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Published on December 17, 2007

The project is aimed at breeding a new generation of scientists with an ecological mindset to tackle the climate changes expected to affect human beings severely in the future.

Some students had also conducted research in their local area before going to Cha-am, while students' research findings have already been implemented to solve pollution problems in a river.

Phatcharida Boonkhot, 17, from Chiang Mai's Dara Academy, was one of the students researching the water fouling caused by water hyacinths in the province's Mae Klao River.

"After we saw lots of water hyacinths covering the surface of the river and smelled the stench, we decided to do some research to learn why the river became foul and how to fix it. After we completed our research, we immediately walked into our local organisation office to tell authorities what we discovered and asked them to lend us a hand," she said.

They recommended two ways of coping with the rapid spread of water hyacinths - using them to raise mushrooms and make organic fertiliser.

Phatcharida has found that the temperature in her local area has been steadily rising, based on her other research.

"I will carry out my new research relating to the danger of blue-green algae. I've seen them in a reservoir where the tap water I consume comes from and I've heard that toxins in those algae could cause cancer," she said.

These 10 students and 44 other students, including Thais, Laotians and Sri Lankans, recently participated in the Asia-Pacific GLOBE Expedition Symposium 2007. It was organised by the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology with support from Banpu Plc.

Some students presented research papers on subjects like water quality, soil collapse and acidity levels of rain.

The symposium was held to inspire students to become the next generation of scientists to tackle global warming. Not only did the students have a chance to exchange their environmental research experiences, but also to learn how to conduct research from Thai and foreign scientists and how to do research on-site as well.

They were divided into groups of five to do various research into the effects of climate change - sensor-based monitoring of coral reef bleaching, pyranometer-based monitoring, land degradation, phenology research for monitoring and aquatic bio-indicators for monitoring.

The students interested in coral reef bleaching learned to collect data on water temperatures and light intensities, which could affect coral reefs, using hi-tech tools, data loggers and protocol. For the students studying pyranometers, they analysed the data they collected from a weather station to find the relationship between climate change and its effects, as well as learned about and invented pyranometers to examine aerosol optical thickness.

Some students learned to use MultiSpec software and global positioning system (GPS) to separate types of plants. Others did research on animals living in a mangrove forest, mosquito larvae and soil characteristics.

Pornpun Waitayangkoon, the institute's vice president and GLOBE Thailand country coordinator, said the institute wanted to raise environmental awareness among students and make them realise that floods, earthquakes and tsunamis are caused by global warming.

"I want students to be able to understand that each part of the environment, like water, soil and creatures, relates to each other, so we provide them the opportunity to study various parts of the environment and will promote studying earth-system science in schools. This will help them when they conduct research," she said.

Wannapa Phetdee

The Nation