Rattan and Tea-Based Intensification of Shifting Cultivation by Hani Farmers in Southwestern China

The forest cover in the Xishuangbanna Prefecture of China’s Yunnan Province has decreased significantly, from 62.5% in 1950 to only 33.9% in 1985. According to the government census, the population has increased from 200,000 to nearly 800,000 over roughly the same time. Indigenous people, particularly swidden cultivators, are often blamed for destroying the forests of Xishuangbanna.