One small step might lead to a great leap. Two years ago, a handful of residents from Rayong paid a visit to the National Health Commission Office in Nonthaburi. Their wish was simple: To ask Dr Amphon Jindawatthana, the NHC secretary-general, if the new National Health bill (2007, or BE 2550) could offer some solutions to their decades-long grievances. In particular, the Rayong locals thought a clause on the people's right to request a "health impact assessment" (HIA) and to participate in that very process themselves might enable them to better address the overwhelming pollution that has been plaguing their livelihood since the introduction of the Eastern Seaboard Development Programme in the coastal province in the 1980s.
From that day, April 9, 2007, the NHC has delegated a group of researchers (mainly from the Healthy Public Policy Foundation) to embark on this HIA scheme in Rayong. A series of public meetings called "Samatcha Sukkhapap" (Health Assembly) were held in which the magnitude of pollution and its evident effects on local health were discussed.
Feeling the urgency of their crisis, when no concrete mitigating measures had yet been undertaken, the people of Rayong resorted to another channel. In October of the same year, 27 representative villagers filed a lawsuit against the National Environment Board for having failed to enforce the 1992 National Environment Act by announcing a pollution control zone in the area.
On March 3 of this year, the provincial administrative court issued a verdict in favour of the plaintiffs. The NEB has since appealed the case, but at the same time complied with the court's order: The area around the Map Ta Phut industrial estate has been designated a pollution control zone since May 1.
"Here, we have been suffering for so long and we know that an EIA [environmental impact assessment] by itself is not enough," said Charoen Dejkhum, one of the villagers who filed the historic lawsuit.
"I believe that everyone who learns there is now a law that aims to protect their health will be elated. I admit, though, that a number of us in Map Ta Phut have not yet been exposed to the HIA process and thus still do not understand what it is all about."
A humble man, 66-year-old Charoen admits the difficulty for people with little education like him to understand technical terms like the BOD or pH level of the water supply in their fight to prove the severe effects of industrialisation. Their traditional "indicators" of a healthy environment consist of the presence of a variety of marine life, fireflies and a "waterway that is so clear and cool one can see fishes swimming around and about", he says, citing a famous line by Sunthorn Phu (a classical Thai poet who was also a native of Rayong).
In the worlds of academia and legal contests, however, Charoen's set of knowledge has been routinely brushed aside. Worse, lack of access to relevant information and other resources has put locals in every way at a disadvantage vis-a-vis big investors and their allies in the bureaucracy. The EIA offers no solace: For years, it has been heavily and repeatedly criticised for the poor, haphazard quality of research that is usually supportive of the prospective project owner (who tends to be the same person who hired the EIA consultants in the first place).
The application of HIA and the Health Assembly, however, seeks to tilt the balance. Suphakij Nunthavorakarn, researcher from the Healthy Public Policy Foundation, reckons that the Map Ta Phut case is the first practical test of the National Health Act in the country. Although critics say the 2007 law seems to have little power in penalising the wrongdoers, Suphakij argues the intention is deliberate - to foster an awareness of citizens' rights to know and to participate than to adopt the usual authoritative approach.
"Through the HIA and Health Assembly mechanisms, the locals of Rayong have had an opportunity to sit down together to review the impact of the entire programme of industrialisation here and, importantly, to ask themselves if this is what they really want for future generations," Suphakij notes.
Over the course of about a year, four rounds of public meetings were conducted, the first three in Rayong and the last in Bangkok. Suphakij stresses participation by every stakeholder (although he accepts that representatives of the business sector and the state agencies will tend to take either an inactive or defensive stance during the meetings). A number of studies have been reviewed, compiled and analysed, out of which emerged a bigger picture of how serious and urgent the problems in Rayong are, and some have also been used as evidence in the successful lawsuit against the National Environment Board, adds lawyer Surachai Trongngam of an NGO called Environmental Litigation and Advocacy for the Wants (Enlaw). A poll was also conducted with about 1,200 citizens in 350 villages around the coastal province on their expectations of development in their hometown.
The themes of the Health Assembly meetings gradually shifted from the scrutiny of past problems to brainstorming on alternatives and proposals of recommendations (see sidebar, 'The future [is] yet to come'), which have already been forwarded to the cabinet via the National Health Commission Office.
Originally a seaside town, Rayong once subsisted on a three-pillar economy: Orchard farming and fishing, tourism and agro-based industry. The discovery of natural gas in the Gulf of Thailand and subsequent launch of large-scale industrialisation under the so-called Eastern Seaboard Development Programme, with Map Ta Phut as the focal point, has radically transformed the area and its population. Rayong has become dependent on mega-industrial projects. Initial euphoria over the astronomical economic gains, however, soon fizzled out as the locals realised the huge price tag on the environment and their quality of life.
By the end of the HIA and Health Assembly process, a bold, unanimous resolution has taken shape - that continuation of industrialisation at all costs is not such a good idea. Instead of accepting the status quo - that more factories have to be built for the sake of economic growth and the focus should be on minimising the release of pollution - the people of Rayong have learned they can look beyond the immediate and express their aspirations for the future of their own town: That it will become free from pollution and geared towards a sufficiency economy (based on agriculture and eco-tourism) with strong social cohesiveness.
Will such a dream ever materialise, though? The current economic downturn and the authorities' fear of driving investors away are likely to add pressure to any attempts to curb mega-projects. The proposal by the Health Assembly of Rayong to suspend the expansion of the petrochemical industry at Map Ta Phut and to implement pertinent pollution mitigation measures has so far been met with a lukewarm response from the Abhisit cabinet. The government's penchant for growth is also well reflected in a recent decision by the Ministry of Industry to revoke a ministerial announcement on the list of industries that require an HIA (which was issued last year in compliance with Article 67 in the 2007 Constitution). Even in Rayong, there have been persistent calls by some interest groups who oppose the announcement of the Pollution Control Zone.
Another barrier concerns the definition of "health impact". Until now, Suphakij says, the narrow biomedical perspective still predominates. But it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the victims to try to link their illnesses to a certain industrial source ("Imagine having to pinpoint some particular stacks of the factories as being responsible for their sickness!" he jibes).
Hopefully, the more inclusive and integrated concept of HIA will become better accepted in the wider circle. Suphakij argues that the discovery of an alarming amount of toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air, among several other indicators at the Map Ta Phut industrial estate should be more than adequate to prompt a rethink on such uncontrolled development programmes.
The researcher at the Healthy Public Policy Foundation also notes his own dilemma: The HIA and related mechanisms are "not at all an overnight solution" - it takes a lot of time for the public to understand the whole picture and try to address the issues at their roots instead of going after individual culprits. "But all the while, the locals have been languishing, having to face a host of problems on a daily basis," he lamented.
Aware of the bad reputation of EIA in Thailand, the proponents of HIA have thus opted for a non-monolithic approach in developing and promoting HIA. Two laws in particular espouse their use: The 2007 constitution and National Health Act with somewhat different premises (see inset box). Suphakij also cites a number of organisations that have been involved in the application of HIA - from the National Health Commission Office to the Department of Health, Department of Disease Control, the Office of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, and a string of communities, universities and non-governmental organisations around the country.
"We don't want the HIA to be monopolised and abused by certain exclusive groups like what has happened with the EIA," said Suphakij. "So if any one group has stuck a dead-end, at least there will be others to carry on. Interestingly, a few EIA experts have begun to pay attention on how to incorporate HIA into their works.
"The real power of HIA is not in any particular piece of legislation, or in getting people to sit together in a meeting. The power of HIA is in the process that allows the society to learn together and to participate in the decision-making on an equitable basis. Through HIA, we hope to empower the people by inculcating knowledge."
It remains to be seen how the lofty goal will turn out down the road. For Map Ta Phut folk like Charoen Dejkhum, having learned about the HIA process, the elderly have drawn a long wish list of what he would like to see happen in his village one day - the return of the abundant fish and crabs, a proper waste-water treatment pond, a playground for children that also serves as a "lung of the community", and perhaps a chance to be able to drink the fresh and free water from the rain and the stream nearby ... all "so that our children will be able to enjoy a better future", he muses.
At least, the man has already made a small but significant step in that direction.
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