Karen farming methods ‘good for the climate’

That bold statement came at the climate conference in Paris last year, which sought to find ways to limit rising global temperatures to an increase of less than two degrees Celsius.

Last week, EU representatives visited villages in Chiang Mai to see what progress had been made in climate change prevention and mitigation at the local level.

One of the methods considered by the team was the Karen cyclical cultivation system, which has been the traditional farming style of the Karen minority for generations.

Manop Kiriphuwadol, Northern Region Sustainable Development Foundation coordinator, said the traditional practice of rotational farming could absorb a great deal of carbon dioxide and also ensure the biodiversity of the ecosystem.

“Karen people have a traditional way of farming. They usually move the farming plot every year to let the land rest and will come back to the same plot again after five to seven years. This is how rotational farming gets its name, as the farmer has five or seven plots and changes the farming area every year,” Manop said.

He cited research by Regional Community Forestry Training Centre director Somsak Sukawong, which showed how the process allowed the forest to reoccupy the vacant land after farmers used the plot for one year. He said the new-grown forest had more ability to absorb carbon dioxide and helped to reduce greenhouse gas.

 

CO2 absorption

“The different ages of forest have a different rate of absorbing carbon dioxide. The mature forest usually has lower CO2 consumption than the young forest, and the cyclical cultivation system will force the forest to grow again every year, while the farmers also get the benefit from the rich biodiversity and free soil enrichment by the forest,” he said.

Decho Chaithap, another coordinator of the foundation, said one rai of rotational farming land could absorb up to 17,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which was an efficient method to combat rising greenhouse gases.

“We have to look at the local wisdom and we can find a lot of methods that people can use to sustainably manage and use natural resources, but sadly the local wisdom is always overlooked by authorities and moreover many practices are regarded as outlawed,” Decho said.

Somsak said officers always saw rotational farming as deforestation, as farmers have to clear the forest to open land for agriculture every year. “Due to the harsh suppression by the authorities and the coming of capitalism, many Karen people abandoned their old practice and adopted monoculture farming of maize, which causes many environmental impacts such as seasonal haze, soil erosion and overuse of pesticide,” he said.

“What we are trying to do now is to re-educate people in society and the authorities that rotational farming is not deforestation and it can mitigate climate change.”

However, he admitted there was still a long way to go before rotational farming was accepted by authorities because the forestry law still did not allow it in forest areas.