Shifting Cultivation: A New Old Paradigm for Managing Tropical Forests

Tropical secondary forests regenerating after shifting cultivation in the Philippines uplands are important carbon sinks

In the tropics, shifting cultivation has long been attributed to large scale forest degradation, and remains a major source of uncertainty in forest carbon accounting. In the Philippines, shifting cultivation, locally known as kaingin, is a major land-use in upland areas. We measured the distribution and recovery of aboveground biomass carbon along a fallow gradient in post-kaingin secondary fo...

Tropical forests and shifting cultivation: secondary forest fallow dynamics among traditional farmers of the Peruvian Amazon

Tropical secondary forests created by swidden-fallow agriculture cover extensive areas in the humid tropics and yield significant ecological and economic benefits, yet forest fallowing behaviour among swidden cultivators remains poorly understood. This paper reports on a study of forest fallow management among Amazonian peasant farmers in a traditional, riverside community near Iquitos, Peru. D...

Shifting Cultivation, Livelihood and Food Security New and Old Challenges for Indigenous Peoples in Asia

New strategies for conserving tropical forests.

In an interval of just 1-2 decades, the nature of tropical forest destruction has changed. Rather than being dominated by rural farmers, tropical deforestation now is substantially driven by major industries and economic globalization, with timber operations, oil and gas development, large-scale farming and exotic-tree plantations being the most frequent causes of forest loss. Although instigat...

Making Differences Matter; a New Paradigm for Managing Diversity

Why sbould companies concern tbemselves witb diversity? Until recently, many managers answered this question with the assertion that discrimination is wrong, hotb legally and morally. But today managers are voicing a second notion as well A more diverse workforce, tbey say, will increase organizational effectiveness. It will lift morale, bring greater access to new segments of the marketplaee, ...