Farmers who start fires in wooded areas to hunt wildlife and clear land to grow crops are causing forest wildfires in many parts of Laos, the Forestry Department said yesterday.
Every year forest fires occur between February and April, when upland farmers who regularly practise slash-and-burn agriculture burn off weeds and stubble before planting a new rice crop.
During these months, farmers cut down trees and shrubs in rice-growing areas, and then burn any remaining stubble, said an official from the Forest Conservation Sector of the Forestry Department, Mr Bounpone Phouttha-amath.
“Smoke will fill the sky in many areas of the country as farmers burn the upland slopes in preparation for planting rice crops from now until mid-April,” he said.
Many forest fires occur in southern Laos, because the area gets very hot in the dry season and wildfires start easily.
In February, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry alerted provincial Forestry Departments nationwide to prepare for and prevent forest fires.
“When a wildfire occurs it is very difficult for us to control it,” Mr Bounpone said.
Fires not only affect wildlife and the natural environment but can cause extensive damage to both property and human life.
To prevent forest fires occurring the ministry has advised farmers through provincial Forestry Departments to burn felled tree stumps on their farms at least 5m from wooded areas, and has prohibited them from starting forest fires to hunt animals.
Laos has a disproportionate number of hotspots – areas of localised fire – compared to other countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
The Water Resource and Environment Administration said last month that images captured by a satellite camera from Singapore showed Laos to be dotted with red areas, which indicate fire.
“We cannot stop shifting cultivation completely because it is the traditional practice for people living in upland areas,” Mr Bounpone said.
The provincial authorities have now allocated specific parcels of land to farmers so they can continue slash-and-burn farming in contained areas, rather than practising this method of cultivation in different areas each year.
According to the ministry, slash-and-burn cultivation covered 76,000 hectares throughout the country two years ago. This has now dropped to about 48,000 hectares.
The ministry has allocated land to farmers in over 7,000 villages to help put an end to shifting cultivation.
There are five categories of forest in the country: conservation forests, protected forests, production forests, degraded forests, and reforestation zones. Only production forests can be exploited and the felling of trees in other forest types is prohibited.
