Dynamics of Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in Northern Lao PDR Between 2000 and 2009 Based on an Analysis of MODIS Time Series and Landsat Images

Hurni, Kaspar; Hett, Cornelia; Heinimann, Andreas; Messerli, Peter; Wiesmann, Urs

doi:10.1007/s10745-012-9551-y

Cited by 57 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Swidden agriculture (or slash-and-burn practice) is widely perceived as one of the primary causes for deforestation throughout the pan-tropical regions [96]. Because of the diverse, complex and dynamic features of swidden system, so far, accurate assessment with remote sensing imagery is very challenging [11,54,97] due mainly to difficulties in detecting swidden practice with remote sensing methods [62]. Therefore, the thematic maps and statistical data on swidden cultivation at regional or national scale were relatively lacking [97], which severely constrained our understanding of the impacts on environment consequences and local swiddeners' livelihoods owing to the rapid changes in swidden farming.…”

Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of the diverse, complex and dynamic features of swidden system, so far, accurate assessment with remote sensing imagery is very challenging [11,54,97] due mainly to difficulties in detecting swidden practice with remote sensing methods [62]. Therefore, the thematic maps and statistical data on swidden cultivation at regional or national scale were relatively lacking [97], which severely constrained our understanding of the impacts on environment consequences and local swiddeners' livelihoods owing to the rapid changes in swidden farming. Both the intrinsic characteristics of being an agroforestry system and extrinsic negative conception limited extensive investigations of swidden agriculture with remote sensing techniques [97,98].…”

Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the thematic maps and statistical data on swidden cultivation at regional or national scale were relatively lacking [97], which severely constrained our understanding of the impacts on environment consequences and local swiddeners' livelihoods owing to the rapid changes in swidden farming. Both the intrinsic characteristics of being an agroforestry system and extrinsic negative conception limited extensive investigations of swidden agriculture with remote sensing techniques [97,98].…”

Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Xiao et al delineated the recovery of vegetation canopy after severe fire with MODIS-based time-series vegetation indices [108]. Hurri et al used MODIS time-series Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data to classify swidden cultivation landscapes in northern Laos in combination with landscape metrics [97]. By contrast, MODIS fire products and SPOT VEGETATION data are widely utilized in the fields of burned area and fire detection.…”

Section: Satellite Data For Operational Swidden Agriculture Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mallinis et al found that mid-infrared band (or Landsat-5/7/8 band 7, SWIR 2) shows significant increase due to the reduction in canopy moisture and shadow [100]. Therefore, these linear variations in chlorophyll content, vegetation cover, moisture content and soil composition can be detected and monitored by spectral vegetation indices derived from satellite images, including the Global Environmental Monitoring Index (GEMI) [115], Burned Area Index (BAI) [116], Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) [117], the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) [118], the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) [97], the Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) [108], and the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) [118], etcetera.…”

Section: Spectral Signatures Based Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia

et al. 2014

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Swidden agriculture is by far the dominant land use system in the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia (SEA). It provides various valuable subsistence products to local farmers, mostly the poor ethnic minority groups. Controversially, it is also closely connected with a number of environmental issues. With the strengthening regional economic cooperation in SEA, swidden agriculture has experienced drastic transformations into other diverse market-oriented land use types since the 1990s. However, there is very limited information on the basic geographical and demographic data of swidden agriculture and the socio-economic and biophysical effects of the transformations. International programs, such as the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), underscore the importance of monitoring and evaluating swidden agriculture and its transition to reduce carbon emission due to deforestation and forest degradation. In this context, along with the accessibility of Landsat historical imagery, remote sensing based techniques will offer an effective way to detect and monitor the locations and extent of swidden agriculture. Many approaches for investigating fire occurrence and burned area can be introduced for swidden agriculture mapping due to the common feature of fire relatedness. In this review paper, four broad approaches involving spectral signatures, phenological characteristics, statistical theory and landscape ecology were summarized for swidden agriculture delineation. Five research priorities about swidden agriculture involving remote sensing techniques, spatial pattern, change, drivers and impacts were proposed accordingly. To our knowledge, a synthesis review on the remote sensing and outlook on swidden agriculture has not been reported yet. This review paper aims to give a comprehensive overview of swidden agriculture studies in the domains of debated definition, trends, remote sensing methods and OPEN ACCESSRemote Sens. 2014, 6 1655 outlook research in SEA undertaken in the past two decades.

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Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Remote Sensing Techniques For Detecting and Mapping Swidden mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Satellite Data For Operational Swidden Agriculture Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spectral Signatures Based Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Review of Swidden Agriculture in Southeast Asia

et al. 2014

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Drivers and consequences of archetypical shifting cultivation transitions

et al. 2023

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Shifting cultivation remains an important land system in many tropical landscapes, but transitions away from shifting cultivation are increasingly common. So far, our knowledge on the social–economic and environmental drivers and consequences of such shifting cultivation transitions is incomplete, focusing on certain transitions, drivers, consequences or regions. Here, we use an archetype approach, validated through systematically identified literature, to describe eight archetypes encompassing the transitions from shifting cultivation to (1) perennial plantation crops, (2) permanent agroforestry, (3) regrown secondary forest, (4) permanent non‐perennial crops, (5) pasture, (6) wood plantation, (7) non‐cultivated non‐forested land and (8) restored secondary forest (ordered in decreasing prevalence). We then discuss social–economic and environmental factors favouring and disfavouring each archetype. This reveals that higher expected land rents, resulting from increased market access, crop price surges, secure land tenure and state interventions, are the main drivers of archetypical transitions to perennial plantation crops, permanent agroforestry, permanent non‐perennial crops and wood plantation. The prioritisation of other activities, both on‐ and off‐farm, favours transitions to regrown secondary forest and non‐cultivated non‐forested land, depending on plot‐level environmental conditions. Active forest restoration is typically implemented through state or NGO interventions. Turning to the consequences of archetypical transitions for biodiversity, the environment and livelihoods, we find that positive environmental outcomes prevail for transitions to permanent agroforestry, regrown secondary forest and restored secondary forest. Negative environmental outcomes dominate for four typically economically profitable transitions to perennial plantation crops, permanent non‐perennial crops, pasture and wood plantation. Non‐income‐related social–economic outcomes are heterogeneous within all archetypes and highly context‐dependent. Our archetype analysis shows that shifting cultivation transitions are diverse in themselves, in their drivers and their consequences. This calls for a critical and contextualised appraisal of the continuation of shifting cultivation, as well as the transition away from it, when designing land system policies that work for people and nature. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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