Unwritten social rules, not government oversight, help keep forest land sustainable
Swidden agriculture - often called "slash-and-burn" - has been practiced on every inhabited continent throughout human history, and for decades it has been blamed for the destruction of the world's rainforests. However, a new study of more than 18,000 forest patches around the world found that the environmental impact of swidden is more nuanced and less destructive than the term "slash-and-burn" suggests - and that unwritten social rules in small societies, not government oversight, often regula
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