How does slash-and-burn agriculture lead to deforestation?

Slash-and-burn agriculture is a method of cultivation where forests are cleared and burned to prepare land for planting. While traditionally practiced as a sustainable form of shifting agriculture—where small plots are abandoned to allow for forest regeneration—modern applications have become a primary driver of permanent deforestation.12

This transition to deforestation occurs through several mechanisms:

• Loss of Regeneration Cycles: As rural populations grow, there is increased pressure to clear adjacent land. When the cycle of shifting agriculture is repeated too frequently or on too large a scale, the land is never left fallow long enough to recover, preventing forest regeneration.2
• Permanent Land Conversion: By the 21st century, many cleared areas are maintained in a permanently deforested state for commercial purposes, such as oil palm cultivation or animal grazing, rather than being allowed to revert to secondary forest.1
• Soil Degradation: Tropical soils often lose fertility quickly. Once a plot becomes unproductive, farmers move to new areas, leading to the continuous clearing of tropical rainforests and tropical dry forests.12