Abstract
Swidden agriculture is an age-old, widespread but controversial farming practice in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA). In the uplands of northern Laos, swidden agriculture has remained a predominant human-dominated land-use type for centuries. However, swidden system has undergone dramatic transformations since the mid-1990s. Debates on changes in swidden cultivation are linked to globally critical issues, such as land use/cover changes (LUCC), biodiversity loss and environmental degradation. Since the implementation of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), much attention has been paid nationally and internationally to swidden agriculture in the tropics. However, knowledge of the explicitly spatial characteristics of swidden agriculture and the consequences of these transitions at macroscopic scale is surprisingly scarce. In this study, the intensity of swidden use and fallow forest recovery in northern Laos in 1990, 2002, and 2011 were delineated by means of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus (ETM+) imagery (30 m) using a decision tree classification approach, followed by an analysis of the spatio-temporal changes in swidden agriculture. Next, annual successive TM/ETM+ images during 2000–2010 were used to delineate the dynamics of the burning and cropping phase. Subsequently, the burned pixels identified in 2000 were compared respectively with their counterparts in the following years (2001–2011) to investigate temporal trends, land-use frequency, and the swidden cycle using time-series Landsat-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data. Finally, as the swidden cycle changed from 1 to 11 years, the fallow vegetation recovery process was studied. The results showed that: (1) from 1990 to 2011, the area of swidden agriculture increased by 54.98%, from 1.54×105 ha to 2.38×105 ha in northern Laos. The increased swidden cultivation area was mainly distributed in Luang Prabang and southern Bokeo, whereas the decreased parts were mainly found in Phongsali; (2) swidden agriculture increased mainly at elevations of 500–800 m, 300–500 m, and 800–1000 m and on slopes of 10°–20° and 20°–30°. Over 80% of swidden fields were transformed from forests; (3) during 2000–2011, the frequency of swidden use in northern Laos was about two or three times. The interval between two successive utilization of a swidden ranged from one to seven years. Comparison of swidden cycles and the related proportions of swidden farming in 2000, 2003, and 2007 revealed that swidden cycles in most areas were shortened; and (4) there was a significant correlation (0.97) between fallow vegetation recovery and the swidden cycle. The NDVI of regenerated vegetation could approach the average level of forest when the swidden cycle reached 10 years.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achard F, Eva H D, Stibig H J et al., 2002. Determination of deforestation rates of the world’s humid tropical forests. Science, 297(5583): 999–1002.
Bruun T B, de Neergaard A, Lawrence D et al., 2009. Environmental consequences of the demise in swidden cultivation in Southeast Asia: Carbon storage and soil quality. Human Ecology, 37(3): 375–388.
Chowdary V M, Yasuyuki K, Tateishi R, 2012. Monitoring of spatio-temporal land cover changes in part of Oudomxay province, northern mountainous region of Laos using remote sensing. Asian Journal of Geoinformatics, 12(3): 17–28.
Cramb R A, Colfer C J P, Dressler W et al., 2009. Swidden transformations and rural livelihoods in Southeast Asia. Human Ecology, 37(3): 323–346.
Coomes O T, Grimard F, Burt G J, 2000. Tropical forests and shifting cultivation: Secondary forest fallow dynamics among traditional farmers of the Peruvian Amazon. Ecological Economics, 32(1): 109–124.
Dwivedi R S, Ravi Sankar T, 1991. Monitoring shifting cultivation using space-borne multispectral and multitemporal data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 12(3): 427–433.
Fox J, 2000. How blaming ‘slash and burn’ farmers is deforesting mainland Southeast Asia, 47: 1–8. http://hdl.handle.net/10125/3832.
Fox J, Castella J C, Ziegler A D, 2014. Swidden, rubber and carbon: Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia? Global Environmental Change, 29: 318–326.
Hett C, Castella J C, Heinimann A et al., 2012. A landscape mosaics approach for characterizing swidden systems from a REDD+ perspective. Applied Geography, 32(2): 608–618.
Hurni K, Hett C, Heinimann A et al., 2013. Dynamics of shifting cultivation landscapes in northern Lao PDR between 2000 and 2009 based on an analysis of MODIS time series and Landsat images. Human Ecology, 41(1): 21–36.
Leisz S J, Rasmussen M S, 2012. Mapping fallow lands in Vietnam’s north-central mountains using yearly Landsat imagery and a land-cover succession model. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33(20): 6281–6303.
Li P, Feng Z, Jiang L et al., 2014. A review of swidden agriculture in Southeast Asia. Remote Sensing, 6: 1654–1683.
Mertz O, 2009. Trends in shifting cultivation and the REDD mechanism. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 1(2): 156–160.
Mertz O, Padoch C, Fox J et al., 2009. Swidden changes in Southeast Asia: Understanding causes and consequences. Human Ecology, 37: 259–264.
Mertz O, Wadley R L, Nielsen U et al., 2008. A fresh look at shifting cultivation: Fallow length an uncertain indicator of productivity. Agricultural Systems, 96(1–3): 75–84.
Nakano K, 1978. An ecological study of swidden agriculture at a village in northern Thailand. Southeast Asian Studies, 16(3): 411–446.
Padoch C, Coffey K, Mertz O et al., 2007. The demise of swidden in Southeast Asia? Local realities and regional ambiguities. Geografisk Tidsskrift, 107(1): 29–41.
Padoch C, Pinedo-Vasquez M, 2010. Saving slash-and-burn to save biodiversity. Biotropica, 42(5): 550–552.
Rasul G, Thapa G B, 2003. Shifting cultivation in the mountains of South and Southeast Asia: Regional patterns and factors influencing the change. Land Degradation & Development, 14(5): 495–508.
Rerkasem K, Lawrence D, Padoch C et al., 2009. Consequences of swidden transitions for crop and fallow biodiversity in Southeast Asia. Human Ecology, 37(3): 347–360.
Roder W, Phengchanh S, Maniphone S, 1997. Dynamics of soil and vegetation during crop and fallow period in slash-and-burn fields of northern Laos. Geoderma, 76(1): 131–144.
Roy P S, Kaul R N, Sharma Roy M R et al., 1985. Forest-type stratification and delineation of shifting cultivation areas in the eastern part of Arunachal Pradesh using LANDSAT MSS data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 6(3/4): 411–418.
Schmidt Vogt D. Swidden Farming and Fallow Vegetation in Northern Thailand. Franz Steiner, 1999.
Schmidt-Vogt D, Leisz S J, Mertz O et al., 2009. An assessment of trends in the extent of swidden in Southeast Asia. Human Ecology, 37(3): 269–280.
Schuck E C, Nganje W, Yantio D, 2002. The role of land tenure and extension education in the adoption of slash and burn agriculture. Ecological Economics, 43(1): 61–70.
Siren A H, Brondizio E S, 2009. Detecting subtle land use change in tropical forests. Applied Geography, 29(2): 201–211.
Sovu, Tigabu M, Savadogo P et al., 2009. Recovery of secondary forests on swidden cultivation fallows in Laos. Forest ecology and management, 258(12): 2666–2675.
Stibig H J, Belward A S, Roy P S et al., 2007. A land-cover map for South and Southeast Asia derived from SPOT-VEGETATION data. Journal of Biogeography, 34(4): 625–637.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation: National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41301090, No.41271117; Key Program for Strategic Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.2014SJCB006
Author: Liao Chenhua (1987–), PhD Candidate, specialized in resource exploitation and land use/cover change.
Li Peng (1984–), PhD and Assistant Professor, specialized in remote sensing of natural resources, land use and cover changes,
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liao, C., Feng, Z., Li, P. et al. Monitoring the spatio-temporal dynamics of swidden agriculture and fallow vegetation recovery using Landsat imagery in northern Laos. J. Geogr. Sci. 25, 1218–1234 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-015-1229-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-015-1229-0