Tamarindus indica is a priority local forest food tree in the Sahel. It is an important source of income for many rural families. It is still in the wild, apart from a few specimens of the accessions recently introduced into the landscape of Sahelian villages. The objective of the present study is to investigate the performance and efficiency of three accession grafts and the effect of grafting to shorten the juvenal growth and fruiting periods for improving woody species diversity in agroforestry parklands and diversifying the sources of income of small producers. The design was a randomized complete block with 5 replications. Each block was composed of 5 grafts of three accessions (Niger 309, TB3, Sweet Thailand) and 5 seedlings propagated from wild tree seeds. Growth parameters (height, collar diameter, canopy width and primary branch number) were measured on all plants. The evaluation of fruiting potential was made on 5 plants of each accession in the first year and 10 plants in the second year. Cost–benefit analysis were carried out to assess the financial viability and economic profitability of planting these accessions of T. indica. The results show that Sweet Thailand accession had the best growth performance compared to Niger 309 and TB3. Fruiting of the three accession grafts started in the second year after planting, in contrast to seedlings which started to bear fruit from the fourth year. TB3 grafts had higher average fruit production in 2017 and 2018 (120 and 640 kg ha−1, respectively). The cost–benefit analysis shows that planting of the three accession grafts is financially viable and economically profitable. The results of the present study indicated that planting these three accessions might play an important role in food security, the resilience of small-scale farmers and the improvement of biodiversity in the landscape.
Tag: Adaptation
In people’s minds and on the ground: Values and power in climate change adaptation
As decisions on climate change adaptation involve stakeholders with different values, beliefs and attitudes (VBA), decision outcomes depend on how stakeholders interact and how power is distributed. In this paper, we explore the VBA of stakeholders involved in three water management projects focusing on dams, micro-reservoirs, or wetlands in a Peruvian watershed facing droughts. We apply a framework with the core ideas of the hydrosocial cycle, the decision context perspective, and the VBA hierarchy to show how stakeholders’ perspectives and power influence practices on the ground. The analysis of VBA reveals three different perspectives on water management held by different stakeholder groups. First, a community-based perspective, frequent among local communities, favors micro-reservoirs managed by communities. Second, an infrastructure-based perspective, frequent among public sector stakeholders, shows a preference for dams managed by the private sector. Third, a nature-based perspective, with a preference for wetlands managed by the public sector, is found across stakeholder groups. In the three water management projects, different power distributions determine which VBA dominate and influence practices on the ground. Dams on the ground represent power from the public and private sectors, while micro-reservoirs represent local grassroot control. In the wetland project, the outcomes of the evolving hydrosocial cycle are still unclear and will depend on how multiple perspectives are considered. Examining and questioning the decision context in which adaptation occurs can help excluded stakeholders achieve more power and agency and tackle the fundamental question of ‘adaptation of what and for whom’.
Trees as brokers in social networks: Cascades of rights and benefits from a Cultural Keystone Species
Indigenous trees play key roles in West African landscapes, such as the néré tree (Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G.Don). We applied social–ecological network analysis to understand the social–ecological interactions around néré. We documented the benefits néré provides and the multiple social interactions it creates amongst a large range of actors. The flows of rights over the trees and benefits from them formed two hierarchical networks, or cascades, with different actors at the top. The two forms of power revealed by the two cascades of rights and benefits suggest possible powers and counter-powers across gender, ethnicity, and age. We documented how the tree catalyses social interactions across diverse groups to sustain vital social connections, and co-constitute places, culture, and relationships. We argue that a paradigm shift is urgently needed to leverage the remarkable untapped potential of indigenous trees and Cultural Keystone Species in current global restoration and climate change agendas.
Forestry in national adaptation plans (NAPs) to climate change
The objective of this paper is to give some preliminary insights on how forests, trees and agroforestry are considered in published NAPs, draw lessons and propose recommendations to improve the integration of forestry in adaptation planning processes. It considers the main vulnerabilities of forests and trees to climate change, the adaptation options under consideration, and how forestry is integrated in institutional processes, including the integration of forests and trees into agricultural and other sectoral adaptation measures. It concludes with recommendations to improve integration of forests and trees in adaptation planning.
Natural rubber contributions to adaptation to climate change
The purpose of this paper is to present research results relative to impacts of Climate Change on natural rubber production, potential means of adaptation and contribution of rubber to livelihoods resilience to climate change following a recent workshop organized by IRSG in collaboration with CIFOR/FTA, IRRDB and CIRAD. Climate change already impacts rubber production. In some regions longer dry seasons and more variable precipitations threaten the survival of young plants. Rubber has never been planted in areas with an average temperature higher than 28°C; as latex flow after tapping depends on temperature, higher temperatures may have a severe impact on production. Abnormal rains can also disrupt tapping. These modifications will drive a shift of climatically favourable areas. Most pests and diseases affecting rubber are strongly influenced by climate conditions.
Planning for Adaptation: A System Approach to Understand the Value Chain’s Role in Supporting Smallholder Coffee Farmers’ Adaptive Capacity in Peru
Coffee is a major global commodity whose production is sustained by and provides livelihoods for millions of smallholder families in the tropics. However, it is highly sensitive to climate change and the climate risk family farmer’s face from direct impacts on coffee production are often compounded by further impacts on the physical and social landscapes and infrastructure. We examine the vulnerability (sensitivity and adaptive capacity) of smallholder coffee farmers in northeastern Peru via the lens of their central participation in a value chain that mediates access to livelihood assets, affecting their adaptive capacity and aspects of their sensitivity. Using a staged and participatory, mixed-methods approach, we sought to understand the territorial climate exposure, the structure of the regional value chain and role of different actors in supporting farmer adaptive capacity, and assess the vulnerability of the entire value chain (including other actors in addition to farmers). We found heterogeneity not only in the potential impact of climate change on coffee production, future adaptation needs and vulnerability of farmers across the territory (among elevational zones and regions), but in the distribution of vulnerability among value chain actors. Farmers are the most vulnerable actors, simultaneously the most sensitive and with the lowest adaptive capacity, issues stemming from their strong territorial dependence and pre-existing social and economic asymmetries with actors in the coffee value chain who are not as territorially dependent (e.g., private companies). We make the case that supporting the adaptation of smallholder farmers in the study region requires moving beyond a value-chain approach to a territorial systems perspective that more intentionally involves those actors with stronger, locally vested interests (e.g., local governments and institutions) in their adaptation and requires the strengthening capacities of these actors in various areas.
Engaging with the future: framings of adaptation to climate change in conservation
The term ‘adaptation’ is commonplace in conservation research and practice, but often without a reflection on the assumptions, expectations, or frames of reference used to define goals and actions. Communities of practice (e.g. conservation researchers, protected areas managers) have different interpretations of climate change impacts on biodiversity and different ways of defining, operationalizing and implementing adaptation. Their cognitive and motivational expectations for the future are associated with different paths to reach such desired futures. To understand how adaptation is framed in conservation, we undertook a systematic review with a thematic synthesis of the definitions of the term as used in the academic conservation literature. From a sample of 150 articles, only 36 provided a definition of adaptation. We critically appraised the explicit definitions to identify emergent themes that represent particular adaptation approaches. Themes were then grouped, and each group was assigned to a scholarly tradition, onto-epistemological approach and theoretical perspective. Based on theoretical perspectives on social change, we propose a framework (including individual cognitive basis, social interactions, and openness to alternatives) to analyse how change is framed in the definitions and how the framings influence adaptation options. The grouped themes represent passive, active, or indirect adaptation approaches. We used these themes to generate a conceptual model to guide conservation researchers and practitioners engaged in climate adaptation research, policy and management to aid reflection and understanding of the options available to design adaptation agendas and allow negotiation of diverse interests, views and expectations about the future.
The forest frontier in the Global South: Climate change policies and the promise of development and equity
Halting forest loss and achieving sustainable development in an equitable manner require state, non-state actors, and entire societies in the Global North and South to tackle deeply established patterns of inequality and power relations embedded in forest frontiers. Forest and climate governance in the Global South can provide an avenue for the transformational change needed—yet, does it? We analyse the politics and power in four cases of mitigation, adaptation, and development arenas. We use a political economy lens to explore the transformations taking place when climate policy meets specific forest frontiers in the Global South, where international, national and local institutions, interests, ideas, and information are at play. We argue that lasting and equitable outcomes will require a strong discursive shift within dominant institutions and among policy actors to redress policies that place responsibilities and burdens on local people in the Global South, while benefits from deforestation and maladaptation are taken elsewhere. What is missing is a shared transformational objective and priority to keep forests standing among all those involved from afar in the major forest frontiers in the tropics.
Taking stock of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS): An analysis of global NBS submissions to the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September 2019
Nature-based solutions have seen increasing emphasis as a means of realizing transformative change for climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. This report examines 187 proposals of nature-based solutions (NBS) submitted to the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September 2019 to assess the breadth, nature, and potential impact of this emerging paradigm for climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental conservation, and sustainable development. Noting the self-selected nature of the sample and the public nature of its intended forum, this analysis nonetheless considers these contributions in aggregate as illustrative of the variety of current conceptions and practices of NBS. The analysis finds that forests, cultivated landscapes, and marine and coastal regions comprise the main ecosystems of interest, with NBS most often taking the form of technological change and innovation. The analysis identifies certain concerns for NBS design and implementation, with the majority of submissions failing to provide adequate information on safeguards, transparency, and monitoring. Furthermore, only four submissions provide comprehensive explanations of how their proposed contribution comprises a nature-based solution, raising questions for the ongoing operationalization of NBS as a coherent body of practice. Finally, only 28 contributions are identified as possessing high transformational potential in their sectors of intervention, assessed on the basis of the scale, speed, sustainability and depth of proposed changes. While these findings suggest that submissions with both high transformational potential and a high likelihood of success are often smaller-scale interventions adapted to their sites of implementation, this raises questions of whether NBS will be able to attain the scale and depth necessary to meet expectations for their sustained and transformational impact.
Asset-Based Adaptation Project Promotes Tree and Shrub Diversity and Above-Ground Carbon Stocks in Smallholder Agroforestry Systems in Western Kenya
Agroforestry has potential to address the adverse effects of climate change through carbon sequestration, increasing biodiversity and improving adaptive capacity and resilience among smallholder farmers. However, this potential is context specific and insufficiently quantified in smallholder faming systems, partly because of inherent variability of smallholder farms. Our study aimed to determine the tree/shrub diversity and carbon stocks in different agroforestry systems within smallholder farms in two 100 km2 sites, the so-called lower and middle Nyando sites, in western Kenya. In both, context-specific agroforestry adoption had been promoted among households of four community associations through an asset-based community development (ABCD) approach. Their farms were assessed and compared with those of relevant comparison samples. Trees and shrubs were inventoried on a total of 106 farms, and their formations classified in five major agroforestry practices: hedgerows, multipurpose trees on farm (MPT), riparian buffers, woodlots, and boundary planting. To assess above-ground biomass (AGB) of individual trees/shrubs, diameter at breast height measurements were taken. Strong regional differences were considered in data analysis and presentation. Altogether, 3,353 and 6,346 trees/shrubs were inventoried in the lower and middle Nyando sites, respectively. AGB was significantly higher in middle than in lower Nyando. Woodlots had the highest amount of AGB carbon stock, while MPT had the highest diversity of tree/shrub species in all the groups. Conversely, boundary planting had the highest number of trees/shrubs inventoried and hence was the most common agroforestry practice across all the samples in both regions. Dominant AGB contributor species were Grevillea robusta (37.8%) in middle, and Eurphobia tirucalli (16.5%) in lower Nyando. This study provides empirical evidence that asset-based and community-driven selection and implementation of both tree/shrub species and agroforestry practices can contribute positively to species and practice diversity, which are associated with AGB carbon stock levels and wider agro-ecosystem diversity. This study hence provides benchmark information that is relevant for SDG goal 15 on “life on land,” and various specific targets, and can inform sustainable establishment of carbon sink facilities by supporting smallholders to uptake contextually suitable and economically sensible agroforestry practices in an overall effort to foster and support sustainable development.