ABSTRACT
In all countries of South and Southeast Asia, government policies on shifting cultivation have been driven by the rhetoric of developmentalists on one hand, and environmentalists on the other. This may produce solutions to many of the challenges the system currently faces, including those of increasing population and climate change. Moreover, rotational farming is not a standalone system, but is usually integrated with other livelihood systems such as terraced paddy fields, kitchen gardens, animal husbandry, and hunting and gathering. Based on a study at Mae Lan Kham village in Samoeng district, Chiang Mai, villagers can find 16 kinds of wild food plants, seven wildlife species and seven kinds of herbs in first and second year fallows. One senior villager stated they use agroforestry gardens at Hen Lad Nay as collective sources. Several studies in Thailand, for example, have centered on the small forest communities of Hin Lad Nai, in Chiang Ray province, and Mae Lan Kham, in Chiang Mai province.
