File:Madagascar (MODIS 2017-07-10).jpg

English: On June 26, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite captured a striking true-color image of northwestern Madagascar.

The red soils in this region contrast strongly with the emerald greens of the dry, deciduous forests found in parts of northwestern Madagascar. The forest region of northwestern Madagascar is high in endemic species of both animal and plant life – and is listed as a critical/endangered by the World Wildlife Fund. Unfortunately, the forests are already strongly fragmented a threatened by human activity as forests are burned and cleared for agriculture.

Forest clearing not only damages rare species that are found only in this part of the world, it also causes significant erosion. Along the coastline two large estuaries are filled with red sediment – clear evidence of erosion from inland. The government of Madagascar has programs to control the clearing of land, to encourage reforestation, and reduce soil loss from the hills, but they have not yet solved the environmental issues in the region.

The western-most estuary is the Betsiboka Estuary. It is the mouth of Madagascar’s largest river and feeds into the Bombetoka Bay. The erosion in this estuary has caused the filling of coastal waterways with sediment. Ocean-going ships were once able to travel up the Betsiboka, but now must drop anchor near the coast. The eastern-most estuary is the Mahajamba Bay, which is fed by several rivers. It, too, is nearly blood-red with the sediments carried from inland erosion.