Yearly 200'000 hectares of forest are being cleared. This is the equivalent of the surface of the cantons of Zurich and Basel. 90% of the original forest has already been cleared.
Manioc, rice or maize are planted on the burnt forest grounds or else new pastureland for the 10 million Zebus is being prepared. These animals are not primarily used as a source for meat or milk but are kept instead as a status symbol and used as working animals.
Most timber is used for personal needs, and only minimal amounts are being exported.
Furthermore houses are being built with clay bricks, as the fast-growing population is in need of more housing. In order to produce the clay bricks however, a fire must be kept burning for a whole week, in order to burn the clay.
Most wood is used for cooking in Madagascar. 80% of all the cut wood is turned into charcoal and used to cook on the open fire. As most of the forests around the cities have been completely cleared, charcoal factories can now be found only 50-100 km away from the cities. Entire villages live from the charcoal production. In the cities, families spend about 1/5 to 1/4 of their monthly income on charcoal. In the country-side, wood is being cut in the nearby forest leading to a huge loss of forest area every year.
Through the ADES solar cooker project, alternative cooking opportunities enable a greater independence from wood and charcoal.
Erosion
Often a new piece of land is cleared after 3 to 4 years, as the soil's fertility declines. The thin layer of humus at the surface is then scratched away by the tropical rains and the brown rivers appearing across the country transport the precious soil towards the sea.
This provokes localised flooding and the few rural roads that exist become impassable. The erosion progresses, leaving behind horrible, eternal wounds in the landscape, rendering the land agriculturally unproductive.
