Impact of Shifting Agriculture on the Sustainability of Anthroscapes in Sarawak, Malaysia

Shifting cultivation has a negative connotation particularly in western societies. It is viewed as a system that progressively deforests without attempts to regenerate the forests. Although the system is practiced in many developing countries its contributions to the forest ecosystem and the low-input agricultural system is not recognized. A major advantage is the biodiversity that prevails in this system in comparison to that which exists in the mono-clonal plantations. Mismanaged systems can lead to a land becoming a biodiversity-desert. Shifting cultivation, as practiced by the forest communities is a viable, sustainable enterprise but becomes compromised by modern interventions. Despite the negative connotations, the impact of shifting cultivation can be contained in a sustainable land management system. Precise data on spatial distribution of land areas affected by shifting cultivation is needed. The degradation potential of various fragile systems where shifting agriculture has been detected, can be ascertained with greater precision with such precise data.