Been very hazy the last few days - fires still burning around the port side of the hills

Kampot's View of the Bokor Mountain Slopes - Erosion !

How the smoke affects your health

Air pollution linked to higher risk of irreversible sight loss

Tue 26 Jan 2021 01.00 EST
Large UK study found small pollution rise associated with more cases of age-related macular degeneration

Air pollution is being linked to an increasingly wide range of diseases, and the World Health Organization says 90% of the world population live with dirty air. A global review in 2019 concluded that air pollution may be damaging every organ in the human body, as inhaled particles travel around the body and cause inflammation

Small increases in air pollution are linked to an increased risk of irreversible sight loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a large UK study has found.

Previous work had already found a link between dirty air and glaucoma and a link to cataracts is suspected. The scientists said the eyes have a particularly high flow of blood, potentially making them very vulnerable to the damage caused by tiny particles that are breathed in and then flow around the body.

The study is the first to assess the connection between air pollution and both diagnoses of AMD that the patients said they had been given, and measurements of harmful changes in the retina. It found a small increase in exposure to tiny pollution particles raised the risk of AMD by 8%, while small changes in larger pollution particles and nitrogen dioxide were linked to a 12% higher risk of adverse retinal changes.
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AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness among the over-50s in high-income countries and there are 200 million people around the world with the condition. In the UK about 5% of people over 65 years old have the disease.

The biggest risk factors for AMD are genetics and poor physical health issues, such as smoking and obesity. But as lifestyles become healthier, the impact of air pollution will become more important, the researchers said, and, unlike genetics, levels dirty air can be reduced with the right policies.

Air pollution is being linked to an increasingly wide range of diseases, and the World Health Organization says 90% of the world population live with dirty air. A global review in 2019 concluded that air pollution may be damaging every organ in the human body, as inhaled particles travel around the body and cause inflammation.

“There is an enormously high flow of blood [to the retina] and we think that as a consequence of that the distribution of pollutants is greater to the eye than to other places,” said Prof Paul Foster, at University College London, UK, and who was part of the study team. “Proportionately, air pollution is going to become a bigger risk factor as other risk factors are brought under control.”

“It’s important to keep things in context – people shouldn’t be looking outside their door and thinking: ‘I can’t go out because it is polluted out there’,” he said. “The study gives people information that they can use to alter their lifestyle choices. For example, it may be another reason why we might consider going for an electric car, instead of buying a diesel.”

source:https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... sight-loss

I hope i don't get blasted for showing how things progressed here: Some may see it boring.

1.The parts of forest burned are now chopped down .... see one of the many guys carrying sometimes extremely charred pieces of wood from the mountain.
2.The other pic shows how far the fire went up the hill where in the past 8 years we never saw any fire at all
3.Last but least: Google earth shows how much Bokor Mountain Slopes here have been encroached already. Lots of farming going on up there, too. Since most arable land down here is already sold or used for speculations farmers and cow hearders alike are now feeling the pinch of development. Nothing is going to change that.


Google Earth shows the straight dark line from right to left (Railway Tracks) The big white spots on the left side are thousand plots and are really the very bottom of the mountain. Everything further up is encroachment.

Jan. 30, 2021 Kampot reports unhealthy Air Quality

Bokor Mountain again shrouded in mist today. Difficult to breathe.

According to a realtime analysis and short forecast it will look like this:
Kampot air quality index (AQI) forecast

Today Saturday Jan.30
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
108
US AQI
Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
31°21°
Wind rotating 45 degree
18 km/h

Sunday, Jan 31
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
101
US AQI
Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
32°23°
Wind rotating 32 degree
10.8 km/h

Monday, Feb 1
Moderate
86
US AQI
Human face indicating AQI level
Weather icon
31°24°
Wind rotating 129 degree
3.6 km/h

source:https://www.iqair.com/cambodia/kampot

If this is assessment is correct, the air pollution is much worse elsewhere in Cambodia, despite fires in Kampot.
Right now:

Same source as the OP: https://www.iqair.com