Planetary health brings together intrinsically linked issues of human health and natural systems. This paper reviews evidence of how agrobiodiversity underpins dietary diversity for current human populations in the context of fruits and vegetables, and ways to maintain and improve these for future generations. Both the conservation and sustainable use of fruit and vegetable biodiversity and the consumption of diverse diets are sub-optimal, and in many contexts getting worse. Agrobiodiversity and nutrition are linked through food availability, access, conservation and consumption, with potential win-wins but notable trade-offs for policy and action through time, place, agrobiodiversity use, and equity. We pinpoint research gaps and call for inclusive deliberation for action.
Tag: biodiversity
Growth performance of Calophyllum inophyllum in bioenergy trial plots in Bukit Soeharto Forest, East Kalimantan
The Indonesian government has committed to providing its entire population with energy through the National Energy Policy, which highlights the importance of diversification, environmental sustainability, and enhanced deployment of domestic energy resources. The contribution of new and renewable energy (NRE) to the nation’s energy supply is mandated to reach 23% by 2025, with bioenergy an important NRE alternative. If developed and deployed appropriately, bioenergy plantations have potential to restore degraded land and enhance biodiversity and environmental services while supporting rural livelihoods. As a potential biofuel tree species suited to the tropics, Calophyllum inophyllum (nyamplung) is being tested across wide-ranging degraded forest conditions in Indonesia. Nyamplung is a potential biodiesel alternative as it grows well in harsh environmental conditions, produces non-edible seed oil, has high amounts of kernel oil and fruits profusely. Here we report growth performance in plantation trial plots established in February 2018, on previously burned land in Mulawarman University’s Bukit Soeharto Research and Educational Forest. Growth of this two-year old plantation is strong compared to other Indonesian sites, with average survival rate above 90% on Ultisol soil, which is classified as low fertility and acidic. The findings reveal that different doses of fertilizer applications and slope gradient have no significant effects on growth performance. In addition, trees have already started to flower and fruit, and are colonized by bird species and insects, including bees and butterflies.The study indicates that nyamplung adapts well to different land and soil types. Bioenergy plantations on degraded land are a promising approach for land restoration, and enhance native biodiversity and environmental services while providing a source of renewable energy.
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FTA Highlight No.3 – Conservation of Tree Biodiversity and Sustainable Forest Management
Forests and trees are critical for the survival of life on earth. They conserve a tremendous biodiversity and fulfill essential ecosystem services such as climate regulation, cycling of nutrients and water. They contribute to food and nutrition security, are a major source of raw materials and offer countless livelihood opportunities. However, forests and trees are increasingly threatened by anthropogenic pressures such as overexploitation and land conversion, which are intensified by climate change. At the same time countless tree species and their forest genetic resources (FGR) with exceptional potential uses for supporting the global transition to low carbon food systems and the UN decade on Ecological Restoration are badly conserved and remain critically underutilized. For the last 10 years, the FTA program has set in place research activities that focused on understanding pressures on and threats to populations of socio-economically important tree species; formulating effective, efficient and equitable safeguards for tree genetic resources that are adapted to the local context and species characteristics; and promoting conservation and characterization of germplasm of high-value tree species from forests to farms. FTA has also conducted a range of ecosystem- and landscape-level research projects that explored how silvicultural and monitoring practices can support sustainable timber production while ensuring delivery of multiple ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, livelihood support and nutrition security from forest foods. Much of the program’s later work focused on multiple-use forest management. This review of the program’s most salient experiences — derived from a decade of collaborative research — presents a portfolio of the most promising solutions and the significant contributions that FTA has provided to global conservation and sustainable use of tree biodiversity. These achievements also contribute to the international policy arena, particularly to the strategic objectives of various conventions (the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), and to the efforts led by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to develop a global conservation strategy for forest genetic resources.
Exploring barriers to agroforestry adoption by cocoa farmers in south-western Côte d’Ivoire
Agroforestry is part of the package of good agricultural practices (GAPs) referred to as a reference to basic environmental and operational conditions necessary for the safe, healthy, and sustainable production of cocoa. Furthermore, cocoa agroforestry is one of the most effective nature-based solutions to address global change including land degradation, nutrient depletion, climate change, biodiversity loss, food and nutrition insecurity, and rural poverty and current cocoa supply chain issues. This study was carried out in South-Western Côte d’Ivoire through a household survey to assess the willingness of cocoa farmers to adopt cocoa agroforestry, a key step towards achieving sustainability in the cocoa supply chain markedly threatened by all types of biophysical and socio-economic challenges. In total, 910 cocoa households were randomly selected and individually interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Findings revealed that from the overwhelming proportion of farmers practicing full-sun cocoa farming with little or no companion trees associated, 50.2 to 82.1% were willing to plant and to keep fewer than 20 trees per ha in their farms for more than 20 years after planting. The most preferred trees provide a range of ecosystem services, including timber and food production, as well as shade regulation. More than half of the interviewed households considered keeping in their trees in their plantations for more than 20 years subject to the existence of a formal contract to protect their rights and tree ownership. This opinion is significantly affected by age, gender, access to seedlings of companion trees and financial resources. A bold step forward towards transitioning to cocoa agroforestry and thereby agroecological intensification lies in (i) solving the issue of land tenure and tree ownership by raising awareness about the new forest code and, particularly, the understanding of cocoa agroforestry, (ii) highlighting the added value of trees in cocoa lands, and (iii) facilitating access to improved cocoa companion tree materials and incentives. Trends emerged from this six-year-old study about potential obstacles likely to impede the adoption of agroforestry by cocoa farmers meet the conclusions of several studies recently rolled out in the same region for a sustainable cocoa sector, thereby confirming that not only the relevance of this work but also its contribution to paving the way for the promotion of agroecological transition in cocoa farming. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Zambia for agroforestry, biodiversity, and climate (Z4ABC): Enhancing the sustainability, resilience, and productivity of agricultural, forestry, and wildlife-based value chains in Zambia
The project aims to support the development of climate-smart, productive, and sustainable transformation of agriculture, forestry, and food systems in Zambia, in order to help achieve the country’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts.
Notes on the assemblage of forest birds at Oloitokitok, Mt. Kilimanjaro, including a new species for Kenya
Observations of birds from previously unknown and apparently overlooked forest remnants at Oloitokitok in southeast Kenya are presented. Several forest specialists reported have very limited ranges in Kenya, such as Bar-throated Apalis Apalis thoracica, Stripe-faced Greenbul Arizelocichla striifacies and Kenrick’s Starling Poeptera kenricki while the guttifer subspecies of White-stared Robin Pogonocichla stellata and Broad-ringed White-eye Zosterops eurycricotus, both formerly endemic to Tanzania, are documented in Kenya for the first time.
What Makes Agroforestry a Potential Restoration Measure in a Degraded Conservation Forest?
Agroforestry is a win–win solution in terms of restoring forest function while benefiting the local community. This research aimed to (1) understand the regulations concerning conservation forest management and the restoration strategies adopted based on the history of forest degradation in the area, (2) investigate the factors driving local people to adopt agroforestry systems in the area, and (3) investigate the characteristics of the agroforestry system developed and its impacts based on farmers’ perceptions. This research was performed in Wan Abdul Rachman Grand Forest Park, Lampung Province, Indonesia, and involved 59 respondents who managed 63 agroforestry plots in the area. Several schemes had been implemented to restore the degraded forest without involving the community, and the results were unsatisfactory. Changing the regulations concerning managing conservation forests to involve the community and providing legal permits and support from the management improved forest function due to community willingness to implement the agroforestry system. About 81% of observed plots consisted of 5–12 plant species, and 16% of plots consisted of 13–16 species per plot. Theobroma cacao was the most common species in the agroforestry plots, followed by Durio zibethinus, Parkia speciosa, and Aleurites moluccana. The size of the agroforestry plot affected the number of species in the plot. The community perception demonstrated that agroforestry has positive impacts on livelihood, the environment, and biodiversity at the landscape level.
Getting our ducks in a row to build biodiverse fruit-laden farms
The Farmland Biodiversity Score for consistent monitoring of biodiversity based on the measurement of trees on farms
Trees on farms are a critical tool in managing agriculture to support biodiverse landscapes and will play an important part in complementing protected areas as a means of reaching biodiversity targets. A lack of systematic data for the biodiversity in agricultural land means monitoring global targets is difficult. There is an unmet need for repeated, consistent and low cost indicators of agricultural biodiversity, applicable at wide scale and across different landscapes. Here we present the proof of concept for an indicator of the biodiversity value of agricultural landscapes through assessing properties of their trees. Using freely available satellite data products to estimate wooded area, structural diversity and spectral diversity of agricultural lands, landscapes are scored on the biodiversity value. The outputs of which can be mapped at national scales. Qualitative validation shows promising results in four case studies in a variety of agricultural contexts, with the scores reflecting what we expect from photointerpretation of sites across the case study areas. This tool has the potential to be a useful and much needed indicator, and with further development could be a critical metric for the post-2020 agenda for measuring and monitoring agricultural biodiversity.
Cross-Border Multi-Stakeholder Platform of Tana-Kipini-Laga Badana Bushland and Seascape, Kenya-Somali Border
The Horn of Africa, particularly the eastern Africa region, covering the coastal strip of Kenya, Somalia Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti have a historical context characterised by conflict and insecurity. Periodic mass migration and break down of law and order has weakened the grassroots’ institutional fabric, thus threatening not only peoples’ livelihoods but also the sustainability of natural systems. In line with the state of the region, the Biodiversity Management Program (BMP) of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) of the Horn of Africa was established to promote sustainable biodiversity conservation in the Tana-Kipini-Laga Badana Bushland and Seascape—a cross-border landscape of the extreme southern part of Somalia and north-eastern Kenya.