5.2.6—Traditional techniques

Nomadic pastoralism moves livestock between grazing areas; slash-and-burn clears a plot for cultivation and relies on a sufficiently long fallow for vegetation and soil fertility to recover.

Both can sustain low-density populations when mobility, land area, stocking or cultivation pressure and recovery time remain in balance.

Fixed settlement, higher population density, restricted movement or shorter fallows concentrate pressure, so grazing vegetation or soil nutrients may be removed faster than they recover.

Compare current use rate, recovery rate, available area and population density for each system.

Traditional is not automatically sustainable or unsustainable; the present pressure-to-recovery balance determines the outcome.