000			02387nam a22002297a 4500
005			20250206151441.0
008			250206b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780415746052
028			_a: International Book Distributors _b: Flat No.- 17, Prakash Apartment, 4405/2,5 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi _c: 121278 _d: 30/01/2025
082			_a631.5 CAI
100			_aCairns, Malcolm F.
245			_aShifting Cultivation and Environmental Change _b: Indigenous People, Agriculture and Forest Conservation. _c/ Malcolm F. Cairns.
260			_a, New York _b: Routledge _c, 2015.
300			_axxv, 1032p. _c: 24cm.
365			_b4707
520			_aShifting 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.
650			_aShifting cultivation
650			_aAgriculture
650			_aAgricultural strategies
700			_aMalcolm F. Cairns
942			_cBOOK
999			_c62800 _d62800