Laos (The Lao People's Democratic Republic) is a small land-locked country in Southeast Asia that is rich in forest and water resources. However, human agricultural practices such as uncontrolled burning and shifting cultivation - a land-use pattern in which patches of forest are cleared, burned and cultivated, and then abandoned to allow regrowth and recovery before being exploited again - are the primary causes of deforestation throughout the country. A comparison satellite images shows how the intensity of shifting cultivation activities - and the resulting environmental damage - has increased over time. In 1988 there were only scattered areas under cultivation in the forest. By 2023, the number and size of cultivated areas and disturbed forest cover had increased substantially.