16. slash-and-burn agriculture

Slash-and-burn agriculture

Slash-and-burn agricultue is the process of freeing the soil of a forest or jungle by burning any remaining vegetation once the trees have been cut. This process is very effective in clearing land quickly but now there are a variety problems that result from this way of raising crops, including the destruction of habitats and species, and an increase in wildfires, and an increase in air pollution and the release of carbon into the atmosphere. Slash and burn agriculture also results in significant soil erosion and landslides that result because of it, water contamination, and dust clouds, because there are no tree roots to hold down the soil. Slash-and-burn techniques also destroy the nutrients within the soil making the soil ineffective in less than a decade.

Sources

Ecologic Development Fund [[1]]

History manual pg.87

Saswat Pati