When slash-and-burn is used as an industrial form of agriculture, it can exacerbate deforestation, the destruction of biodiversity, soil, and even communities. Read more Negative Effects of Slash-and-Burn Agriculture Slash-and-burn farming is known for being destructive and this can be true when the objective is to exploit the forest. Human-environment interaction refers to how humans relate to the rest of their ecosystem. This cycle is repeated as farmers move on to new areas to slash-and-burn, as previous areas recover. Then, a fallow period follows which allows plant life to regrow and soil nutrients to be restored. The freshly nutrient-rich soil is usable for two to three years until the soil is exhausted. This growing of crops is said to return carbon and other nutrients to the soil from the plants. Traditionally, slash-and-burn involves the clearing of forested areas (by slashing), and the burning of the remaining vegetation to gain a clear and neat biomass ready for the propagation of different crops. This term is many times preferred to ‘slash-and-burn’ because of the negative connotation the latter provokes. The term swidden refers to the practice of burning biomass with the expectation of cultivating it, or the area of land created by it. It was adopted by hunter-gatherer societies as it allowed them to transition with seasonal migrations between hunting grounds and agricultural settlements. This ancient agricultural technique dates back at least 7,000 years and is one of the oldest practices of cultivation. This type of agriculture requires a period in between burns that is long enough for the area to grow back dense and woody vegetation. Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting, slashing, and burning of plant life in a forest or woodland area to create a field called a swidden. Read more Slash-and-Burn Agriculture Explained Slash-and-burn agriculture is an old practice that relies on cycles of renewal and destruction. The following recent movies and documentaries about sustainability demonstrate why being an environmentalist is crucial to the health of our…
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