Date: 9 August, 2011 15:00PM～
Venue: Room No. 330, Inamori Foundation Building, CSEAS, Kyoto Unveristy
Co-organized by G-COE initiative 2
Presentation:
15:00 - 15:10 Introduction
15:10 - 15:50
Mamoru Kanzaki (Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University)
Title: Forested landscape and human impacts in Southern east Asia
16:00 - 16:40
Ayako Sasaki (ASAFAS, Kyoto University)
Title: Forested land-use system through tea cultivation in northern Thailand
16:40 - 17:00
General Discussion
【Record of activity】
A seminar on anthropogenic vegetation in Africa (Formation and Dynamism of Secondary or Anthropogenic Vegetation: From the Two Cases of African Rain Forest and Savannah Societies) was held on August 3, 2011. Continuing on from the theme of the previous seminar, two reports on the origin of anthropogenic vegetation in Southeast Asia were discussed in this seminar.
The first report, from Associate Professor Mamoru Kanzaki, examined from an ecological point of view how the appearance of forests in a large number of areas over the whole of the Southeast Asian region has been formed through the impact of anthropogenic intervention. The content of the report consisted of three sections, as shown below. The first section comprised a forest classification of the whole area of continental Southeast Asia. Based on cluster analysis, the forests of this region are broadly classified into four vegetation types, including evergreen and deciduous dipterocarp forest. A further diversity of vegetation was then abstracted from each type, and an outline was given of the association with human activities in the formation of each. Secondly, taking as a case study the deciduous dipterocarp forest, one of the forest types in the broad classification, the relation between human activities and the dynamic state of the forest was examined in detail. For example, it is reported that due to forest fire countermeasures in recent years, evergreen dipterocarp trees are increasing in the area where an understory of deciduous dipterocarp trees used to be seen. In addition, in deciduous savannah regions which have been used as grazing grounds for livestock, evergreen plants have been increasing with the decline of grazing activities, and it was explained that this has led to a state of “anthropogenic climax” in the savannah. In the third section, it was indicated that in recent years fire-resistant tree species are expanding in insular Southeast Asia. The environment of this region is essentially one in which the tropical rainforest thrives, but it is reported that the Theaceae shrub Shima wallichii has spread due to the impact of farming practices that make use of fire. Thus Associate Professor Kanzaki clearly indicated from an ecological perspective the dynamic state of vegetation and the human impacts on this in all parts of Southeast Asia. It is thought that detailed ecological descriptions and analyses of the dynamic state of regional vegetation will become increasingly important in the future. At the same time, conducting further studies that collate these results with the context of local society will become a crucial issue.
It was the second report, from researcher Ayako Sasaki, that examined the significance of forests in the context of local society. Ms. Sasaki reported on the society and form of livelihood of the people in northern Thailand who base their living on the cultivation of tea, an important source of cash income, and the changes in the use of the so-called miang forest, which brings about the shading effect indispensible for tea production. A diachronic analysis of the tea cultivation indicates that it has experienced periods of expansion and stagnation in close association with economic trends outside the region and the inflow or outflow of labor power. Even in the midst of these economic fluctuations, however, it is reported that by continuing to make use of the miang forests that provide diverse non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in ways that are appropriate for the social situation, the people have been able to maintain their livelihoods in a flexible manner. In addition it is also reported that recently there are moves to utilize the miang forests as tourist resources. While at the level of the appearance of the forests there seems to have been little change in the miang forests through the ages, it was concluded that in fact the essence of the miang forests is constantly altered as changes occur in the relationship with the situation external to the local society.
(Masaaki Hirai)