In Indonesia, swidden practices have been part of traditional rice farming for centuries. Swidden agriculture is a fundamental part of all remaining large tropical forests and provides a critical form of biodiversity-friendly agriculture. Meanwhile, peatland degradation and land conversion for oil palm plantation and agriculture have created an annual transboundary environmental disaster in Southeast Asia. This article adopts a transnational lens to highlight the complex multi-scale interactions that perpetuate recurring transboundary air pollution in the region. Having examined the traditional practices of swidden agriculture in Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra (Indonesia), the article reveals that swidden agriculture has been misunderstood generally, and in particular in international and national law and policy. It argues that existing laws fail to identify the important role that swidden agriculture plays in sustainable ecosystem management and cultural expression. Nuanced understandings of fire use, alongside transnational multi-stakeholder and multi-scale approaches, are required.

在印度尼西亚，几个世纪以来，轮耕做法一直是传统水稻种植的一部分。轮耕农业是所有剩余大型热带森林的基本组成部分，并提供了生物多样性友好型农业的重要形式。与此同时，泥炭地退化以及油棕种植园和农业用地的转变在东南亚造成了一年一度的跨境环境灾难。本文采用跨国视角来强调复杂的多尺度相互作用，这种相互作用使该地区反复发生的跨境空气污染长期存在。在研究了中加里曼丹和南苏门答腊岛（印度尼西亚）轮耕农业的传统做法后，文章揭示了轮耕农业普遍被误解，特别是在国际和国家法律和政策中。它认为，现有法律未能确定轮换农业在可持续生态系统管理和文化表达中发挥的重要作用。需要对用火有细致入微的了解，并采取跨国多利益相关者和多规模的方法。