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Environment Main Global Warming Natural Disasters Habitats FRESHWATER

Manioc Plants

Photo: Clear-cuts are planted with manioc, a very inefficient way to farm

Clear-cut swaths of the Amazon rain forest in Quiandeua, Brazil, are often planted with manioc, or cassava, a shrub grown for its starchy root. Farmers slash-and-burn large parcels of forest every year to create grazing and crop lands, but the forest's nutrient-poor soil often renders the land ill-suited for agriculture, and within a year or two, the farmers move on.

Photograph by Joel Sartore

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