The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC Fourth Assessment report has highlighted the role oftropical forests in mitigating climate change. Deforestation, especially in tropical countries, contributes about 20percent to total global greenhouse gas emissions. Development projects geared to reduce the rate of deforestationand forest degradation, and to establish forest plantations will help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,and significantly contribute to mitigating climate change. Three cases of forestry carbon projects underway in thePhilippines are presented to illustrate the constraints facing project developers in undertaking these climate changemitigation efforts. Among the key lessons identified are: the difficulty in establishing land eligibility, the need forpartners or buyers from industrialized countries to shoulder the transaction costs, and the crucial role of the localcommunities, including indigenous peoples, in the development effort.
Tag: deforestation
Rotational woodlot technology in northwestern Tanzania: Tree species and crop performance
Growing of trees as woodlots on farms for five to seven years in rotation with crops was considered as a potential technology to overcome the shortage of wood, which is a common problem to many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The paper summarizes the results of trials conducted at Tabora and Shinyanga in northwestern Tanzania on rotational woodlots, to evaluate tree species for wood production and yields of maize grown in association with and after harvest of trees. On acid sandy soils at Tabora, Acacia crassicarpa A. Cunn. ex Benth. grew fast and produced 24 to 77 Mg ha1 of wood in four to five years. On alkaline Vertisols at Shinyanga, seven years old woodlots of Acacia polyacantha Willd. and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) De Wit. produced 71 and 89 Mg ha1 of wood, respectively. Intercropping of maize between trees was possible for two years without sacrificing its yield. The first maize crop following A. crassicarpa woodlots gave 29 to 113% greater yield than the crop after natural fallow. Acacia polyacantha and L. leucocephala woodlots also increased the subsequent maize yields over a three-year period. The increase in crop yields after woodlots was attributed partly to accumulation of greater amounts of inorganic N in the topsoil compared to the traditional fallow, and partly to other effects. Thus medium-term rotational woodlots are likely to contribute to meet the wood requirements of rural people and thereby help protect the natural woodlands in sub-Saharan Africa.
Agroforestry – a policy imperative for Vietnam
Agroforestry has been traditionally practiced, although it does not go under the name ‘agroforestry’. The VAC-R-systems (vuon-ao-chuong-rung or garden-pond-livestock-forest) expanded largely in the 1960-90s. Taungya is often practiced to introduce reforestation by intercropping annu-al crops with tree seedlings during the first 1-3 years until the tree canopy has closed.‘Integrated agroforestry’ is originally used to denote the integration of trees and crops (in one field), such as intercropping, alley cropping, parkland – sometimes includ-ing livestock. Agroforestry in the northern uplands of Viet Nam can at best be described as temporarily integrated in transition from segregated mosaic monocultures of maize or cassava to timber-tree mono-plantation (typically Aca-cia, Eucalypts, Manglietia, Melia).
Future challenge: a paradigm shift in the forestry sector
This chapter re-visits the facts and figures of previous chapters, augmenting the discussion with other relevant literature. It reviews trends in regional deforestation, human population growth, and demands for forest (tree) products; and provides an overview of common tree-based landuse and management systems and their potential contribution to expand the regional forest base and generate forest products and services. Emphasis is placed on the contribution of smallholder treebased (agroforestry) systems, given their additional function of supporting rural livelihoods of the potential of smallholder agroforestry systems to contribute to sustainable forest management and rural livelihoods are identified and discussed. Enabling conditions, institutional and policy support, and market oriented strategies are all discussed as means to strengthen the development and productivity of smallholder agroforestry systems. Discussions on those topics are well supported with citations and lessons learned emphasizing the experience from the Philippines. The main message of the chapter is twofold: (1) a paradigm shift in the forest sector is required to recognize the contribution and importance of smallholder systems to achieve sustainable forest management objectives; and (2) there is a need to adopt more holistic and sustainable strategies to support and strengthen institutions and smallholder system development, including linkages with the market.
Can smallholder tree farmers help revive the timber industry in deforested tropical countries? A case study from Southern Philippines
In many countries of South and South-east Asia trees planted on farms are becoming the most important source of wood. In the Philippines, forestry statistics indicate that since 1999 between 50 percent to 70 percent of the log production came from planted trees because of misdirected policies on natural forests. Today, there are in northern Mindanao 135 active small-scale sawmills (SSS) exclusively supplied with farm-grown timber. These have an estimated log utilization potential of 111,064 m3 year1 and a sawn timber production potential of 76,596 m3 year1. However, the Philippine government has not duly acknowledged yet, the importance of timber production by smallholder farmers and their contribution to sustain the wood industry. Existing policies disincentive tree planting and the marketing of farm-grown timber. This chapter explores the importance and the potential of smallholder farmers to sustain the wood industry by characterizing the producers and the timber produced, and describing the structure of the market of farm-grown timber. The study was conducted among farmers in Claveria, northern Mindanao and wood processing plants located in Cagayan de Oro City and its neighbouring municipalities. Evidence is provided that most of the planted trees used by the wood industry in the region and sold in national and international markets are produced on-farm. This shows that smallholder farmers can produce large quantities of timber and efficiently supply local and national markets. The Philippine government and the wood industry sector must recognize the role of smallholder farmers as land managers and efficient producers of many important agricultural commodities, including timber.
Abatement costs of emissions from forest degradation: 8 propositions
Community forest management is a proven and cost-effective instrument to reduce emissions from degradation, particularly in typical dry forest areas. z Carbon crediting tied to CFM could bring sustainable alternative livelihoods to poor, marginalised communities z This may require different methodologies and accounting systems from those applicable to deforestation.
An assessment of the potential for Payment for Ecosystem Services to support the sustainable management of Gabayan Watershed, Bohol, Philippines
The Gabayan watershed is a heavily degraded multi-use landscape covering over 5,000 hectares in eastern Bohol, Philippines. The principal livelihood activities of subsistence agriculture – particularly rice and maize production – as well as livestock management and aquaculture, are closely bound to the ecosystem services provided by the watershed. The degraded nature of the watershed, which has been largely deforested and replaced with extensive agricultural and grasslands, has led to alternate flooding and drought episodes, an accelerated level of soil erosion as well as downstream sedimentation, all of which impact the livelihoods of local communities. Alternative land-use practices which continue to offer livelihood benefits are required to tackle these environmental problems bur remain nascent and technical capacity low. Incentivising these land use practices using a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanism has been identified by local stakeholders as a potential solution and this study employs interdisciplinary techniques from participatory mapping to hydrological modelling to determine whether PES is a viable solution in the Gabayan watershed. Through a combination of scientific, policymaker and local ecological knowledge (MEK, PEK and LEK) the most important ecosystem services are identified, quantified and mapped. A series of simulated scenarios determine the relationship between land management practices and ecosystem services and a set of indicators for determining the viability of a PES scheme is offered. Finally, the architecture of a potential PES scheme in the Gabayan watershed is proposed.
Trends, drivers of change and possible solutions to address deforestation and loss of forest habitat in the Kenya-Somalia cross-border area
This report first presents historic vegetation maps that localize the lowland tropical rainforests and the drylands forests that are the habitats of the biodiversity of the East African Coastal Forest Biodiversity Hotspot. Next, using information from Global Forest Watch (GFW), this study reports significant deforestation in the lowland tropical rainforests in southern and central Lamu County and adjacent Tana River County.
The effects of forest conversion on annual crops and pastures: Estimates of carbon emissions and plant species loss in a Brazilian Amazon colony
The municipality of Theobroma in Rondonia, Brazil, covers 2165 km2, of which 43% was deforested by 1993. Between 1973 and 1993, the national government continued to improve highway BR364 connecting the area to Brazil’s south-central region and established a colony in Theobroma. During this period, 98% of the deforestation occurred. Some 1800 settler families continue to convert forest into pasture in a system based on the slash-and-burn agriculture and dual-purpose cattle production. Trends in carbon emissions and plant species losses during the 20-year history of Theobroma were analyzed by combining observed shifts in land-use types with estimates for the carbon stocks and plant species richness of each of these types. Carbon stocks declined from about 200 t ha1 in the forest to 28 t ha1 in the pasture and of 326 plant species encountered in the forest, only 20 remained in pastures (along with 66 species not found in forests). The effects of converting more than 93000 ha of forest into other uses over 20 years include approximate losses of 14 million tons of C to the atmosphere and substantial losses of plant species. Land use alternatives that would store more C include agroforestry and – given the strong incentives for settlers to convert lands into pasture –improving pasture management or developing silvopastoral systems. Plant species conservation may be improved with proposed ways to add private value to the forest.
BIODEV –Building biocarbon and rural development in West Africa – deforestation in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone
The development goal of the program is to achieve sustainable rural development with long term livelihood and environmental benefits to the rural populations and the global community under climate change through high value bi carbon approaches in West Africa.Forestis lostmuchmorethannewoneis plantedin bothcounries. For Sierra Leone, the situation regarding forest loss is even more serious