著者
Shigeru SHIRASAKA
出版者
The Association of Japanese Geographers
雑誌
地理学評論 (ISSN:13479555)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.80, no.5, pp.290-311, 2007-04-01 (Released:2010-03-12)
参考文献数
39
被引用文献数
4 6

In many regions of the world, the livestock industry provides the only reliable means of living off the land. This paper will discuss transhumance and its multiple global varieties with a focus on transhumance in the Southern Carpathian Mountains in Romania, where the dominant form is intermediate-stationed transhumance. Historical, economic, and environmental conditions in Romania have served to keep sheep transhumance alive, even during and after the postwar Communist era. In addition to linguistic asides illustrating the importance of transhumance in Rumanian language and culture, the author analyzes the geography, history, and transhumance routes of Jina, a key center for the sheep livestock industry. Transhumance continues to influence the local economy as well as family and othernts, includin social arrangemeg traditional shepherding. The aieldwork touthor's fuches on the reasons behind the local development of transhumance. In a specific case that symbolizes the role of sheep in the local economy, the author reports that the majority of a family's income comes from the sale of sheep followed by cheese; wool is a distant third. Finally, the author suggests that transhumance of sheep prevents the development of serious erosion in otherwise erosion-prone areas that can support little beyond livestock raising. The transhumance of sheep in Romania is changing remarkably after the revolution in 1989. On the whole, transhumance is gradually declining. However, some families are expanding the scale of transhumance, while others have settled down to run stock raising operations.
著者
Shigeru SHIRASAKA
出版者
The Association of Japanese Geographers
雑誌
Geographical review of Japan, Series B (ISSN:02896001)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.68, no.2, pp.107-118, 1995-12-31 (Released:2008-12-25)
参考文献数
16
被引用文献数
1 1

Slash-and-burn cultivation (Swidden) formerly occurred Japan and Europe too, but today we can find it only in the Tropics which abound in forest resources. This study discusses slash-and-burn cultivation by analyzing the characteristics and recent changes among the minorities, especially the Jinuo, in Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. Xishuangbanna is located at the southwestern end on the borders of Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. The minorities in the mountainous regions place slash-and-burn cultivation at the centre of their living. Their agricultural systems, however, have been obliged to change because of the population growth since the 1950s. The decrease of the forest rate in Xishuangbanna has been caused by the population growth and the increase of the area used for slash-and-burn cultivation in the minority societies. The population growth is destructive to the sustainability of slash-and-burn cultivation, along with the introduction of the Responsibility System for Agricultural Production in the 1980s. Today, the minorities are keen on introducing cash crops on a large scale such as natural rubber, tea and herbs for Chinese medicines. Slash-and-burn cultivation is declining and the fields will change to permanently cultivated land in the near future.