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Saving Slash‐and‐Burn to Save Biodiversity
Author(s) -
Padoch Christine,
PinedoVasquez Miguel
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00681.x
Subject(s) - slash and burn , biodiversity , livelihood , shifting cultivation , agroforestry , geography , agriculture , deforestation (computer science) , natural resource economics , population , environmental resource management , environmental planning , ecology , biology , economics , sociology , demography , archaeology , computer science , programming language
Several prominent articles have recently revived the debate on how to advance and reconcile two pressing global issues: conservation of biodiversity, and food production for an increasing human population. These discussions contrast a ‘land‐sparing/intensive agriculture’ strategy with a ‘biodiversity‐friendly’ agriculture approach. We propose that swidden or shifting cultivation should be an important component of the latter approach in the tropics because many swidden systems maintain very high levels of biodiversity while providing livelihood for populations in tropical forest areas worldwide. We suggest further that when many swidden systems are viewed without prejudice and in broader spatial and longer temporal perspectives, the conservationist aspects of the systems become evident.