Human Adaptability to Tropical Regions: Responses to Deforestation

Tropical Deforestation: Where does it begin?

Deforestation is occurring all around the globe. As a society we need to educate one another about the travesty of lost rain forests. There are many facts and opinions as to what is causing the loss of these essential rain forests and much research is being done about how to stop the irreversible damage. This simplest way to begin is to stop cutting the forest down, unless of course you know how to rebuild it.

Shifting cultivation is a common farming strategy used in tropical rain forests. It is commonly known as slash-and-burn or swidden. This technique is erroneously believed to be “practiced by primitive farmers on inferior soils” (Moran 283). Swidden is practiced all over the world and has been shown as an effective procedure in preparing the land for cultivation. Because of its simplicity, swidden requires minimal labor and resources, both monetarily and physically. By burning the biomass of the forest its nutrients become ingredients in the soil that will raise healthful crops. Traditional swidden practices allow the land to rest more than it is cultivated (Moran 283). The slash-and-burn technique provides many benefits to the farmers such as; killing the parasites, insects and bacteria, eradicating the unwanted rodents as well as the seeds of congesting weeds. In Peru experiments showed that land cultivated using the swidden technique produced 50-60% higher yields than from land cultivated by machinery (Moran, Sanchez 1974). If the cultivation of the land does not cease in a timely manner, forest re-growth will not occur and only grasses will grow in place of the forest. With a strong demand upon farmers to produce sustainable crops in greater quantities permanent deforestation has begun to emerge.

In Madagascar this slash-and-burn style of land cultivation is known as tavy. According to Jarosz, deforestation of the rain forests of Madagascar can be inextricably linked to its annexation as a French colony. When the French arrived many people fled into the forest where they survived by growing their own food. When the French began to collect taxes they found it much easier if the Malagasys lived close together in colonies. The French outlawed tavy because it required a family group to go off into the wilderness, making it harder to collect taxes, and as a result more natives fled into the forests. Jarosz argues that the colonial states policy on shifting cultivation as well as export crops accelerated deforestation. Coffee crops created a higher net profit for farmers which led to insufficient production of rice and greater acreage of rain forests lost to growing crops. The French wanted Madagascar to produce exports of coffee, rice, maize, cloves, vanilla and Ylang Ylang flowers. A study done in 1972 showed that soil erosion rates on coffee fields are nearly double the rates of soil used to grow sustainable crops. Due to the states requisite on export levels the pattern of healthy soil cultivation was abandoned and thus developed increased rates of deforestation.

Whether deforestation is a result of government pressures, native traditions, or reckless human behavior, researchers tells us that if we continue along this destructive path of deforestation future generations will suffer from a multitude of known and unknown consequences. Re-growth of the rain forest will never be achieved if humans don’t come together to “save the rain forest.”

Works Cited

Jarosz, Lucy. "Defining and Explaining Tropical Deforestation: Shifting Cultivation and Population Growth in.." Economic Geography 69.4 (1993): 366. <http://search.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9406170102&loginpage=Login.asp&site=ehost-live>.

Moran, E. F. Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology. PERSEUS BOOKS, 2008. . google.