Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
in order to understand how effective state forestry policy had been in
tackling land use problems. They interviewed local farmers living in and
near many forest islands, examined closely aerial photographs and satellite
imagery covering several decades, and scrutinised the written claims and
field observations of travellers, scientists and government officials dating
from the 1890s onwards. Their research suggested a very different interpre-
tation of what Kissidougou's 'relict forest' signified:
the advance of trees into
the savannah zone not their retreat
.
More specifically, James Fairhead and Melissa Leach supplied consider-
able evidence that it was local people, descendants of Kissia and Kuranko
settlers who had intermixed over time, who were directly responsible for
forest expansion. 'Paradoxically', they argued in their book
Reframing defor-
estation
, 'what appeared to be
out
to be the
most disturbed
' (Fairhead and Leach, 1998a: 21, emphasis added).
This implies that if there
has
been forest loss in Kissidougou and similar pre-
fectures over the past century, it has been loss of
anthropogenic
(not 'natural')
forest
, and may have been
temporary
loss before farming practices created new
forest islands over a period of many years. It also implies that government
policies enacted in the interests of the 'natural environment' had, in fact,
been protecting forest islands that were not, according to the conventional
definitions, natural at all!
...
undisturbed
vegetation
...
turn[ed]
...
Study Task:
Let's take Fairhead and Leach's thesis seriously. Assume their
proposition about forest islands is correct. Now try to think of causes: how
and why - intentionally or perhaps as a by-product of other practices - did
local land users in Kissidougou create tree stands?
How and why did Kissidougou's rural inhabitants produce forest islands
from as far back as the nineteenth century (and possibly earlier)? Fairhead
and Leach's research suggested the following answers. First, the long-
established practice of shifting cultivation in the transition zone enriched
the soil rather than depleting it. By growing (for example) peanuts, cassava
and various other root crops in open woodland or grassland, farmers actively
worked organic matter into the upper soil layer - often supplemented by
the use of household waste and cattle dung as manure. Fertility was thus
maintained, while soil moisture retention was enhanced. Once a farmed site
was left fallow, tree species seeded naturally because of the conducive soil
conditions.
Second, herders used natural bush and tree species to create temporary
stockades for cattle, but also to create a degree of community protec-
tion from intruders. By both accident and design, transplanted stakes
and seeds grew into mature trees - especially fast-growing species like the
African whitewood and
Ceiba pentandra
. Because of the persistence of inter-
group warfare through the nineteenth century, tall trees were often planted
