News of fires raging across the Amazon has captured the world’s attention. Shocking images of thousands of hectares of rainforest consumed by flames have shed light on the fate of this irreplaceable ecosystem, which holds over half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests and plays a crucial role in regulating regional and global climate.
The fires have impacted not only Peru but also Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina, showing this is a regional crisis. Widespread drought and high temperatures are worsening conditions across the Amazon, with each country facing its own specific causes and challenges. In Peru, the government has largely attributed the fires to small-scale farmers. According to the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment, 98% of forest fires are caused by poor agricultural practices, including the slash-and-burn technique used in small-scale Amazonian agriculture.
While satellite image deforestation studies in Peru support these findings, they also raise important questions. Are Indigenous and riverine communities’ traditional practices, used for centuries, really “poor” agricultural practices? How does traditional agriculture truly impact the Amazon in the context of climate change? Are small farming communities as responsible for deforestation as large-scale agribusinesses? What sustainable alternatives exist?
Though we don’t have a single answer to these questions, we hope this article offers insights into these complex issues.
Traditional Amazonian Agriculture
It’s hard to imagine Amazonian agriculture before the widespread use of axes and machetes. The existence of “terra preta” (a highly fertile, human-made soil) and archaeological evidence of large settlements suggest that, in some parts of the Amazon, there once was permanent agriculture using soil enhancement techniques, which were lost over time and have only recently been studied and revived.
Today, Amazonian Indigenous peoples use a slash-and-burn method they consider part of their ancestral practices. Burning has short-term benefits, like clearing land, releasing nutrients for crops, and counteracting the acidic Amazonian soils. However, productivity declines after just a few years, prompting a cycle where plots are abandoned every 3-4 years to allow natural regeneration, while a new section of forest is cleared for cultivation. After 15-20 years, the original plot is now regrown. These areas, locally known as “purmas”, are cleared and burned again, repeating the cycle.
But how responsible is traditional Amazonian agriculture for the fires we see today?
Fires, Deforestation, and Climate Change
While this type of shifting agriculture was sustainable for centuries, population growth and the need for increased crop yields to earn income are causing deforested areas to expand. As a result, people are using younger, less mature “purmas”, which results in the gradual depletion of soil nutrients and the weakening of the forest’s regenerative capacity.
In addition, Amazonian communities face new challenges in managing fires, with unprecedented drought and high temperatures causing fires to spread faster and over larger areas.
Deforestation itself worsens drought conditions. The Amazon forest captures and releases vast amounts of water into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. These water vapor masses create rain that waters not only the Amazon but also other parts of the continent. Forest loss directly reduces rainfall, exacerbating drought.
In today’s climate crisis, with high temperatures and frequent, intense droughts, vegetation loss, accelerated by fires, could irreversibly alter this cycle, turning the Amazon into a dry savanna. This change would significantly impact regional and global climate.
What Are the Alternatives?
Government agencies and many experts advocate for conventional, industrialized agriculture, viewing traditional shifting agriculture as inefficient and contributing to deforestation, fires, and poverty (as measured by conventional standards). They propose a solution that involves improved seeds, irrigation, agrochemicals, credit access, etc., allowing families to produce more efficiently without expanding into forest areas. While this approach may work in other contexts, it doesn’t take into account the Amazon’s unique ecology, Indigenous ways of life, their relationship with the land, or their ancestral knowledge.
While traditional slash-and-burn agriculture is no longer sustainable on today’s larger scale, sustainable solutions can be built from Indigenous knowledge, maintaining diversity and strengthening the relationship between crops and forests.
Amazonian traditional agriculture is actually a highly complex system. It’s not just about cutting, burning, planting, harvesting, and letting the forest regrow. It involves a diverse use of Amazonian ecosystems and biodiversity, including seasonal planting on floodplains, establishing different types of plots on various soil types, and sometimes enriching and using abandoned plots for decades. Elderly farmers and more traditional communities have been observed practicing shallow, controlled burns that leave trunks and branches on the ground, and using special plots called “chacra cruda” (which can translate to “raw farm”), which are not burned at all. Besides chacras, family orchards that combine trees, crops, and animals are also essential for food security.
At Chaikuni, we work to better understand and preserve these diverse systems, incorporating contemporary agroecological techniques, like non-burning, to increase their efficiency in the face of new challenges.
Chacras Integrales: A Sustainable Alternative for the Amazon and its people
At the Chaikuni Institute, we promote “chacras integrales”, a non-burning agroforestry system based on traditional knowledge and adapted to specific locations, benefiting both families and the forest. They encourage planting a wide variety of species, allowing families to meet diverse needs. Fruit trees, timber trees, annual crops (like cassava, maize, and plantains), palm trees, and medicinal plants coexist, offering steady production throughout the year and across the years.
In addition to promoting diversity, this system further promotes no burning of the cut vegetation when opening space to plant. Instead, the cut biomass is left on the ground feeding the system with its own organic matter, mimicking the very system of the tropical rainforest. This not only helps regenerate the soil but also prevents further deforestation, as there is no need to clear new forest areas in search of new nutrients every few years, as is the case with slash-and-burn agriculture.
Amazonian peoples have long adapted to a changing environment: floods, droughts, shifting river courses, and periods of abundance and scarcity have led to a deep understanding of nature with multiple strategies for resilience. Given that these fires are a clear warning sign about global warming impacts, it is essential to engage Amazonian communities in discussions to transition toward regenerative ways of living and farming.
---
Since 2012, our Permaculture Program has been dedicated to research and revive harmonious and productive methods of interacting with our environment. We remain committed to working with local and Indigenous communities to promote non-burning agroforestry systems. To support our efforts, click here. Join us in making a positive impact!
