Madagascar is among the world's poorest countries. As such, people's day-to-day survival is dependent upon natural resource use. They must live off the land that surrounds them, making use of whatever resources they can find. Their poverty costs the country and the world through the loss of the island's endemic biodiversity. Madagascar's major environmental problems include: Deforestation and habitat destruction. Agricultural fires. Erosion and soil degradation. Overexploitation of living resources including hunting and over-collection of species from the wild. Introduction of alien species.