Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change: Indigenous People, Agriculture and Forest Conservation
- ISBN-10
- 1317750195
- ISBN-13
- 9781317750192
- Category
- Nature
- Pages
- 1032
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2015-01-09
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Author
- Malcolm F. Cairns
Description
Shifting cultivation is one of the oldest forms of subsistence agriculture and is still practised by millions of poor people in the tropics. Typically it involves clearing land (often forest) for the growing of crops for a few years, and then moving on to new sites, leaving the earlier ground fallow to regain its soil fertility. This book brings together the best of science and farmer experimentation, vividly illustrating the enormous diversity of shifting cultivation systems as well as the power of human ingenuity. Some critics have tended to disparage shifting cultivation (sometimes called 'swidden cultivation' or 'slash-and-burn agriculture') as unsustainable due to its supposed role in deforestation and land degradation. However, the book shows that such indigenous practices, as they have evolved over time, can be highly adaptive to land and ecology. In contrast, 'scientific' agricultural solutions imposed from outside can be far more damaging to the environment and local communities. The book focuses on successful agricultural strategies of upland farmers, particularly in south and south-east Asia, and presents over 50 contributions by scholars from around the world and from various disciplines, including agricultural economics, ecology and anthropology. It is a sequel to the much praised "Voices from the Forest: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainable Upland Farming" (RFF Press, 2007), but all chapters are completely new and there is a greater emphasis on the contemporary challenges of climate change and biodiversity conservation.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2015-01-09
- 1032 pages
- Ebook
- Routledge
Similar books
-
Plant Identification: Creating User-Friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity Management
By William Hawthorne, Anna Lawrence... Farjon et al (A Field Guide to the Pines of Mexico and Central America, 1997) and Timberlake et al (Field Guide to the Acacias of Zimbabwe, 1999).
-
Birds of Maine
By Peter D. Vickery, Charles D. Duncan, Jeffrey V. Wells... counts: several hundred annually at Stratton I. and at E. Egg Rock, ... 15 Jan 2014 (R. Timberlake, eBird); Reid S.P. (Lower Kennebec R. CBC): 1 on 20 ...
-
Wasting the Rain (Routledge Revivals): Rivers, People and Planning in Africa
By William M. Adams AdamsMaltby, E. (1988) Waterlogged Wealth: Why waste the world's wet places? Earthscan, London. ... Timberlake, L. (1985) Africa in Crisis: the causes, ...
-
Plant Identification: Creating User-Friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity Management
By William Hawthorne, Anna Lawrence... E. and K. M. Wong (eds) (1995–ongoing) Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, FRIM, ... Journal of Biological Education, vol 18, pp293–304 Timberlake J., ...
-
Plant Identification: Creating User-friendly Field Guides for Biodiversity Management
By William Hawthorne, Anna Lawrence, Alan Charles Hamilton... E. and K. M. Wong (eds) (1995–ongoing) Tree Flora of Sabah and Sarawak, ... pp293–304 Timberlake J., C. Fagg and R. Barnes (1999) Field Guide to the ...
-
Happiness, Well-being and Sustainability: A Course in Systems Change
By Laura Musikanski, Rhonda Phillips, James BradburyFrost's meditations: Eudaemonia, the good life: A talk with Martin Seligman. ... 1, 115–135. doi:10.1007/s42413-018-0012-2 Kahneman, D. & Riis, D. (2005).
-
The Texas Landscape Project: Nature and People
By David A. Todd, Jonathan Ogren... section 2, part 2; Texas Water Code, Section 11.085(s)). ... as the “San Antone Hose” and generated a great deal of opposition in the Colorado basin, ...
-
Essential Environment: The Science Behind the Stories
By -. Pearson, Jay H. Withgott, Matthew LaposataThis is the product access code card for MasteringEnvironmentalScience(tm) with Pearson eText and does not include the actual bound book.
-
Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition
By Thomas S. Schulenberg, Douglas F. Stotz, Daniel F. LaneTodd Mark compiled the data on the material at the Muséum National d'Histoire ... Noam Shany provided a great deal of additional information on seabirds.
-
Finding Our Place in the Solar System: The Scientific Story of the Copernican Revolution
By Todd Timberlake, Paul WallaceDetails the science behind the Copernican Revolution, the transition from the Earth-centered cosmos to a modern understanding of planetary orbits.