Slash and burn consists of cutting and burning of forests to create fields for agriculture or pasture for livestock. Today the term is mainly associated with tropical rain forests where the technique is said to be doing mayor damage as it exhausts the soil rapidly. It is important however to clarify that slash and burn can be a sustainable method when practiced well and at a much smaller scale. In former days, nomad tribes using this method would slash and burn only small patches within large parts of jungle. This is a fantastic method when population is low, nature is in ecologic balance and the people move about, like nomads do.

The nomads of the past would never exhaust a plot of land, but would only crop on it for a couple of cycles before moving on to a different plot of land. The problem starts when land is being owned by humans and the necessity to use the same piece of land over and over again is thus created. Another problem is the practice of monoculture. If a variety of crops would be planted the problem would be much smaller. Unfortunately agriculture is nowadays practiced for commercial purposes, which oftentimes means that farmers cultivate the most lucrative crop only. In other cases monoculture is practiced due to poor traditional diet. For instance in the Mayan region people eat corn 3 times a day and therefore need to plant large amount of this single crop. This single crop farming is harmful not only for the soil but for the consumer’s health as well.   The old Mayas were said to have planted squash, beans and corn amongst other crops. These 3 cultures form a balanced diet and also help the soil to keep fertile. Unfortunately, nowadays most people plant corn only, as it is their main food source and it gets the highest price on the market. When Slash and Burn is practiced in excess –due to overpopulation or lucrative agriculture- the jungle simply does not have a chance to grow back. The soil gets exhausted and erodes and there is no jungle left around it to overgrow again. That is the problem with slash and burn in large quantities. That plus forest fires. Forest fires are fairly easy to prevent by cutting a large enough border around the plot to be burned. Unfortunately farmers care so little for the forest that they are reluctant to cut away an adequate amount and don't pay enough attention to the wind when starting a fire. As a result thousands of hectares of rain forests burn away in forest fires each year.