MAI Public and People Paticipation in Preventing Wildfire and Haze Pollution in Doi Suthep-pui National Park in Chiang Mai

Abstract

The objectives of this research in public and people participations in preventing wildfire and haze pollution in Doi Suthep-Pui national park in Chiang Mai were 1) to study the factors determining the successes and obstacles in participation between the government and the local people for solving the haze pollution problems, 2) to study how the government and the public could cooperate together in order to prevent and solve the haze pollution problems, and 3) to study the causes and effects of wildfire and haze pollution problems in Doi Suthep-Pui national park. This qualitative research was conducted by collecting the data through interviewing the key local stakeholders, who suffered from wildfire and haze pollution problems in Doi Suthep-Pui national park, and also through studying the secondary data and documents. The research found that           1) there were 3 factors that determining the successes and obstacles in public and people participation, including  participation in expressing the opinions, communication channels, and coordination and policy implementation, 2) for people’s participation,  the government increasingly emphasized on the importance of the public's participation by occasionally arranging the public meetings, providing the feedback boxes at Doi Suthep municipality, and allowing the local people to express their opinions during the meetings, whereby the involving government agencies could thoroughly understand the problems and design the comprehensive regulations as well as appropriately allocate the personnel (labor) and budgets (capital) according to the scale of the problem, 3) there were 3 major causes of wildfire, including burnings of wild, agricultural, and local community areas, which subsequently caused the harmful haze problems that resulting in people’s health deterioration, economic losses, and reduced visibility of public transportation.