news by CDE about the contribution of its researchers and members to the upcoming IASC Conference “The commons we want: between historical legacies and future collective actions”

interview with CDE director and KFPE president Thomas Breu about the need for Switzerland to open up to new approaches to research cooperation with Africa

interview with CDE scientist Ravaka Andriamihaja who investigated economic and political power imbalances and colonial patterns in North–South research collaboration

Read about the CDE research project COMMONPATHS, which focuses on urban resources managed as commons – in Ghana and Switzerland – and how the collectives that manage them address overconsumption and inequality.

Shifting cultivation, a vital system in tropical landscapes, is undergoing exciting transitions. Eight archetypes, from perennial plantation crops to restored secondary forests, encapsulate these transitions. Factors like higher expected land rents, resulting form increased market access, crop price surges, secure land tenure, and state interventions are the main drivers of archetypical transitions to perennial plantation crops, permanent agroforestry, permanent non-perennial crops and wood plantation.Meanwhile, prioritizing other on- and off-farm activities leads to transitions to regrown secondary forests and non-cultivated non-forested lands.

The consequences of these transitions are diverse and context-dependent. Positive environmental outcomes are seen in transitions to permanent agroforestry, regrown secondary forests, and restored secondary forests. However, economically profitable transitions to perennial plantation crops, permanent non-perennial crops, pasture, and wood plantations often result in negative environmental impacts. This diversity calls for a critical and contextualized appraisal of shifting cultivation and its transitions in designing land system policies that benefit both people and nature