On 21 October 2021, H.E. Ms. Urawadee Sriphiromya, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Thailand to ASEAN, received ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) Awards and Certificates of Recognitions given to 4 municipalities in Thailand from H.E. Mrs. Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Minister of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia, at the Manggala Wanabakti Auditorium, Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia. The ceremony was also witnessed by H.E. Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN.

This year, 4 Thai municipalities received the following awards/certificates of recognition:

1. Yala Municipality - an ASEAN ESC Award,
2. Hatyai Municipality - Certificate of Recognition for Clean Air,
3. Thungsong Municipality - Certificate of Recognition for Clean Water, and
4. Krabi Municipality - Certificate of Recognition for Clean Land.

Other ASEAN ESC Awardees included Temborong (Brunei Darussalam), Preah Sihanouk City (Cambodia), Balikpapan (Indonesia), Xamnneau City (Lao PDR), Majilis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA) (Malaysia), Nyaung Oo (Bagan) City (Myanmar), Marikina City (the Philippines), Nee Soon South Division (Singapore) and Can Tho City (Viet Nam).

The ASEAN ESC Award was launched in 2008 and later in 2011 was expanded to include giving  Certificates of Recognition to big and small cities under 3 categories -  clean air, clean water and clean land. The objectives of the ASEAN ESC Award are to promote awareness and encourage cooperation among all sectors in ASEAN to realise environmentally sustainable cities. Today, ASEAN cities will be selected to receive ASEAN ESC Awards and Certificates of Recognition every four years, in conjunction with the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Environment Meeting.  This year’s award ceremony was the fifth edition.