A major requirement in watershed management is establishing soil and water conservation technologies. Many of these have existed over a long time, but information to support selection of those that are appropriate for ecological and socio-economic conditions, has not been readily available to farmers and field officers. This technical manual presents a compilation of twenty technologies that have potential for watershed management within the tropical landscape especially in Africa. It presents simple descriptions of the technologies and instruction for establishing them, where they are appropriate and potential costs. A summary at the end supports users to decide on technologies that are appropriate for their conditions.
Tag: conservation
Proceedings of a Workshop on the development of a curriculum guide on Cross Border Biodiversity
This workshop was a collaborative effort between The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources education (ANAFE). It was conceptualized as an important component of a research and development project on cross-border biodiversity supported by The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) through a European Union grant, to study the challenges of managing biodiversity in the border area between Kenya and Somalia.
Molecular Characterization of Sclerocarya birrea ICRAF Field Genebank Collections
Scelerocarya birrea is an important fruit tree that is widely used by the rural populations in most regions in whichit is found, for its fruits, bark, timber and even its roots. The local communities harvest the tree products from the wildwith minimal attempts to grow it on-farm. The sustainability of such wild harvests is threatened by agriculture,overgrazing and overexploitation for other purposes. Therefore, the species needs urgent conservation measures inaddition to selecting superior germplasm for on-farm tree management that will facilitate ease of species cultivation.This has prompted the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and partners to collect andmanage S. birrea germplasm in field genebanks as the initial step towards the species domestication andconservation. In order to effectively manage germplasm, it is important to establish the collection genetic diversity.Six ISSR markers yielded a total of 76 polymorphic bands across the 257 accessions studied. Percentage ofpolymorphic loci and observed heterozygosity ranged from 75% to 7.89% and H=0.362 to H=0.043, respectively.The partitioning of genetic diversity found a higher (86% P>0.001) intra-population variation and low inter-populationvariation, typical of the outcrossing nature of S. birrea. According to Jaccard’s dissimilarity index, the highest geneticdistance between accessions was 1.000 and the least genetic distance was 0.000. Neighbour-joining clusteringgrouped the accessions into three major clusters and twenty probable duplicates were identified, which should beeliminated to cut down the cost of conservation. The results obtained suggest that S. birrea ICRAF field genebankcollections have a comparatively rich gene pool and, hence, valuable for conservation of S. birrea. The twentysamples showing duplicates would be good for evaluating performance of this long-lived tree species in bothlocations
Status of tree improvement and gene conservation in Ethiopia
The forest resources of Ethiopia have been, and still are, subject to indiscriminate destruction. Agricultural expansion and free grazing have been practiced for centuries in Ethiopia. These, and the relentless cutting for fuel and building needs by a dense and rapidly growing population, have led to almost complete deforestation of the Ethiopian highlands today.
Morphological characterization of Soursop (Annona muricata L.) germplasm in Sri Lanka
Annona muricata L. is an underutilized fruit tree species in Sri Lanka, which is mostly confined to homegardens. Despite the importance of A. muricata, collection, characterization and improvement of its germplasm is limited in Sri Lanka, hence hindered its effective conservation and utilization. Therefore, the objective of this research was to identify morphological variation of A. muricata populations in Sri Lanka. Multistage Sampling Survey was conducted in homegardens of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Hambantota dictricts in the Dry zone, Puttalama and Kurunagala districts in the AIntermediate zone, and Kalutara and Gampaha districts in the Wet zone. Random representative samples were also collected from existing germplasm collections at three national research centers. Morphological variation of A. muricata were observed on total of 315 samples collected from seven districts of three climatic zones and 133 samples collected from germplasm collections at three national research centers. Forty five morphological characters were recorded from 448 accesions and subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA), followed by Cluster Analysis. A dendrogram of evaluated characters showed nine distinguished clusters. Implications of findings are discussed in relation to utilization and conservation.
Farmers’ land use decision-making in the context of changing land and conservation policies: A case study of Doi Mae Salong in Chiang Rai Province, Northern Thailand
In Thailand, land use planning and policy decision-making were-and to some extent still are-organized in a hierarchical and disjointed fashion. This is also true for the utilization of public lands, including forest reserves in the northern uplands that are often settled by ethnic minorities. There are, however, instances of change in land policies and regulations and in the way decisions and plans are made. Doi Mae Salong (DMS) in Northern Thailand, where there is a trend towards land use for conservation purposes, is a case in point. This paper aims to explore decision-making by farmers in DMS in the context of changing land regulations and policies from the 1950s to the present. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, together with a historical perspective and with narratives on land management through time, were applied by using in-depth interviews of key informants and group farmers’ discussions as tools. The time period under investigation was divided into three periods of change: The first period, before the year 1960, was an era of security concern. In contrast, the second period, from 1961 to 1996, was an era of emerging conservation priorities. Finally, the third period, from 1997 to the present, is an era of lessons learned from the conservation era. Land use decision outcomes reveal that the decision-making processes of farmers are influenced both by the hierarchical decisions of higher Authorities and by horizontal linkages among multiple stakeholders. However, while farmers participate readily in forest conservation activities, they do not play an active role in the process of changing policies.
Agricultural development with rainforest conservation: methods for seeking best bet alternatives to slash-and-burn, with applications to Brazil and Indonesia
Forests continue to fall for agricultural purposes throughout the humid tropics, with immediate and potentially large consequences for climate change and biodiversity loss–issues of key interest to the international community. Some of the actors directly responsible for forest conversion fell trees to meet food security needs and alleviate poverty – issues of urgent interest to them and also to national policymakers. This multiplicity of groups with differing (often conflicting) interests in the multifarious goods and services produced by tropical forests complicates the search for alternative agricultural activities for forest margins since these alternatives must satisfy such divergent objectives. This paper sets out a conceptual framework for comparing the impacts of different land use systems and agricultural practices at the margins of tropical rainforests in terms of the concerns and objectives of two key interest groups: small-scale farmers seeking livelihoods at the forest margins and the ‘international’ interests in the global public goods and services supplied by tropicalrainforests. This framework should be useful to a third key group, the national and regional policymakers who must consider these and other policy objectives and then decide on courses of action. The paper identifies data needs and analytical methods capable of supplying an empirical base for this conceptual framework, based on quantifiable indicators. It then presents preliminary results of the application of this conceptual framework in Indonesia and Brazil in association with a global, collaborative, multidisciplinary research program. Even using preliminary order-of-magnitude estimates (to be replaced by more precisemeasurements as they become available), this conceptual framework presents results in ways that allow researchers and policymakers to select clear ‘best bets’ for development, when they exist, and to assess tradeoffs and options for complementary policy action and research efforts, when they do not. 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Assessing and adopting social safeguards in all planned programs (AASSAPP)
‘Social safeguards’ are procedures that ensure that projects take into consideration people’s rights, aspirations and the ‘do no harm’ principle. The concept of ‘safeguards’ encompasses free, prior and informed consent; participation; resolution of land conflict; clarifying land and natural resource use-rights; livelihoods and food security; and poverty alleviation. Free, prior and informed consent as part of social safeguards is defined as protecting the right of local and indigenous communities to negotiate the terms of externally imposed policies and projects. This applies to ‘development’ as well as to ‘conservation’ projects
Biofuel emission reduction estimator scheme (BERES): landuse history, production systems and technical emission factors
The Biofuel Emission Reduction Estimator Scheme (BERES) is an integrated assessment method for estimating carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions related to biofuel production. It includes three different phases of crop production processes within lifecycle analysis and is in line with EU-mandated calculations. The phases are 1) land conversion; 2) crop production; and 3) postharvest commodity transport and processing.
Strategies for genetic conservation of trees in the Peruvian Amazon
Forestry practices and high rates of land clearance for agriculture are causing genetic erosion of valuable tree species in the Peruvian Amazon, thereby endangering the economic sustainability of rural communities and limiting Peru’s opportunities for the development of new timber and non-timber forest products. The potential utility and limitations of six low-input interventions to help forestall further genetic erosion in the region are discussed, with a focus on local community involvement. Improved agroforestry systems may help reduce deforestation by increasing farm productivity, although methods to increase the currently low adoption rate of these technologies need to be developed. Use of strategic tree domestication techniques can also improve farm productivity and prevent inadvertent genetic drift and inbreeding associated with traditional domestication practices, although to have a major impact, current programs need to be extended across the region. Woodlot forestry could supplant selective extraction of timber and offers an attractive opportunity for poverty alleviation if appropriate credit and land tenure policies can be developed. However, it may also result in increased deforestation if activities on public land cannot be controlled. The implementation of improved seed collection systems and simple seed transfer guidelines would help to reduce the collection of seed of poor quality and low genetic diversity, and avoid maladapted plantings, although such programs are difficult to monitor and seed costs may increase. Strategic identification and design of in situ conservation areas would help to ensure the viability of conserved populations, but requires the forfeiture of significant revenue from timber concessions.