Trailblazer

Who says you need a bulletproof Mercedes, bodyguards and an association with a political party to make an impact? Who says every green campaign requires angry mobs ready to block roads and burn effigies? And who says there are such things as projects that are too big to shut down?

This year Srisuwan Janya and his team rewrote the manuals on environmental advocacy and raised the bar on how far one can go to protect the public's health and challenge big industry in the process. The landmark court rulings that all but froze Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate were a result of an extraordinarily firm belief in constitutional rights and strenuous efforts to put that belief into practice.

Ignoring the thin line between "heroes" and "villains", the 42-year-old lawyer and his Stop Global Warming Association led the legal attack against the government and the country's largest industrial park in Rayong. They exposed how legal and constitutional measures have been lax or totally ignored, and made the best use of the only legal weapon available: the Administrative Court.

HUGE IMPACT

The campaign that began in late 2006 made a huge impact this year. On September 29, the Central Administrative Court ordered eight state agencies to suspend 76 industrial projects inside Map Ta Phut deemed hazardous to the environment and health of local residents.

The Supreme Administrative Court on December 2 upheld the suspension of 65 out of the 76 projects but allowed 11 others designed to cut environmental problems to continue operating. Then came a flurry of rearguard actions by the government and industrial conglomerates, which were forced to seriously review everything they had taken for granted for a long time.

Our "Person of the Year" regards himself as an environmental activist with no political ambitions, and says he is no extremist. He admits his lifestyle is not totally friendly to the environment.

He drives a green 1,500cc Mitsu-bishi sedan and spends more than Bt4,000 a month on petrol. He also travels by taxi and electric train. His family of three lives in a Pathum Thani home with three air-conditioners. The electric bill ranges between Bt900 and Bt1,200 each month.

"I am just an ordinary human being, who can't live in a way that causes zero pollution to the world," said Srisuwan, who is also on the Law Society of Thailand's environment committee. "I may be a villain in the eyes of the government and business operators. But what I am doing is just helping people who suffer," he said. "We must follow the spirit of the law and preserve the environment that we treasure."

Born in Phitsanulok, he earned bachelor's degrees in agricultural

 technology at Maejo University in Chiang Mai, law at Ramkhamhaeng University and information science at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. He followed those with master's degrees in political science from Ramkhamhaeng University and environmental management from the National Institute of Development Administration. He regularly takes part in training courses relevant to his work.

The activist's expertise and hunger for knowledge ensure he's well informed and ready for legal battles against public and private organisations blamed for causing adverse impacts on the environment.

Srisuwan believes legal action is more effective than street demonstrations. His parents had only a primary-school education but they were so interested in legal matters that they regularly read books on law and gave him simple analyses of various legal cases. He often followed his father to the courtroom.

His activism got its start in high school, when he fought to set up a Western music club, which practised with rented instruments and got hired to perform. At Maejo, he was elected head of the student body. The narrow road in front of the university was in bad shape and many cycling students got killed in accidents. After a few peaceful complaints to authorities, he led a protest that involved a blockade of the road that lasted three days. The road got repaired.

He did not aspire to work for an NGO but fate pointed him in that direction. In 1991, he applied for a job at a company that happened to have a connection with politician-cum-environmental campaigner Bhichit Rattakul. Bhichit offered him a job at the Foundation for the Prevention of Air Pollution and Protection of the Environment.

After Bhichit was elected Bangkok governor in 1996, Srisuwan turned down his offer for a job at City Hall. He set up his own organisation, the Stop Global Warming Association, on June 5, 2007, which is World Environment Day. The association's work focuses on "scrutinising the pollution makers through legal means" in addition to educating the public on the environment. The association's strength is its army of lawyers specialising in environmental issues.

Srisuwan has received threats but remains unfazed. "Some may want to kill me. Tens of people like me may get killed, but there will be thousands and thousands more coming out to replace us."