Fires in Madagascar

Burning on Madagascar

18August 2005

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People in Madagascar seasonally burn the grasslands and savanna-type vegetation of interior Madagascar as part of their agricultural land management practices. Over two millennia of habitation, human exploitation of the island’s natural resources, including the imposed fire regime, has transformed the plant and animal communities of Madagascar. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on 17 August 2005, shows scores of fires (red dots) scattered across the island.

AQUA
17August 2005
10:20 hrs UTC
(Image courtesy MODIS)

Click on scene for a 500m resolution

The links provide a 500m resolution for both scenes

Though intentional agricultural fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, they can have strong negative impacts on human health and natural resources.

(Source: Earth Observatory)

For further information see also:

• Country archive East Africa

• Regional Wildland Fire Networks (AfriFireNet)

• The South African Working on Fire Programme

• IFFN Country Reports on Central African countries

• Recent Africa Updates

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