Forest, Shifting Agriculture and Strategies for Sustainable Landscape Management in Traditional Mountain Communities of Northeast India

Abstract

The aim of the present study was twofold; firstly, to understand the existing shifting agriculture practices and secondly, the responses to changing global environment scenario in time and space by traditional communities by way of changing species composition, policies and management practices. The result shows that traditional communities inhabiting mountain landscape in north eastern part of India are managing the landscape quite sustainably over several generations through crop composition, practices and change in policies. Very often, scientific communities and policy framers criticize traditional shifting agriculture as unsustainable form of agriculture without much research and understanding of underlying reality of practicing shifting agriculture. It is to be realized that, under the given situation, tradition communities are adapting themselves with changing global scenario sustainably. Further, it is recommended that the scientific communities need to understand as to how shifting agriculture remains indispensable form of agroecosystem and efforts should be made to improvise it by way of pragmatic suggestions.