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degradation Humans have practised socially acceptable forms of forest use for millennia. They have cut down timber to construct the infrastructure of civilisations, they have taken wood from forests for fuel, and they have converted forested terrain to cropland. In many parts of the tropics, farmers traditionally have practised shifting cultivation. The method is also known as swidden or slash-and-burn agriculture. Farmers clear sections of forest, plant the land for a few years with annual or short-term perennial crops, and then allow the land to remain fallow for several years. The fallow is likely to last many years longer than the period of cultivation. As traditionally practised, with the long fallow periods, shifting cultivation treats the land in a sustainable way. That is, it recycles nutrients, conserves soil and water, and encourages diversification of crops. But the traditional system is being rapidly replaced by shortened fallow periods in which the land has little or no chance to recover. The forest does not regenerate, fertility declines, weeds take over and the soil erodes. The forces behind this change are familiar: population growth, the arrival of migrants who do not follow sustainable land-use practices, the need to produce crop after crop in order to remain financially secure. Agriculture is by no means the sole cause of deforestation. Unsustainable logging practices, livestock grazing and fire, manmade or caused by natural phenomena, all contribute to degradation and fragmentation of forest habitat. The human role in the life of forests is reflected in all of CIFOR’s work. Several activities, however, specifically address questions of inappropriate deforestation, degradation and biodiversity loss. CIFOR’s research on ‘Causes of Forest Deforestation, Forest Degradation and Changes in Human Welfare’ specifically addresses questions of inappropriate deforestation. Research in 1997 has worked towards CIFOR’s objectives, which include improving the scientific basis for balanced management of forest lands, developing policies and technologies for the sustainable use and management of forest goods and services, and strengthening national capacities for research on forests. In collaboration with national research organisations in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Central America, during 1997 CIFOR scientists participated in a number of studies designed to better understand why damage to forests occurs. A summary of the results of these studies was distributed among forestry policy makers, and an electronic mailing list was established so discussants could easily exchange their ideas. Researchers also completed a review of some 150 economic models of deforestation. The review concludes that deforestation tends to be greater when: forested lands are more accessible; agricultural and timber prices are higher; rural wages are lower; and there are more opportunities for long distance trade. Population and migration both affect deforestation rates, but in a complex fashion that cannot simply be reduced to saying population growth promotes deforestation. Major doubts remain regarding the relationships between deforestation and productivity growth, input prices, land markets, land and forest tenure security, and household income (poverty) that can only be resolved through future research. Generally, it is hard to find any clear-cut relationship between macroeconomic variables and policies and deforestation. A significant finding of this review is, however, that a number of the policy reforms included in current economic liberalisation and adjustment efforts may increase pressure on forests. The paper recommends some major shifts in future research. Research will probably be more productive if it concentrates on household and regional-level studies, instead of national and global studies. More attention should be paid to institutional issues and modelling of large-scale farmers/ranchers and logging companies. CIFOR scientists studied the underlying causes of deforestation in three parts of the world: Bolivia, Cameroon and Indonesia. In Indonesia, for example, rural sociologist William D. Sunderlin and environmental and resource policy specialist Ida Aju Pradnja Resosudarmo found a lack of basic information about deforestation, including the scale at which it is happening and the reasons behind it. Although Indonesia possesses one-tenth of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest, and it is well known that forest cover is declining, there is far less agreement on the major causes of the decline. Some sources say it is smallholder production, including shifting cultivation. Others identify the timber industry as the leading cause of deforestation in Indonesia. There is little agreement even on the basic terminology of deforestation and degradation. Such terms as ‘shifting cultivation’ have different meanings for different people and institutions, and even ‘deforestation’ lacks a single, accepted definition (see BOX: ‘What is deforestation?’). Similarly, few agree on the relative roles played by the accepted agents of deforestation in Indonesia. These include: smallholders who plant food crops (both those who practise shifting cultivation and those, known as ‘forest pioneers’, who come to establish permanent or semi-permanent farms); smallholders who clear land to grow tree crops; migrants who come from other Indonesian provinces, often to escape population pressures; logging and the timber industry; plantations and estates; and macroeconomic policies. These questions must be faced if we are to manage and protect forests wisely. ‘In order to adequately address the problems posed by inappropriate forest cover loss in Indonesia’, write Sunderlin and Resosudarmo, ‘it is necessary to know the rate of deforestation in Indonesia. . . . A clearer understanding of the situation is a necessary precondition for formulating new policies and adapting existing policies aimed at improving the welfare of forest communities and the conservation and management of Indonesia’s forests’. In Africa, CIFOR research on the causes of deforestation centres on the impacts of macroeconomic policies on household livelihood strategies in the miombo woodlands of Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. These miombo woodlands are composed of scattered trees that rise above a grassy understorey. Community-level research will help determine which policies have the greatest impact on local communities and their management of woodland resources. Meetings with regional partners to assess data quality and quantity as well as analysis techniques were followed by a workshop to discuss the research results. Rapid rural appraisals (RRA) were conducted at each site to identify the key policy issues and baseline data were collected. The RRA laid the groundwork for the selected locations to become long-term ‘laboratories’ for studying different aspects of the impact of policies and local institutions on resource management and livelihoods. The researchers in those laboratories will not all be CIFOR scientists. Collaborators
from local universities and other participating institutions will be involved at every
stage from research design, field work and data analysis to reporting of results.
Ultimately this project should contribute to the development of a network of scientists
dealing with policy analysis and socioeconomic issues as they relate to forestry in the
miombo woodlands region. It is also expected that the active participation of four of the
principal universities in the Southern African region should have an important indirect
impact on the university training of foresters and social scientists. Further expansion of
this collaborative work in the miombo areas of southern Africa was approved for funding by
the EU late in the year.
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