sector was not sufficient and those problems had not been resolved in a timely manner for a long time. Moreover, people did not trust and ignored official preventive measures relating to forest fires because of a lack of reliable technology. GISTDA has played an important role in bringing innovation to support and solve the problems by encouraging and strengthening the collaboration among key stakeholders such as the Pollution Control Department and 10 Northern provinces including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Phrae, Nan, Phayao, Uttaradit, Mae Hong Son and Tak since 2014. 6 years later, the pilot project presents clearly expected results. The collaboration s expanded to 17 provinces covering the Northern region of Thailand. Local staff has been trained to tackle forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 issues in their areas of responsibility. In addition, the private sector and the public not only access and get real-time information from the application, but also participate in the annual plan with the government sector.

The Project has been outreached to 17 targeted Northern provinces most of which are at risk of burning, smog, forest fires, and PM2.5 mostly occurred in the forest. More than 500 young hill tribe populations including Karen, Hmong, Lisu, Akha, etc. have grown up in this risk area with lack of knowledge and information access. GISTDA has transferred knowledge and technology for monitoring the situation of forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 among stakeholders especially for public of all genders, and ages. In addition, GISTDA has empowered women to be courageous and confident in leading and sharing information among their community.

The initiative approaches different groups of stakeholders. 1. 17 provinces in the North of Thailand: The application supports users in the local administration as a geospatial tool for planning and decision-making of the situation such as burning plan, periodically burning management in necessary areas, etc. in order to reduce the effects to the climate according to the government measures which aim to decrease burning activities and the amount of smog can dissipate into the atmosphere 2. People: As the result from concreate implementation of the application, the amount of smog reduced by 68% comparing to 2014, and the number of patients with respiratory disease has been decreasing during a three-year period (2010 - 2012) from 1,416,841 cases to only 366,436 cases in 2019 3. Tourism and air transport sectors: The reduction of forest fires and smog allows airlines to carry out their scheduled flights of which the damage in tourism sector is reduced up to 1,200 million baht.

In the initial phase (2015 - 2017), GISTDA implemented the satellite imagery from MODIS sensor and geo-informatics innovation integrating, processing and analyzing data from relating government agencies for hotspot detection in order to lower the cost of field survey. In the second phase (2018 - 2019), new technologies were applied as a semi-automatic processor which secured more accurate hotspot detection and was capable of supporting more data. Firefighters could immediately respond to prevent all the losses which might have by being aware of real-time information. In addition, GISTDA had more focuses on the burning activities in the cultivated areas. In the third phase (2020 - 2021), GISTDA took its own advantages of strong data-sharing network worldwide by integrating data from NASA’s Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) of which missions were to acquire a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address operational requirements for weather forecasting. These capabilities optimized the analytics module to detect hotspots less than 1 rai (0.395 acres). Meanwhile meteorological data for efficient monitoring of PM2.5 nationwide, the Japanese satellite “Himawari” was consolidated. Today, the application has been raised as the single command platform for forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 management in terms of monitor and evaluation. The Ministry of Interior also sets the key performance indicator for all 17 governors to reduce the number of hotspots and this KPI would be applied to other governors as well.

Human is the key driven of forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 due to various activities such as burning for cultivation, pollutant emissions from industrial sector and transportation, etc. because of lack of information and knowledge. In the past, it was difficult to promptly update and resolve the problem. GISTDA has played a crucial role in many working groups, and committees of solving the problem of forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 at all levels in order to promote the measurable real-time geo-informatics application for monitoring, analyzing and validating situations, facts, and effects to secure the efficiency and accuracy.

The application is initiated by integrating space and geo-informatics technology to resolve the problem of forest fires, smog, and PM2.5. In addition, satellite imagery and other GIS layers are formulated for processing, analyzing, developing the real-time web application (http://fire.gistda.or.th) which is accessible for everyone anywhere and anytime. GISTDA also builds up credibility through accurate analytics and information from various sources of data in order to recheck and summarize the report and action review proposed to related government agencies, private sector as well as the public for planning and better decision-making.

GISTDA has taken an action as a technology and innovation on forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 management since 2015 with strong collaboration among all stakeholders at all levels. Although the concrete cooperation is settled, GISTDA is still looking forward to exploring new technology and data from leading developed countries in order to achieve better performance and accuracy. In addition, GISTDA is passionate about sharing information among ASEAN countries to be aware of transboundary pollution.

The Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5), Forest Fires and Smog Detection System with Satellite and Geo-Informatics Innovation has applied satellite imagery and geo-informatics technology as a smart tool for solving area-based agenda by providing information on hotspots, burning areas, smog diffusion, forest fires, wind speed and direction, risk areas, etc. The key concept of the application is accessibility and compatibility of real-time information without any limitation.

In 2021, GISTDA submitted and received the Public Sector Excellence Award 2021 in the category of service innovation for the project “Hotspot Detection for Reducing PM2.5 with Geo-informatics Technology” organized by the Office of the Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC). Moreover, GISTDA has promoted the use of technology and transfer knowledge to government agencies in 17 provinces in northern Thailand through working group meetings at the policy level and has approached to the community in Ko sub-district, Li District, Lamphun Province with strategic partners such as the Pollution Control Department, Office of Thai Health Promotion Foundation, Regional Environment Office 1 (Chiang Mai), Natural Resources and Environmental Office Lamphun Province, Natural Resources and Environmental Office Chiang Mai Province, Lamphun Provincial Agriculture and Cooperatives Office, the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department (Chiang Mai Office), 1st Forest Resource Management Bureau, the Haze Free Project (Asst. Prof. Dr. Nion Sirimongkonlertkun), the Breath Council. All of these stakeholders have played an important role in raising awareness and communicating with the community continuously on the use of geo-informatics and space technology for the reduction of PM2.5 from burning activities which harm public health.

1. Knowledge transfer package: GISTDA staff is willing to organize workshops for a better understanding of the concept design of the application. Handbooks for forest fires, smog, and PM2.5 management are printed and distributed through Line application, website, and e-mails in a digital format. 2. The application can respond to users’ requirements, such as sharing maps through Line application and Facebook, details of hotspots, and shapefiles for expertise or researchers who are familiar with geographical analytics.

Human Resources: GISTDA researchers are gathered for studying and generating models for the detection, developing the application with useful tools. However, collaboration with all stakeholders is driven through the national working group on Preventing and Solving Forest Fires, Smog, and PM2.5. Infrastructure: GISTDA has contributed data from Earth Observation satellites which directly downlink at GISTDA ground station and data from strategic partners such as LANDSAT-8 and Himawari imagery, Land Use/ Land Cover, topographic map, meteorological data, land parcel, etc. Finance: Most of the operating costs will be dedicated to maintenance service in order to secure the availability of the application.

The Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5), Forest Fires and Smog Detection System with Satellite and Geo-Informatics Innovation plays a crucial role as a smart tool for forest fires management which causes PM2.5. The integration of information in all aspects, from policymakers to operation officers, encourages the value chain of sustainable management of forest fires, smog, and PM2.5. However, GISTDA as a government organization responsible for promoting the utilization of space and geoinformatics technology to serve national agendas. This could ensure that GISTDA and key stakeholders will maintain and upgrade the application until the situation resolved.

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The project was internally and externally studied and evaluated in the aspect of economic and social value from GISTDA’s performance in 2020. Regarding the study conducted by Thammasart University, the study was performed following these steps: 1. The secondary data, related literature, concepts, and studies were gathered and reviewed as references and shaped the evaluation process and procedure. 2. Defining a model suitable for project characteristics as well as required data. 3. Additional required data were surveyed, including insight interviews and group meetings and discussions 4. Value-added result in the project was calculated.

The indicators applied to the project comprise of 3 issues which can be monitored as evidence-based practice. 1. Hotspot area: Due to the measurable, traceable, and reliable application, local administration offices including governors are assigned the indicator of decreasing number of burning areas and smog disintegrated into the atmosphere 2. Period of time: The decreasing number of days that the amount of PM2.5 has exceeded over standards. 3. Number of respiratory patients: With a reference to the statistic of the Ministry of Public Health during 2010 - 2012, the patients significantly decreased to 366,436 cases in 2019.

The study reveals that the application is one of the powerful platforms with wide-ranging potential which can be exercised in various utilization from forest preservation to disaster mitigation. It helps to improve the efficiency of field surveys in terms of cost reduction and time management for mitigating widespread devastation from man-made activities as well as natural disasters and to scale up economic activity in the area. Therefore, the Social Return on Investment (SROI) is applied for calculating and evaluating the economic and social benefits resulting from the utilization of the application. it is found that the application generating the economic and social value equals 10.11 million baht and the SROI annually increases approximately 5 - 7% per year.

There are numbers of stakeholders involved and contributed in this initiative. 1. Government sector: The Pollution Control Department is responsible for the secretariat of working groups of the national and provincial levels for concrete collaboration and summarizing the after-action review in order to support decision-makers in issuing measures, regulations, orders, etc. to resolve the problems. Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, Royal Forest Department, Office of Agricultural Land Reform, Department of Highways, and Department of Rural Roads also support data in a form of a geospatial database. Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Provincial and Office of Natural Resources and Environment promote the use of the application. 2. Public: People in communities are capable of opinion expression of burning activities over open-air areas, cultivating areas, community forest areas, etc. as well as the quality of life which is a part of the application design to meet user requirements at any level with convenience and rapid action. 3. Academic sector: Chiang Mai University, Mae Fah Luang University, Maejo University (Phrae Campus), and Maehongson Community College participate in promoting and transferring knowledge to students, communities to raise awareness of the application utilization.

With the foresight of geo-informatics technology which can be applied for PM2.5 management that broadly affect economy, society, and environment in Thailand. GISTDA has contributed data and information, staff, tool and equipment, knowledge, and cooperation networks in order to develop innovative applications for supporting government agencies and local administration offices with real-time information and analytics through e-mail, Line application, website, press, etc. People in communities can access real-time information and be warned in time and reduce the impact on life and environment. This 2-way communication has been created effectively. Volunteers can respond to the situation without any control and command. All of these actions lead to the decreasing numbers of respiratory patients and the exceeding amount of PM2.5 over the same area respectively.

The important lessons learned after the launch of the application are divided into 3 levels: Both national and local administration level jointly organize the workshops to brainstorm and gather suggestion of the results, obstacles, and solutions among private sector, public, volunteers, NGOs, and academic sector in all aspects. At the organizational level, after-action reviews of modification, real-time data and information linked to the application for better management and accuracy. It is acceptable that all stakeholders acknowledge the use of satellite imagery and geo-informatics innovation for hotspots detection and it is a smart implementation for supporting decision-making at the policy driven level. Today, the Fine Particulate Matter (PM 2.5), Forest Fires, and Smog Detection System with Satellite and Geo-Informatics Innovation is not out of reach. It can be easily accessible for everyone without any further restrictions.