BIODIVERSITAS ISSN: 1412-033X Volume 17, Number 1, April 2016 E-ISSN: 2085-4722 Pages: 332-341 DOI: 10.13057/biodiv/d170145 Responses to environmental and socio-economic changes in the Karangwangi traditional agroforestry system, South Cianjur, West Java JOHAN ISKANDAR 1 , BUDIAWATI SUPANGKAT ISKANDAR 2 , RUHYAT PARTASASMITA 1,♥ 1 Department of Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and Postgraduate of Environmental Study (PSMIL & DIL) and Institute of Ecology (PPSDAL), Padjadjaran University. Jl. Raya Bandung-Sumedang Km 21, Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, West Java, Indonesia. Tel +62-22- 7797712.  email: ruhyat.partasasmita@unpad.ac.id 2 Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Political Science, Padjadjaran University. Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, West Java, Indonesia Manuscript received: 15 December 2015. Revision accepted: 15 April 2016. Abstract. Iskandar J, Iskandar BS, Partasasmita R. 2016. Responses to environmental and socio-economic changes in the Karangwangi traditional agroforestry system, South Cianjur, West Java. Biodiversitas 17: 332-341. In the past, the swidden agriculture system (huma) was dominant in village frontiers of West Java; including in the Karangwangi Village of Cidaun Sub-district, Cianjur District, West Java Province. Culturally, each Karangwangi household owned a right to cultivate upland rice (huma) by felling mature forest (leuweung). Moreover, the land was planted by upland rice and other annual crops, such as corn, cassava, cucumber, and various beans. After harvesting rice and other annual crops, the land was fallowed and transformed into secondary forest (reuma) through natural succession. Moreover, the mature secondary forest (reuma kolot) could be opened for rice planting again in the following year or fallowed for more than 3-5 years. People will shift to another piece of mature secondary forest for rice planting. Today, because of increasing population, decreasing forests, and increasing market economic penetration, the Karangwangi people have predominantly practiced the swidden farming in the non-forest instead of the forest. The forests had culturally been converted to traditional agroforestry systems, such as mixed-garden (kebon tatangkalan), and homegarden (pekarangan).This paper discusses the process of evolution of the swidden farming and innovatory cultural practice among the Karangwangi community, South Cianjur, West Java, in management of the traditional agroforestry systems which have been dynamically affected by ecological and socio-economic changes. Four parts are presented in this paper. In part one, we account for the Karangwangi people used to practice the swidden farming in the forest when the forest area that was still abundant. In part two, we discuss a focus on process of the evolution of the swidden farming, transformed to the traditional agroforestry systems In part three, we elaborate on some changes of the traditional agroforestry system and responses to environmental changes. In part four, it is summarized and inferred of the paper. Based on this study, it can be inferred that by developing innovatory cultural practice, Karangwangi people of South Cianjur, West Java have tended to success to evolve their swidden farming to new condition of the traditional agroforestry systems in sustainable way, despite population growth, the depletion of the forests, and intensive market economic penetration. Keywords: Karangwangi Village, socio-economic changes, traditional agroforestry system INTRODUCTION Swidden agriculture, shifting cultivation, slash-and- burn cultivation or long fallow agriculture system which is called as ladang (Indonesia) or huma (Sundanese) was very popular in the frontier upland West Java and South Banten areas in ancient time (Haan 1912; Kools, 1935;Terra 1953; Geertz 1963; Iskandar 1998; Breeman 2014). Because at that time, the human population was low, forest was abundant, land was the cheap resource, labor was the expensive resource, and market economy non-existent. Gradually, however, as human population has become a more increase, forest has reduced, land has become a more expensive resource, huma has prohibited by the government, and increased market economic penetration to rural areas (cf. Kools 1935; Iskandar 1998). As a result, the swidden farming has decreased over time. Indeed, this oldest agriculture system has disappeared in many places in West Java and Banten, Indonesia. However, in some places, such as in Baduy area of South Banten, Kasepuhan area of South Sukabumi, and very refraction area of West Java relict swidden farming has still predominantly practiced by the local people (cf. Iskandar 1998). The Baduy and Kasepuhan have annually cultivated dry-land rice in the forest area. Like the Baduy and the Kasepuhan, the local people who reside in the frontier area of Karangwangi Village, Cidaun Sub-district, Cianjur, West Java, had predominantly practiced the swidden farming in the past. Nowadays, however, they have practiced the swidden farming in the dry land (tegal or tegalan) instead of in the forest because forests which had used to practiced swidden farming, has been converted to the traditional agroforestry systems, such as the homegarden (pekarangan) and mixed-garden (kebon tatangkalan), and rice field (sawah) (cf. Soemarwoto and Soemarwoto 1984, Iskandar and Iskandar 2011). Historically, the agroforestry is a new term which was introduced by western scholars in 1970s (Von Maydel 1985), but this indigenous agricultural system has been traditionally practiced for a long time in Java (Reijntjes et al. 1992; Iskandar and Iskandar 2011). The agroforestry may be defined “as a land-use system that resembles a forest in structure and combines the natural functions of forest with those for fulfilling the socio-