CSOs rule out BCG, call for new government to revoke the policy

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), including the NGO Coordinating Committee on Development (NGO COD) and the Assembly of NGOs for the Protection and Conservation of the Environment and Natural Resources (ENV NGOs), have released a statement opposing the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy, calling for the new government to revoke the policy.

The statement said that the BCG Economy is a new economic policy that has attracted the attention of the private and public sectors, as it is claimed to protect the environment and reduce global warming.

Thailand, led by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, pushed this policy at the national level during the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Bangkok. This led to responses from several agencies in different forms, with talk of investment, industry, exports, technology and innovation all driven by BCG policy.

The BCG concept is good in principle, but the government has used it with a hidden agenda, employing deceptive rhetoric as a tool to support irresponsible capitalist groups that disregard the environment and human lives. 

The statement stated that the policy includes carbon credit trading, which allows capitalist groups, both domestic and foreign, to engage in activities through forest concessions or to conduct business related to alternative energy sources in the country. They then use the credits derived from these activities/businesses to offset the carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions from their existing production facilities, even increasing their production capacity and emissions.

These processes are referred to as greenwashing.

NGO-COD and ENV-NGOs reached the following conclusions:

1. To reject the BCG policy and call for its cancellation, on the grounds that it is in fact greenwashing which contributes to the destruction of the global environment through carbon credit trading mechanisms. These mechanisms provide a tool to create legitimacy for capitalist groups.

2. To urge all of development agencies and networks to reject any activities related to the Thai government's BCG policy in any form.

3. To call for the new government to immediately revoke the BCG policy and implement measures to protect and reduce the global warming effect by mandating that capitalist groups and companies reduce their carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions at source, i.e. at factories or production sites. The goal is to mitigate global warming and preserve the environment. 

The National Science and Technology Development Agency articulated the Thai government rationale for adopting the BCG model as a part of its post-COVID-19 recovery plan, supposedly aiming for inclusive, balanced, and sustainable recovery. The biological part of the model focuses on the production of renewable biological resources and their conversion into valuable products. The circular economy promotes reusing and recycling resources. And the green economy integrates economic, social, and environmental aspects to achieve sustainable development. 

The CSOs point out that the BCG model proposed during the APEC Forum did not align with any of the mottos used to promote the Forum. Instead, it has been designed to benefit large capitalist groups through government-granted monopolies. This led to a protest against the APEC 2022 Forum which demanded suspension of the government’s BCG policy. 

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