Japan's weather observation satellite Himawari will play an important role in a project starting next month to help reduce air pollution in Thailand.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, will be working jointly with the Thai government on a project to reduce air pollutants called PM2.5.

PM2.5 concentrations often surpass allowable standards in Thailand, mainly during the dry season when forest fires occur naturally, and farmers conduct open-air burning after the sugarcane harvest.

A project briefing was held last week during an international space-themed trade fair near Bangkok.

Experts are worried that the increasing pollution could harm human health and impact tourism, the country's key industry.

The new project will use observation data from the Himawari satellite on a near real-time basis to detect exact locations of open-air burning and wildfires.

The data will help the Thai government and local authorities quickly detect a fire and take measures to prevent its spread.

The data will also be used when the authorities instruct farmers in an effort to reduce open-air burning.

Suzuki Kazuya, who heads the JICA office in Thailand, said that the Thai government considers reducing air pollution to be its top priority.

He said that Japan, as a country with experience over many years and the technology to address the problem, will help with Thailand's efforts to reduce its air pollution.