Shifting Cultivation and Environmental Change
Indigenous People, Agriculture and Forest Conservation

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.

Foreword Jefferson Fox Preface Part 1: Introduction A) Overview Chapters: The Context in which this Book was Prepared i) A Backwards Glance, Over Our Shoulders… 1. The View of Swidden Agriculture by the Early Naturalists, Linnaeus and Wallace Michael R. Dove 2. Shifting Cultivators and the Landscape: An Essay through Time Harold Brookfield 3. Swiddens and Fallows: Reflections on the Global and Local Values of ‘Slash and Burn’ Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Janis B. Alcorn and Diane Russell 4. Agroforestry Pathways Revisited: Voices from the Past John Raintree and Katherine Warner 5. Shifting Agriculture and its Changes in Yunnan Province, China Shaoting Yin 6. Swiddeners at the End of the Frontier: 50 years of Globalization in Northern Thailand, 1963 – 2013 Peter Kunstadter ii) Looking towards the Future 7. The Future of Swidden Cultivation Joseph A. Weinstock 8. Shifting Agriculture and Fallow Management Options: Where do we Stand? P. S. Ramakrishnan 9. Chena Cultivation in Sri Lanka: Prospects for Agroforestry Interventions Herath P. M. Gunasena and D. K. N. G. Pushpakumara 10. Learning from Migratory Agriculture around the World to Improve both Swidden and Modern Agriculture in Southeast Asia Roland Bunch 11. Learning to Cope: Evergreen Agriculture Transformations and Insights Exchanged between Africa and Asia Dennis P. Garrity Part 2: Is Shifting Cultivation really the ‘Bogeyman’ of Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss? A) Shifting Cultivation in an Era of Climate Change 12. Swidden Transitions in an Era of Climate Change Debate Meine van Noordwijk, Peter A Minang and Kurniatun Hairiah 13. Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Transformations of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes: Are we Throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater? Kamal Aryal and Dhrupad Choudhury 14. Best REDD Scenario: Reducing Climate Change in Alliance with Swidden Communities and Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia Janis B. Alcorn and Antoinette G. Royo 15. Earning Carbon Credits through Fallow Management on lands Affected by Shifting Cultivation in Northeast India Imtienla Ao 16. Formal and Indigenous Forest-Management Systems in Central Vietnam: Implications and Challenges for REDD+ Mucahid Mustafa Bayrak, Tran Nam Tu and Paul Burgers 17. Changing Strategies of Shifting Cultivators to Match a Changing Climate Prasert Trakansuphakon 18. Fallows and Flooding: A Case Study on the Potential Contribution of Fallows to Flood Mitigation Peter D. Suson, Rex Victor O. Cruz, Ruth P. Serquiña, Nathaniel C. Bantayan, Daisy Lou L. Polestico and Jerson N. Orejudos 19. Dynamics of an Island Ecosystem: Where to Now? Marjorie V. Cushing Falanruw and Francis Ruegorong B) Is Shifting Cultivation Friend or Foe to Biodiversity? 20. Second thoughts on Secondary forests: Can Swidden Cultivation be Compatible with Conservation? Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt 21. Biodiversity and Swidden Agroecosystems: An Analysis and some Implications Percy E. Sajise 22. Shifting Cultivators, Curators of Forests and Conservators of Biodiversity: The Dayak of East Kalimantan, Indonesia Herwasono Soedjito 23. Fallow Management Practices among the Tangkhuls of Manipur: Safeguarding Provisioning and Regulatory Services from Shifting Cultivation Fallows L. Jitendro Singh and Dhrupad Choudhury 24. Some Lesser Known Facts about jhum in Nagaland, Northeast India Temjen Toy and POU (Project Operations Unit) Members 25. Plant Genetic Diversity in Farming Systems and Poverty Alleviation in Vietnam’s Northern Mountain Region Tran Duc Vien, Vu Van Liet and Nguyen Thanh Lam 26. Experimenting with Change: Shifting Beliefs and Rice Varieties in Swidden Communities in Northern Laos Karen McAllister 27. Is the ‘Bogeyman’ Real? Shifting Cultivation and the Forests, Papua New Guinea Bryant Allen and Colin Filer 28. The End of swidden in Bhutan: Implications for Forest Cover and Biodiversity Steve Siebert, Jill M. Belsky, Sangay Wangchuk and James Riddering 29. Valuation and Management of Forest Ecosystem Services: A Skill Well Exercised by the Forest People of Upper Nam Theun, Lao P.D.R Laurent Chazee 30. Benuaron: The Fruit Gardens of the Orang Rimba Bambang Hariyadi and Dedi Harmoko 31. Ancestral Domain and National Park Potection: Mutually Supportive Paradigms? A Case Study of the Mt.Kitanglad Range Nature Park, Bukidnon, Philippines Malcolm Cairns 32. Shifting Cultivation and Wildlife Sanctuaries in Ancestral Domains: Friend or Foe to Biodiversity Conservation? Butch Dagondon and Easterluna Canoy 33. Missing Link of Forest Regeneration: Dwindling Shifting Cultivation from North Western Ghats Archana Godbole, VJayant Sarnaik and Yogita Gokhale 34. Fallows and Forest Restoration Kuswata Kartawinata and Rochadi Abdulhadi 35. Characteristics and Roles of Fallow and Riparian Forests in a Mountainous Region of Northern Laos Isao Hirota 36. A Plant Resources Survey and Festival: A Community-based Approach to Biodiversity Education and Conservation Venacio A. Acebedo, Lorna F. Acebedo and David M. Bates 37. Developing Information Systems on Indigenous Plant Resources in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines Damasa B. Magcale-Macandog, Edwin R. Abucay, Lorenza G. Lirio, Lito O. Ayyokad, Joyce N. Paing, Jovita E. Saguibo, Enesto T. Miguel and Marlyn Tombali Part 3: Specialization for Markets or Continued Agrodiversity for Subsistence? A) When Swidden Fallows Become the Domain of Commodity Crops 38. Oil Palm as a Productive Fallow? Swidden Change and new Opportunities in Smallholder Land Management Ole Mertz 39. Where are the Swidden Fallows Now? An Overview of Oil Palm and Dayak Agriculture across Kalimantan, with Case Studies from Sanggau, in West Kalimantan Lesley Potter 40. Busy People, Idle Land: The Changing Roles of swidden Fallows in Sarawak Rob Cramb 41. Socially Constructed Rubber Plantations in the Swidden Landscape of Southwest China Jianchu Xu and Zhuangfang Yi 42. Rubber Plantation, Swidden Agriculture and Indigenous Knowledge: A Case Study of a Bulang Village in Xishuangbanna, China Lun-Yin, Dayuan Xue and Jing Wang 43. Impacts of Smallholder Rubber on Shifting Cultivation and Rural Livelihoods in Northern Laos Vongpaphane Manivong and Rob Cramb 44. From Subsistence Swidden Fallows to Market-oriented Monoculture Production: Drivers of Land Use Change in the Lao PDR in the Context of Market Globalization Paulo Pasicolan and Thatheva Saphangthong 45. Transformation of a Landscape: Shifting Cultivation, Biodiversity, and Tea Janet C. Sturgeon B) Shifting Cultivation on an Island Frontier: An Examination of the Main Swidden Communities in Palawan, the Philippines Sub-edited by James Eder 46. Tree Crops, Fallow Management and Agricultural Settlement in the Cuyonon System of Shifting Cultivation James Eder 47. Governmental Pressures on Swidden Landscapes in Palawan Island, the Philippines Wolfram Dressler 48. Rice-related Knowledge, Farming Strategies and the Transformation of Swiddens Amongst the Batak of Palawan island, the Philippines Dario Novellino Part 4: Conclusions 49. Gender Analysis: Shifting Cultivation and Indigenous People Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Rebakah Daro Minarchek, Malcolm Cairns, Anungla Aier, Amity Doolittle, Valerie Mashman, Helen Hambly Odame, Michelle Roberts, Kathryn Robinson and Penny Van Esterik 50. The Bidayuh of Sarawak: Gender, Spirituality and Swiddens Valerie Mashman and Patricia Nayoi 51. Cartoons about Shifting Cultivation: Using Humour to Emphasize some Important Points Malcolm Cairns 52. Afterword A. Terry Rambo

Malcolm Cairns is a consultant and researcher based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He was recently a Research Fellow at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at Kyoto University, Japan and has extensive experience working across South and Southeast Asia. He is editor of Voices from the Forest (RFF Press, 2007).