Why do people slash and burn

Slash and burn agriculture is most often practiced in places where open land for farming is not readily available because of dense vegetation. Such farming is typically done within grasslands and rainforests. Slash and burn is a method of agriculture primarily used by tribal communities for subsistence farming farming to survive. Humans have practiced this method for about 12, years, ever since the transition known as the Neolithic Revolution—the time when humans stopped hunting and gathering and started to stay put and grow crops.

When done properly, slash and burn agriculture provides communities with a source of food and income. Slash and burn allows people to farm in places where it usually is not possible because of dense vegetation, soil infertility, low soil nutrient content, uncontrollable pests, or other reasons. Many critics claim that slash and burn agriculture contributes to a number of persistent environmental problems.

They include:. The negative aspects above are interconnected, and when one happens, typically another happens also. These issues may come about because of irresponsible practices of slash and burn agriculture by large numbers of people. Knowledge of the ecosystem of the area and agricultural skills may provide ways to practice slash and burn agriculture in restorative, sustainable ways.

In practice, this last option — slashing and burning more land — is often what happens. This can result in vast areas of land being taken up, as farmers go from one area to the next. However, after an area has been left alone for enough time, it will gradually regrows sufficiently that it can be reused for slash and burn agriculture.

In practice today, there very often is not enough land per farmer. This happens when there is a lot of population growth in an area. It means that a given section of land does not have enough time to regrows fully before a farmer needs it again.

As a result, more and more land is cleared. This can contribute to major deforestation across broad regions. It can also put farmers and their dependents into poverty, as they lack access to adequate land to grow the food that they depend on.

Today, with more people than ever trying to survive in the midst of dwindling natural resources, the impact of slash-and-burn is particularly destructive and unsustainable. It exacerbates destructive impacts on already-fragile ecosystems and contributes to climate change.

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