Slash-and-Burn Forest Clearing in the Amazon Forest

This September 17 image collected by Expedition 29 astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) shows slash-and-burn forest clearing being conducted in Amazonia, the rainforest covering the Amazon Basin, in Brazil, South America.

This technique for clearing land is used to convert forests into arable land, or pastures for cattle and other animals. Unfortunately, while doing so, workers are also chipping away at one of the few remaining rainforests around the world.

Vegetation here has the important function of producing vast amounts of oxygen, while reducing carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere above. Burning the forests releases the CO2 back in the air, and then some.

This particular image was snapped using a Nikon D2Xs digital camera with a 200 mm lens, and is part of the international ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment. All images produced in this experiment must have value for scientists and the public, and must be made freely available to anyone.