Chiang Mai suffocates under pollution

Under the thick fog, Chiang Mai (Thailand) is barely distinguishable. The city seems almost swallowed up by a cloud of pollution. In the streets of the city, a sour smell immediately takes hold of the nose. This is the first thing that strikes tourists when they arrive. “When we look at the sky we see bright red because of the smoke, and then it’s very foggy”, says a young tourist. It’s hard to imagine that this pile of polluted concrete has been nicknamed the “rose of the north”. Chiang Mai has even been at the top of the ranking of the most polluted cities in the world on several occasions. Overtaking New Delhi in India.

The level of fine particles sometimes exceeds 290 µg/m³

What used to be one of the most touristic cities in Thailand is now increasingly scaring away its visitors. “Some days you can hardly see the roads ahead. And it’s not fog but smog. There is mist everywhere and it affects my life more and more every day. Whether it’s my health or the drop in the number of tourists”, says a resident. A pollution that has consequences on the local economy, but especially on the health of the inhabitants. The level of fine particles sometimes exceeds 290 µg/m³. This is sixty times the maximum threshold set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The air would be vitiated by the repeated forest fires and by the many trees deliberately burned to create agricultural land.