[en]+[zh]Study on Forest Landscape Restoration - ITTO

220 <strong>Study</strong> on Forest Landscape Restoration
years. Villagers are able to get suffici<strong>en</strong>t basic subsist<strong>en</strong>ce for their lives and
do not rely on expanding the cassava or corn fields to make lives. So agricultural
fields developed before were converted to plantations and rubber trees,
betel nut trees and Eucalyptus have become the favorite species. Another
effect was that degraded primary forest, secondary forest or degraded forest
land were converted into plantations directly in this period and non-paddy field
was not the transition betwe<strong>en</strong> degraded and secondary forest and plantation,
which indicated the strong desire of resid<strong>en</strong>ts to expand the planted forest.
Traditional practices
Traditional practices were important factors in the changes on forest landscape
in demonstration area. As Li minority village, every family in demonstration
area should set aside a certain area of land for unmarried m<strong>en</strong>. Therefore,
families having boys would reclaim as much land as possible, resulting in the
conversion from degraded primary forest to agricultural fields or plantation.
Farmers have m<strong>en</strong>tioned that childr<strong>en</strong> would ask par<strong>en</strong>ts for <strong>en</strong>ough land to
survive their future families wh<strong>en</strong> they grow up. Another traditional practice is
that the user right of a land would belong to the developer as long as the land
was developed. Field survey has found that couch grass, stones or shrubs
were used to mark the boundaries of developed but not planted land.