Thick haze and Lao pilots cannot see through the jet, black smoke

(KPL) Mr Vankham, a pilot who flies for Lao AIR has got used to living with the fact that because of the thick haze in the northern provinces of Laos some of his flights and that of his fellow pilots had to temporarily suspended.

The local authorities located in the various northern provinces reported yesterday that a thick haze covered their skies and it came from the slash and burn agriculturists who were burning the vegetation from the land that they had just cleared.

The presence of the thick haze is seasonal and prevalent during the months of March, April and May, coinciding with the time when the northern villagers started to prepare the ground for cultivation during the rainy season, from June to October.Mr Hong-on Chanthavong, Vice-Head of Environment Office of Bokeo province, disclosed in an interview yesterday that in that morning a thick haze covered certain areas of his province and he added he suspected it was caused by the slash and burn cultivators.
The planes , he said cannot land at the various airfields of this province because the thick haze limited the visibility of the pilots but as the haze cleared in the afternoon and evening the planes were able to head for the airfields and taxi to the passenger terminals, added Mr Hong added.

He reckoned that the haze situation would worsen in the coming months due to the increase in the agricultural activities of the slash and burn people.

He also explained that agricultural officials did not the right equipment and fund and so they are facing difficulties in monitoring and carrying out a campaign on getting the slash and burn cultivators to give up their age-old practices.

According to Mr Bounmy of the Agriculture and Forest Office of Bokeo province, it is an uphill struggle to get 100 upland people to stop their shifting cultivation method because they have been doing it for generations, however one should resort to using the soft policy and making them aware of the need to conserve the environment.