Tools for Sustainability Planning

Article #1.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070424180848.htm

The first article discusses the slash and burn practices that farmers in Western Borneo utilize. The slash and burn farming is the traditional method used by the Iban, indigenous population in northwestern Borneo in Southeast Asia. The slash and burn method, or the swidden method, involves cutting down forested areas, burning the vegetation to produce fertile ash and then farming that land for a period of time. Sometimes the Iban used old growth forest, while at other times this was done with secondary forest (forest that had been more recently farmed and then left fallow, which is most common today).

Rice farming remains essential to the Iban, both economically and spiritually.

This method of farming, according to Dutch studies, was considered in the past to be the proper way of farming, for it was safer and less time consuming for the Iban because the dense forest cover prevented the growth of many weeds, which had to be removed for good harvests. On the other hand, the weeding process was lengthy for swidden plots of secondary forest, and during the weeding period, men had to guard the women and children in the fields from possible attack by raiders. If old growth forest was slashed and burned, weeding time was greatly reduced.

Some sustainability critics state that the slash and burn method of farming is un-sustainable. "For decades, swidden cultivation and tropical deforestation have been linked in national and international governmental discourse. Colonial and national governments have sought to outlaw it, while scientists have variously vilified, apologized for, and tried to contextualize swidden," Wadley said (Dutch researcher). On the other hand, others state that the Iban's traditional swidden farming techniques do not produce such environmental degradation as many believe, since the Iban have farmed the same areas for a long period of time with adequate fallow and little loss of plot fertility. Wadley argues, "My research argues that tropical agriculture is a historically contingent phenomenon, and farmers have always adjusted and responded to conditions in front of them, both positively and negatively."

This article highlights what is discussed by Stephen Wheeler (Chapter 7) when he states “[I]nternational development agencies such as the World Bank have typically promoted western models of development as well, including freeways and other large infrastructure. The result currently is that unsustainable development models are spreading across the Third World in a twenty-first-century form of cultural imperialism.” (Wheeler; pg. 103)

Are we quantifying and qualifying an ancient farming and CULTURAL/SPIRITUAL methodology with imperialistic ideas? It has been suggested that this method of farming can be improved to address some sustainability concerns. It is neither evil nor saint-like. The method, as suggested when adapting the Dutch national Environmental Plan “Towards Sustainability" (Wheeler; pg. 105) can modify this practice by combining regulatory, voluntary and market approaches that allow the Iban to remain being rice farmers, be a viable economic community, and improve their rice production.

Reference:

1. University of Missouri-Columbia (2007, April 26). Slash-and-burn Farming Method In Western

2. Wheeler, Stephen. (2006). Planning for Sustainability: Creating livable, equitable, and ecological communities

Article #2

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219105322.htm

Tropical forests hold more living biomass than any other terrestrial ecosystem. A new report in the journal Nature by Lewis shows that not only do trees in intact African tropical forests hold a lot of carbon, they hold more carbon now than they did 40 years ago--a hopeful sign that tropical forests could help to mitigate global warming [1].

According to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, growing trees absorb carbon while dead, decomposing trees release carbon. Researchers expect growth and death to approximately balance each other out in mature, undisturbed forests, and thus for total tree carbon stocks, the carbon held by the trees, to remain approximately constant.

The reality is that on average each hectare (100 x 100 meters, or 2.2 acres) of apparently mature, undisturbed African forest was increasing in tree carbon stocks by an amount equal to the weight of a small car each year. Previous studies have shown that Amazonian forests also take up carbon, although at somewhat lower rates. This means that by aggregating the growth and death of the African and Amazon forest, there is more absorption of carbon than release.

"If you assume that these forests should be in equilibrium, then the best way to explain why trees are growing bigger is anthropogenic global change – the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could essentially be acting as fertilizer." says Muller-Landau, "But it's also possible that tropical forests are still growing back following past clearing or fire or other disturbance. Given increasing evidence that tropical forests have a long history of human occupation, recovery from past disturbance is almost certainly part of the reason these forests are taking up carbon today."…. "While we still can't explain exactly what is behind this carbon sink, one thing we know for sure is that it can't be a sink forever. Trees and forests just can't keep getting bigger. Tropical forests are buying us a bit more time right now, but we can't count on them to continue to offset our carbon emissions in the future." [2]

This article references some sustainability indicators used by researchers to both quantify the current sustainability level of forests, as well as predict future levels. These indicators, as noted by Wheeler (Chapter 6) involve complex systems and these same indicators may not be clear cut as the citizens, policy makers or politicians would want. All must be educated to realize the “old standards must now be reviewed and changed” (Wheeler; pg. 94) for societal and technological conditions change. Science also improves. The challenge is that “[d]espite the huge benefits that standards have in terms of spreading sustainable design practices……..standards are often be too rigid, and have difficulty keeping up with changing technology and innovation.” (Wheeler; pg. 94)

Reference:

1. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (2009, March 2). Cleaning The Atmosphere Of Carbon: African Forests Out Of Balance. ScienceDaily.

2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090219105322.htm

3. Wheeler, Stephen. (2006). Planning for Sustainability: Creating livable, equitable, and ecological communities