ABSTRACT
This chapter ruminates the decades of experience and research among African, Asian and Latin American swiddeners. The ability to map land uses by remote sensing has improved dramatically in recent years, but the difficulty of disaggregating swidden fields, swidden fallows and secondary forests has been noted repeatedly. A productive way to approach research on swidden agriculture is to frame it as a type of agroforestry system, potentially bringing together expertise from the formal fields of agriculture and forestry. Pastoral, fishing and/or hunting activities may be supported within a swidden system as well as agricultural cropping; swidden fallows are often the best places to hunt and gather non-timber forest products for perspectives on wildlife incorporation into swidden systems. Swidden systems, fallows and all if analysed and appropriately built upon, can provide insights and opportunities for collaborative adaptation to climate change that are more effective, resilient and equitable.
