Nomadic pastoralism and slash-and-burn at Higher Level: Different examples from SL: the Fulani of the Sahel, the Yanomami of the Amazon, the Sami of Norway and Mongolia's herds. At HL, link these to land rights (5.2.2) and to claims about traditional food systems (5.2.19).
Practise this as you read
- Explain why a traditional system became less sustainable.
- Discuss whether traditional techniques can feed people today.
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Moving with the herds: Nomadic pastoralism is one of the oldest ways of farming. It works where land is too dry, cold or steep for crops.
The points to remember
- Herders keep cattle, goats, sheep, camels, yaks or reindeer.
- They move with the seasons, following grass and water.
- Moving on lets each pasture rest and regrow.
- It suits drylands, mountains and tundra, where crops fail.
- It supports only a low population density: many hectares per person.
Example (HL): the Fulani of the Sahel. The Fulani are West Africa's largest group of pastoralists. Many drive cattle north into the Sahel in the rainy season and south to wetter land in the long dry season, a journey of hundreds of kilometres.
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Slash-and-burn farming, also called shifting cultivation, is common in tropical forests.
The points to remember
- Burning releases nutrients from the trees as ash, fertilizing the poor soil.
- Crops grow well for only 1-3 years: rain leaches the nutrients and weeds invade.
- The plot is left fallow while farmers clear another.
- With a long fallow, 10-20 years or more, the forest and its soil recover.
Example (HL): the Yanomami of the Amazon. Yanomami villages clear forest gardens for plantains and cassava. When the soil tires after a few years, they open new gardens nearby, and the old ones return to forest.
For thousands of years, both techniques have sustained low-density populations: they fed people without destroying the land.
The points to remember
- Few people, lots of land: each plot or pasture gets time to recover.
- No synthetic inputs: no fertilizer, pesticide or fuel is needed.
- Mixed crops and mixed herds spread the risk of failure.
- Local knowledge of soils, plants, rain and grazing guides every move.
- Small clearings in a large forest are quickly recolonized by plants and animals.
Remember it as: Few people, lots of land, long rest.
Example (HL): Yanomami gardens. Yanomami villages are small and far apart, so their gardens are tiny holes in a huge forest. Seeds from the forest around them quickly bring trees back.
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As indigenous cultures modernize, live at higher population densities or in fixed locations, these practices become less sustainable.
The points to remember
- More people on the same land: fallows get shorter, so the soil cannot recover.
- Fixed homes, schools and borders stop herders moving, so pastures are overgrazed.
- Land is lost to farms, ranches, parks and mines, squeezing herds onto less land.
- Selling animals or crops for cash means bigger herds or more clearing.
- The results: soil erosion, deforestation, overgrazing and desertification.
Example (HL): the Sami of Norway. Sami families herd reindeer across northern Scandinavia, but roads, mines and wind farms split their grazing land. In 2021 Norway's Supreme Court ruled that the Fosen wind farm had broken Sami herders' rights.
How this comes up: Paper 1 gives figures on a traditional system and asks you to explain why it has become less sustainable [3]; Section B can ask for a discussion [9].
Mongolia has a long tradition of nomadic herding. The graph shows the number of livestock in Mongolia from 1990 to 2019.
Explain why nomadic pastoralism in Mongolia may be becoming less sustainable.
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