Fire can also make an important contribution to long-term soil fertility through the addition of biochar that has been produced by low-temperature burning ( Glaser et al. Burning of newly felled vegetation in tall forest areas is often necessary to clear the land for planting. In fact, swidden cultivators are often careful and skilled users of fire who seek multiple objectives in the burning process, among them the minimization of some of these negative effects ( Hecht and Posey 1989). Burning also has major implications for regional and global climate through the emission of a variety of greenhouse gases ( Wilken 1987 Cochrane 2003). Fires that escape from the swidden clearings can cause widespread ecosystem destruction. There is no doubt that swidden fires have a potentially negative effect on soils and on forests – high temperatures can destroy soil ecology, reduce organic matter, damage woody vegetation, and select for fire-resistant species in the woodland seed bank. We prefer this term to alternative names for this kind of agroforestry, such as “slash-and-burn” or “shifting cultivation” that invoke an image of a primitive scorched earth operation, carried out by shady cultivators who wander randomly through the forest. The term “swidden” derives from the Old Norse “svithinn”, meaning “clearing in the forest to be burned”. Traditional Maya milpa management supports forest ecosystem services Low-temperature burning sequesters carbon as persistent biochar Succession is carefully managed to contribute to soil fertility and biodiversity Swidden, an ancient form of horticulture, rotates crops and woodlands milpa, as practiced by ancient and modern Maya, shapes woodland ecology When properly managed, the milpa cycle can result in long-term carbon sequestration and an increasingly fertile anthrosol (soil that has been greatly modified by long-term human activity) and enriched woodland vegetation. Among the benefits of fire use in this setting is its contribution to nutrient flow and to long-term soil fertility in the form of biochar, charcoal produced by low-temperature pyrolysis in agriculture. Fire can have negative effects on ecosystems but swidden cultivators are often sophisticated managers of fire. One element of milpa agriculture that receives a considerable amount of criticism is the burning of cut vegetation after clearing. Here, we examine the contemporary milpa, a type of swidden agriculture common to Latin America and historically used by the Maya people of the lowlands of southern Mexico and northern Central America we focus on one group in particular, the Lakandon people of Chiapas.

Associated with most forested areas of the tropical world, swidden is often blamed for deforestation but it also plays a role in forest conservation. Swidden is an agroforestry system in which woody vegetation is regenerated after a period of annual cropping.

Mayan ways of life