Maki Fukushima

Bio: Maki Fukushima is an academic researcher from Kyoto University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Secondary forest & Shifting cultivation. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 3 publications receiving 101 citations.

Recovery Process of Fallow Vegetation in the Traditional Karen Swidden Cultivation System in the Bago Mountain Range, Myanmar ( Ecological Resource Use and Social Change in the Minority Regions of Myanmar)

Abstract: Forests in Myanmar have a long history of teak (Tectona grandis Linn.) production, which can be traced back to the age of the English rule in the nineteenth century, when forests in Myanmar were categorized into those for timber production and those for other uses. Many farmers such as the Karen people, who were swidden cultivators, inhabited the forests. Therefore, the government established the “Karen Area” in the late nineteenth century, permitting swidden cultivation (shifting cultivation) for their self consumption. Short cultivation, long fallow swidden cultivation has been continued for over years in the areas. We surveyed fallow vegetation and total carbon and nitrogen after swidden cultivation by Karen people in the Bago mountain range and compared with those in natural teak forests under selective logging systems. We set circular plots m in radius at fallow stands of various ages. Trees were identified and measured by diameter at breast height (DBH). Surface soil was sampled at cm. The amounts of total carbon and nitrogen in soils varied among the plots, but no stand age dependency was observed. Grass and herb species such as Chromolaena odoratum and Thysanolaena maxima were dominant and comprised the maximum biomass in -and -year fallows. Bamboo species such as Bambusa polymorpha and Bambusa tulda rapidly recovered after grass and herb species, and the bamboo biomass in the -year fallow was nearly equivalent to that in over-year fallows. Tree species recovered to nearly the same biomass level as that of bamboos in the -year fallow, and further facilitated the increase in the above-ground biomass. Xylia xylocarpa was the most common tree species while species such as T. grandis might be excluded from the fallow vegetation cycle. On the whole, swidden cultivation with a short cultivation period of year and over -year fallows maintained sufficient fallow vegetation recovery to sustain continuous swidden cultivation in the Bago mountain range.

Structure and Composition of a Teak-bearing Forest under the Myanmar Selection System ( Ecological Resource Use and Social Change in the Minority Regions of Myanmar)

Abstract: The impact of selective logging on a natural teak-bearing forest was examined in the Kabaung reserve forest, Bago Division, Myanmar. The examined forest was under selective logging from to . In the area, a bamboo, Cephalostachyum pergracile, flowered in and then died back in . Thirty-seven circular plots of m radius ( ha in total) were set in the forest and tree stems (DBH cm) and bamboo clumps were enumerated in the plots. The average basal area density was m ha , and bamboo accounted for of the basal area. Trees with a DBH cm and cm were ha and ha , respectively. The plots were classified into four stand types, Tectona grandis type, Xylia xylocarpa type, Bambusa polymorpha type, and Dipterocarpus alatus type. The felling operation was conducted only in of the plots sampled and of the basal area of trees over cm DBH was removed during the logging. The percentage of extracted basal area ( -extracted) varied from to among the plots. The highest -extracted was recorded in D. alatus stands ( ), while the -extracted in the other stand types was rather smaller ( ). As a result, the impact of harvesting was minimal except in the case of D. alatus stands. Teak was most abundant in the sapling layer ( ha ). The combination of the logging operation and bamboo dieback enabled the sapling bank to accelerate height growth and to enter the pole size class, while logging or bamboo dieback alone had no significant effect. In the bamboo dieback sites with the logging operation, of tree saplings overtopped bamboo seedlings, but the value decreased to between and in non-logged stands. The combination of logging operations and bamboo flowering thus had remarkable effects on the sapling banks of tree species and enhanced recruitment of pole-size trees.

How well do we know the flux of CO2 from land‐use change?

Abstract: Five new estimates of global net annual emissions of carbon from land use and land-use change collectively describe a gradually increasing trend in emissions, from ∼0.6 PgC yr -1 in 1850 to ∼1.3 PgC yr -1 in the period 1950–2005, with an annual range that varies between ±0.2 and ±0.4 PgC yr -1 of the mean. All estimates agree in the upward trend from 1850 to ∼1950 but not thereafter. In recent decades, when rates of land-use change and biomass density should be better known than in the past, the estimates are more variable. Most analyses have used three quasi-independent estimates of land-use change that are based on national and international agricultural and forestry data of limited accuracy in many countries. Further, the estimates of biomass used in the analyses have a common but limited literature base, which fails to address the spatial variability of biomass density within ecosystems. In contrast to the sources of information that have been used to date, a combination of existing ground and remote sensing data are available to determine with far higher accuracy rates of land-use change, aboveground biomass density, and, hence, the net flux of carbon from land use and land-use change. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2010.00473.x

Consequences of Swidden Transitions for Crop and Fallow Biodiversity in Southeast Asia

Abstract: Swidden agriculture, once the dominant form of land use throughout the uplands and much of the lowlands of Southeast Asia, is being replaced by other land uses. While change and adaptation are inherent to swiddening, the current rapid and widespread transitions are unprecedented. In this paper we review some recent findings on changes in biodiversity, especially plant diversity at various scales, as swidden farming is replaced by other land uses. We focus particularly on two areas of Southeast Asia: northern Thailand and West Kalimantan. We examine actual and potential changes in the diversity of crops that characterize regional swidden systems, as well as that of the spontaneously occurring plants that appear in swidden fields and fallows. Severe declines in plant diversity have been observed in most areas and at most spatial scales when swidden is replaced by permanent land use systems. However, shifts away from swidden agriculture do not invariably result in drastic declines or losses of biological diversity, but may maintain or even enhance it, particularly at finer spatial scales. We suggest that further research is necessary to understand the effects of swidden transitions on biodiversity.

Swidden, rubber and carbon: Can REDD+ work for people and the environment in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia?

Abstract: Swidden (also called shifting cultivation) has long been the dominant farming system in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia (MMSEA). Today the ecological bounty of this region is threatened by the expansion of settled agriculture, including the proliferation of rubber plantations. In the current conception of REDD+, landscapes involving swidden qualify almost automatically for replacement by other land-use systems because swiddens are perceived to be degraded and inefficient with regard to carbon sequestration. However, swiddening in some cases may be carbon-neutral or even carbon positive, compared with some other types of land-use systems. In this paper we describe how agricultural policies and institutions have affected land use in the region over the last several decades and the impact these policies have had on the livelihoods of swiddeners and other smallholders. We also explore whether incentivizing transitions away from swiddening to the cultivation of rubber will directly or reliably produce carbon gains. We argue that because government policies affect how land is used, they also influence carbon emissions, farmer livelihoods, environmental services, and a host of other variables. A deeper and more systematic analysis of the multiple consequences of these policies is consequently necessary for the design of successful REDD+ policies in MMSEA, and other areas of the developing world. REDD + policies should be structured not so much to 'hold the forest boundary' but to influence the types of land-use changes that are occurring so that they support both sustainable livelihoods and environmental services, including (but not limited to) carbon.