Slash and burn: Visit foggy Laos Year 2012

I complained about the trash and burn already, but now is the season for a more serious threat, the slash and burn. Farmers in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos burning down rice fields as well as forests and any other agricultural used land. This results in a large haze. The effects: Transportation is on hold, since pilot do not have enough visibility. People in the area suffering from breathing problems, asthma, etc. Not to mention the huge amount of CO2 that is exposed, and the change for the micro climate because of the small particles the smog contains. The picture shows a satellite image from Nasa, taken over Thailand

Caption: As the 2012 agricultural fire season progressed in Indochina, smoke blanketed the region and aerosol particulates increased to potentially unhealthy levels. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image of the vast amount of smoke and haze hovering over the region on February 23, 2012. The image is centered in northern Thailand, where thick ropes of gray smoke lie in each valley, obscuring the land except for the green lines of mountain ridges. To the west is Myanmar (Burma) and to the east is Laos. Fires also burn in Vietnam (far east) and southern China (northeast). Although the smoke is heaviest in valleys and near the red hot spots that mark heat from fires, no section of sky in this entire region is free of smoke. On February 19, the Bangkok Post reported that the Public Health Ministry had begun to hand out 50,000 face masks to residents of the haze-shrouded northern provinces of Thailand. The masks were to be distributed to eight provinces where the PM10 (particulate matter level of up to 10 micrometers in diameter) were found to be higher than acceptable standards. These provinces were Phayao, Nan, Phrae, Mae Hong Son, Lamphun, Lampang, Chiang Rai, and Chiang Mai. On February 23, the day this image was captured it was reported that the situation had clearly worsened, causing the local airport in Lampang to turn the runway lights on in daylight, to aid in the safe landing of aircraft. http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2012-02-25 All together, it is just as bad as it looks. But of course government in the effected regions are concerned, but are not able to take any action. The yearly blabla, followed by yet another NGO project to develop alternatives for the farmers who do the burning. Flights to Luang Prabang are now extremely delayed or cancelled, flights in other parts of the country are totally cancelled. Great, since this year is called the Visit Laos year 2012 ("if you can make it ever into the country) - should be the subtitle.