Tradition Stokes Pollution At Myanmar 'Slash And Burn' Festival

ETVBHARAT

In the Kayan region of Myanmar, villagers from Tha Yu Village burn dry trees on the mountains as part of an entrenched "slash-and-burn" agricultural practice.

Transcript

00:00In the hills of Paikom, Myanmar, thick smoke rises as villagers light fires in a centuries-old ceremony.

00:14It's a moment of renewal tied to a tradition called shifting cultivation,

00:19a way of farming passed down through generations.

00:23Joseph, a 27-year-old youth leader from Thayu village says,

00:32this is the only work we have. Without it, we cannot survive.

00:38We started to grow. And when it comes to children, we become more successful than it is.

00:49People come to us companies saying we are the only one who is the only one.

00:53We can do that for the next year.

01:00It's all about the same.

01:05Every year, between January and April, fires like these sweep across Southeast Asia, sending

01:12harmful smoke into the sky.

01:16In Myanmar, it shortens lives.

01:18But in conflict-torn regions, few have the means or options to change.

01:24Joseph explains, we only burn for an hour, and we follow rules, burning each field just

01:31once every ten years.

01:33If you find out Uzayah, it's the same.

01:36Please stop.

01:39We post it in a fashion.

01:40I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

01:42I said nothing to do.

01:45The end is the same.

01:47I have no way to go.

01:49If you don't have the means or if you don't have the means or to get the means or to get it,

01:54you know.

01:55That's the way that comes from the万iai.

01:57Still, the air grows thicker, the forest thinner.

02:27Khun Besai from the Kayaan Cultural Committee says,

02:31We see no alternatives, but we don't want our people blamed.

02:36What we need is access to better education and technology.

02:57As the fires crackle and the villagers dance in celebration, they also dance with uncertainty.

03:14Trying to preserve their culture while the world around them changes.

03:23How to achieve their culture as possible.

03:28The

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