Cultivation on the slopes of a volcano, Antananarivo region, Madagascar
West of Antananarivo (Tananarive) and the Ankaratra Mountains stretch the high Madagascan plateaus, at an altitude of 1,000 to 1,600 meters (3,300 to 5,250 feet). From the eighteenth century onward the land was brought under intensive cultivation, and forests were cut back to make room for grazing cattle and growing rice in terraces on the valley hillsides. At the current rate of deforestation, 1,500 square kilometres (600 square miles) are burned annually by landless peasants to grow rice and cassava for subsistence. This deforestation means the island could become completely devoid of forest cover by the year 2020. In addition to value they bring to biodiversity, forests are essential ecosystems to reduce soil erosion and thus control the impact of floods, landslides and drought. However they are vulnerable to forest-fires and thus need special protection and monitoring.