Indigenous Ecological Knowledge

Question 1

Which choice best explains what shifting cultivation is and why it is less harmful to the rainforest than permanently clearing the forest?

Accepted Answer

Farmers cut down a small patch, grow crops for a few years, then leave it to grow back while they farm a new patch, letting the forest recover.

Answer

Farmers cut down the whole forest and plant the same crops in the same place forever.

Answer

Farmers move their houses to a new village each year without planting anything.

Answer

Farmers only collect fruits from trees without ever clearing any land.

Question 2

Which choice shows two ways indigenous people use their knowledge of the rainforest?

Accepted Answer

They use the bark of the cinchona tree to make medicine and practice shifting cultivation (moving farms to let the forest recover).

Answer

They cut down every tree to sell the wood.

Answer

They hunt all the animals for sport.

Answer

They collect rainwater in plastic bags.

Question 3

Which answer gives two correct examples of how rainforest indigenous peoples use their ecological knowledge?

Accepted Answer

Using the bark of a tree to make medicine and moving farms to a new spot each year (shifting cultivation).

Answer

Cutting down large areas of forest to build roads and using tractors to plow fields.

Answer

Collecting rainwater in plastic containers and using metal tools to cut down trees.

Answer

Only hunting animals at night to avoid daytime predators.

Try three questions