sustainable use of biological diversity.pdf - India Environment Portal

Overview of features of socio-ecological production landscapes
ter a forest is cleared, crop cultivation lasts for two to
three years, after which the land is allowed to enter
a fallow period of about 30 years. During the resting
period, the secondary forest that succeeds the cultivated
field provides various products such as medicinal
plants and rattan, before being used again for
cultivation.
Before the second half of the twentieth century, an
agricultural system in Galicia (Spain) was based on
arable fields called agras. Agras were successively
planted with wheat, potatoes, turnips and sometimes
corn on a two-year rotation basis. Each family
held at least one plot in each agras; the system thus
ensured yearly harvests of potatoes and wheat for the
village and a share for each family.
In the highlands of Tanzania, a unique indigenous
ngolo (pits surrounded by four ridges) cultivation
system is practised on steep slopes to plant maize,
beans and wheat on a rotational basis. During the
rainy season, these pits act as reservoirs preventing
the destructive effects of surface runoff in the steep
cultivated slopes.
1.2.2 Transhumance system
In the Burren hills, Ireland, a ‘reverse’ transhumance
system, where livestock are moved to the
Burren hills in late autumn to spend the winter grazing
in the upland grasslands, has been practised for
a long time. In the summers, cattle are moved to
the more productive lowland grasslands, while the
Burren uplands are left fallow or lightly grazed. Although
the clear reason for this “reverse” transhumance
is unknown, winter grazing in the uplands
itself is one of the reasons for the high biodiversity in
this area, because it removes accumulated dead vegetation
which would otherwise diminish the habitat
for less competitive light-dependant herbs, and allows
the plants on the uplands to grow, flower and
set seed unhindered during the summers.
1.2.3 Resource circulation system
All over the world, forest leaf litter and plant debris
produced by agricultural land and livestock manure
are used in fields as compost.
In Kyoto, Japan, new technologies based on biomass
power generation and forest dairy farming have been
undertaken by a private company and the local government
in collaboration with farmers, to integrate
various land uses which have been disrupted due to
changes in socio-economic conditions. Similarly, in
the case of Germany, biogas generation from cow
manure is operated to provide electricity for lighting,
refrigeration and heating in the farmer-owned
restaurant which uses local farm products. These are
examples of holistic management systems based on
the concept of resource circulation aimed at restoring
devastated natural environments and promoting
new industries in rural areas.
1.3 Social systems
Land and natural resources in socio-ecological
production landscapes are often managed by a single
family, extended family unit, or co-managed by a
village community, depending on the socio-cultural
background of the area. For example, homegardens
in the tropics and sub-tropics are usually managed
by a single family unit, although management is
sometimes shared among the residents of the same
village who do not have access to resources such
as fuelwood. The case study from Galicia (Spain),
highlights the use of Associations of Common Land
Owners (ACLO) to collectively manage land resources,
particularly with respect to forested landscapes.
With the weakening of traditional community systems
centred on farmers, non-governmental organizations/non-profit
organizations, in collaboration
with researchers and private enterprises, often take
up the leadership of the management of the revitalization
of socio-ecological production landscapes.
For example, in Kanakura, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan,
a local non-profit organization collaborates
with landowners, a university, the local government
and a private enterprise to attract visitors and to revitalize
the socio-economy through the promotion
of local products. In the example from Cambodia,
a traditional village community is involved in homegardens,
rice cultivation and other agricultural
activities. With the help of international non-governmental
organizations, villagers have been applying
sustainable methods of composting readily available
crop residue, animal manure and water hyacinth
into natural fertilizer.
There are cases where traditional social systems coexist
with modern technologies in the management
and utilization of land and natural resources. For instance,
in the Oaxaca State of Mexico, a traditional
local governance system called Usos y Costumbres
(Uses and Customs), which is rooted in indigenous
systems of community service that give particular
importance to village elders, open assemblies and
consensus, has been successfully incorporated into
modern community-forestry enterprises.
In countries with large scale monoculture farming
and the use of modern technology, such as pesticides,
there are innovative individual farmers who
have started nature-friendly agriculture, as exemplified
in the case studies from the United States and
Australia. Also, as illustrated in the previously-men-
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