3 February 2023 – GIZ’s ASEAN Municipal Solid Waste Management Enhancement (AMUSE) Project, in collaboration with the Community Waste Management Division, Waste and Hazardous Substance Management Bureau, and the Pollution Control Department, held the first meeting of the AMUSE Project Management Team to establish the AMUSE Project Management Unit (PMU), and discuss the selection of model cities for community waste management in Thailand.
The meeting brought together representatives from the Pollution Control Department, the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion, the Department of Tourism, the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organisation) (DASTA), and GIZ, at the conference room on the 2nd floor of the Pollution Control Department.
The purpose of forming the PMU was to jointly manage the AMUSE Project with representatives from GIZ, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. The member agencies of the AMUSE PMU include:
- The Pollution Control Department (PCD) – as the main partner of the AMUSE Project in Thailand.
- The Department of Environmental Quality Promotion (DEQP) – as a national focal point of the ASEAN Working Group on Environmentally Sustainable Cities (AWGESC), under which the AMUSE Project is managed at the ASEAN level.
- The Department of Tourism – as the representative agency from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.
- AMUSE Project Thailand – represented by GIZ.
The establishment of the AMUSE PMU in Thailand also involved defining the roles and responsibilities of the member agencies and setting up mechanisms for effective collaboration.
The AMUSE Project Management Team convened to discuss and select model cities for community waste management within Thailand’s tourism sector.
Criteria for selecting model cities included:
- Medium-sized tourist cities, particularly secondary cities.
- Cities recognised or awarded with ASEAN standards, such as ASEAN Tourism Standards and ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standards.
- Cities that have met the high standards of the Sustainable City Environmental Project from the Department of Environmental Quality Promotion.
- Tourist cities under national tourism management projects or those that meet the national tourism standards set by the Department of Tourism or the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization).
Based on these criteria, the meeting concluded that Nan Town Municipality and Yasothon Town Municipality met all the standards, and will serve as model cities. The AMUSE Project will further engage these municipalities to extract best practices for municipal solid waste management in the tourism sector.
