Bangkok, Oct. 13 -- Local communities should be involved in strengthening government efforts to tackle forest fires because residents live closest to affected areas and can serve as key partners, Thai climate researcher Atsamon Limsakul said.

"I think local communities are very important in addressing this problem because they live there. They can monitor what is happening and provide information about the situation," Limsakul said in Bangkok on Monday.

Limsakul, Director of the Climate Change Adaptation Research Section at Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE), spoke on the sidelines of the HERA Extreme Heat Reporting Training and Fellowship.

According to Limsakul, residents can monitor local conditions and s...