Crime Is In the Air: PM2.5 Air Pollution and Policy Corruption

Southeast Asia Crossroads Podcast - CSEAS @ NIU

In this podcast, Dr Kanjana Thepboriruk and Chomkate Ngamkaiwan, a PhD candidate in Criminology at Mahidol University, Thailand, examine the ongoing PM2.5 crisis in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, and its vicinities as a form of environmental crime. She also explores the relationship between the air pollution and policy corruption. In these research areas, PM2.5 pollution has been magnified by the misuse of economic power and political influence towards public policies and legal loopholes related to the major sources of pollutants: transportation, factories, open burning, and construction. To acquire the insight about the issue, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions have been conducted with government officials, NGOs, scholars, entrepreneurs, and local leadership.