Journal article
Trends, drivers and impacts of changes in swidden cultivation in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers: A global assessment
N van Vliet, O Mertz, A Heinimann, T Langanke, U Pascual, B Schmook, C Adams, D Schmidt-Vogt, P Messerli, S Leisz, JC Castella, L Jørgensen, T Birch-Thomsen, C Hett, TB Bruun, A Ickowitz, KC Vu, K Yasuyuki, J Fox, C Padoch Show all
Global Environmental Change | Published : 2012
Abstract
This meta-analysis of land-cover transformations of the past 10-15 years in tropical forest-agriculture frontiers world-wide shows that swidden agriculture decreases in landscapes with access to local, national and international markets that encourage cattle production and cash cropping, including biofuels. Conservation policies and practices also accelerate changes in swidden by restricting forest clearing and encouraging commercial agriculture. However, swidden remains important in many frontier areas where farmers have unequal or insecure access to investment and market opportunities, or where multi-functionality of land uses has been preserved as a strategy to adapt to current ecological..
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Awarded by National Science Foundation
Funding Acknowledgements
Work for this paper was supported by a grant from the Danish Social Science Research Council, the Global Land Project (GLP) and the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) North-South. The authors are grateful for contributions by Daniel Muller and Patrick Meyfroidt.