Slash and burn activities detected in Miri

MIRI: Farmers in the interior are starting to slash and burn agriculture waste to prepare for the new planting season. 

Borneo Resources Institute, an environmental watchdog group, said the burning was carried out on a smaller scale compared to previous years. 

“They have started burning the waste in preparation for the next planting season. 

“As far as we know, the burning is not as bad as before and is not causing massive air pollution or haze,” said the institute's coordinator Raymond Abin. 

In previous years, open burning of farmland contributed to extensive air pollution which affected the urban areas in the state. 

Smoke from the burning coupled with the trans-boundary haze caused by open burning in Kalimantan has caused the air quality in most parts of Sarawak to deteriorate. 

Marudi assemblyman Sylvester Entri said the Baram region in interior Miri division did not suffer massive air pollution from the open burning.