Laos has a disproportionate number of hotspots - areas of localised fire - compared to other countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), and needs to take measures to improve air quality.
In images captured by a satellite camera from Singapore, Laos was shown to be dotted with red areas, which indicate fire.
“Laos is very hot during the dry season,” the Director of the GMS National Secretariat of the Water Resources and Environment Administration, Mrs Keobang A Keola, said yesterday.
To decrease the number of h otspots in Laos, the Pollution Control Department of the Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment sent a mobile air quality surveying unit to Laos on Monday.
The mobile unit travelled from Nong Khai province in Thailand to the Meteorology and Hydrology Station in Vangvieng district, Vientiane province.
Thailand has been implementing measures to reduce air pollution for 15 years in an effort to clean up the air in Bangkok and other Thai cities.
The air quality surveying unit will work in Laos for three months before passing on its findings to the GMS National Secretariat.
“We will promote and improve the air quality of our country by sharing experiences with Thailand,” Mrs Keobang said.
Most hotspots in Laos stem from forest fires and slash-and-burn cultivation during the dry season. However, the government is continuing to reduce the burning and clearing of land for upland rice production.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the total area used for slash-and-burn farming throughout the country was 76,000 hectares two years ago. This has now dropped to about 48,000 hectares.
The ministry has allocated land to farmers in about 7,130 villages in the provinces to help put an end to shifting cultivation.
In Laos, most fires occur in March and April. Smoke and ash from forest fires and slash-and-burn cultivation pollutes the air and can have harmful effects on health.
Air quality management is still a major challenge throughout Asia. Fast-growing economies and continued urbanisation have increased the need for mobility in the region, resulting in high levels of air pollution from transport, industry and other sources.
