How does slash-and-burn horticulture work?

Slash-and-burn is a form of shifting agriculture used to clear land for cultivation by felling and burning existing vegetation. After the trees and brush are cut down and burned, the resulting ash provides temporary fertilization for the soil, and the clearing process leaves the plot relatively free of weeds.123

Cultivation is typically performed using simple tools like a hoe or digging stick rather than a plow. Because soil fertility eventually declines and weed pressure increases, farmers cultivate the plot for a few years before abandoning it to lie fallow, allowing the land to revert to natural vegetation.13

While traditional, small-scale practices can be sustainable, modern applications often lead to permanent deforestation, biodiversity loss, and significant carbon dioxide emissions. It is ethically imperative to recognize that while this method was historically an adaptation to tropical soil conditions, its modern use in initiating permanent forest clearing is environmentally destructive and contributes to global climate change.31