Lao PDR - Rural life - Slash and burn cultivation

'The Green Season', a swidden rice field almost ready for harvesting near the Ko Pala village of Honglerk, Phongsaly province, Lao PDR. Slash and burn cultivation or ‘hai' in Lao consists of cutting the natural vegetation, leaving it to dry and then burning it for temporary cropping of the land, the ash acting as a natural fertiliser. Shifting cultivation practices, although remarkably sustainable and adapted to their environment in the past, have come under increasing stress in recent decades (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)