Shifting cultivation – The cancer” of the tropics?”

Shifting cultivation is probably the oldest form of crop production in the tropics. For generations it has proved itself to be a sustainable way to produce food for the subsistence of millions of small farmers in the humid tropics. In recent years, however, an increasing number of critics, in particular the FAO, blames shifting cultivation for being the main cause of tropical deforestation. This view is also shared by German school atlasses. The present study is an attempt to prove that this negative image is not correct - neither qualitatively nor quantitatively. Qualitatively, traditional shifting cultivation results merely in forest degradation but not in complete deforestation; quantitatively shifting cultivation is no longer the dominating cropping practice in the tropics, but has largely been replaced by permanent forms of landuse, e.g. wetrice cultivation, bush and tree crop plantations, permanent dryfield cultivation and ranching. On the other hand, a new phenomenon, namely modern agricultural colonization is increasingly encroaching the remaining forest areas and is now by far the No. 1 in tropical deforestation. As it also applies slash and burn clearing at the start it is generally mixed with shifting cultivation. This leads to the unfortunate result that the negative environmental impacts of the colonization process including tropical deforestation are attributed to shifting cultivation. The consequences for the traditional shifting cultivation communities, often ethnic minorities, can be disastrous. Several governments of tropical countries have already proclaimed shifting cultivation illegal"; some, e.g. Indonesia, have even started to relocate shifting cultivators. That such actions are mainly performed for political rather than for ecological reasons is easily overseen in our countries."