The importance of tropical timber is increasing worldwide. However, the timber supply of tropical forests has been greatly impacted by growing deforestation associated with complex and restrictive timber harvest laws. In Central America, as well as in other developing regions, reforestation programs have often fallen short of expectations. In these cases, agroforestry proves to be a useful strategy for providing tropical timber supplies for smallholder farmers, rural development and environmental services. Timber yields and their potential revenues in four types of agroforestry systems (silvopastoral, coffee, cocoa and living fences) were researched in Nicaragua and Honduras. The results suggest that smallholder timber production in agroforestry systems is a profitable activity despite lower market prices than commanded by timber from forests. The net value from timber sales represents 11–49 % of the total revenue from agroforestry systems. However, this amount could be 58 % higher if farmers were able to improve management practices. Encouraging the knowledge and adoption of silvicultural practices in agroforestry systems is important to increasing timber revenues among smallholder farmers in Central America. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Tag: deforestation
Agroforestry and deforestation in Malawi: inter-linkages between attitudes, beliefs and behaviours
Farm-level tree planting has been suggested to have potential to decrease pressures on natural forests and, consequently, contribute towards reducing deforestation and forest degradation. However, the scientific evidence for such a link is limited. We examined farmers’ beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in relation to tree planting on farms and cutting down trees from the forest, as one way of establishing this link. A household survey was administered to 200 farmers in two rural districts in Malawi, which included an attitude scale based on the theory of planned behaviour. The results showed that farmers in Malawi recognise the benefits of planting trees, feel encouraged by fellow farmers, and feel capable of planting trees on their land. In addition, they believe cutting down trees from the forest will result in mainly negative outcomes, and feel discouraged by others and hindered by control factors to cut down trees from the forest. In total, 76 % of respondents planted trees in the past 5 years, 50 % collected firewood from the forest and 21 % collected poles. There was no evidence for a direct relationship between attitudes towards planting trees and cutting down trees, nor were the behaviours in relation to tree planting and cutting down trees from the forest significantly associated. However, there was evidence for an indirect relationship between tree planting behaviour and cutting down trees from the forest, as respondents who had planted trees had more negative attitudes towards cutting down trees from the forest. Future research should further explore the direct relationship between agroforestry and deforestation to establish if and under what conditions such a relationship might exist. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
Agroforestry approaches or rehabilitating degraded lands after tropical deforestation
There are three main types of degraded lands that result from slash and burn agriculture: degraded fallows, degraded pastures and Imperata cylindrica grasslands. Together they may cover as much as 250 million hectares, and have the advantage for recuperation of being close to road, market and urban infrastructure. Land degradation can be due to one or more causes: physical (e.g. soil compaction, erosion), chemical (e.g. increases in soil acidity, decline in available nutrients) and biological degradation (e.g. loss of microsymbionts, weed encroachment). The use of bulldozers to clear land accelerates degradation and generally requires more labour, energy and/or purchased inputs for reclamation. The current research knowledge base has focused upon alternatives to slash and burn that start with fertile, cleared forests rather than degraded systems. In the past, agroforestry approached for reclaiming the three types of degraded systems. Int he past, agroforestry approaches for reclaiming the three types of degraded lands were employed but most of the experiences are not based on sound research. The establishment of Acacia mangium on Imperata grasslands is one success story. In the case of degraded fallows and pastures, land regeneration strategies have been identified (e.g. economically and biologically improved fallows; silvopastoral systems) but the essential research is still to be done. Fundamental concepts of restoration ecology with emphasis on nutrient cycling, plant succession and weed dynamics should set the state for understanding how to turn degraded areas into productive lands. Coupled with appropriate policies and other socio-economic considerations, such work will provide viable alternatives to land abandonment after tropical deforestation.
Historical land use evolution in a tropical acid upland agroecosystem
Understanding the historical evolution of land use in humid tropical agroecosystems may assist in developing more appropriate farming systems better able to sustain dense human populations, alleviate deforestation and regenerate degraded land resources. We analyzed land use change over a 40 year period for a key acid upland farming systems research site (8 km × 10 km) undergoing rapid transformation in Claveria, Mindanao, Philippines. The landscape is dominated by small-scale cereal cropping on gently to steeply rolling volcanic Oxisols. The six slope classes identified (ranging from 0–3% to more than 60%) each occupied between 9 and 19% of the study area. Aerial photographs (1:15000) taken in 1949 and 1967, and a ground survey in 1988, were used to map land use patterns at three points in time. Settlement by in-migration began early in the twentieth century. By 1949 9% of the land was cultivated, but grassland (59%) and forest (14%) were the dominant land uses. From 1949 to 1967 the cultivated area doubled to 20%, and the proportion of grassland decreased to less than 50% of the land. The forested area remained unchanged. Subsequently, settlement by small-scale farmers accelerated. Between 1967 and 1988 the area cropped annually doubled again to 41%. Forest land declined drastically during this period to 1%, while perennial cropland (mainly coffee) increased to 30%. Land use on the steeply sloping lands (more than 15%) was particularly affected during the 21 year period: 27% was converted to field crop production, and 43% to perennial crops. More than 33% of the food crop area is now on steep slopes. The analysis of the historical evolution of land use may guide research priorities for developing sustainable technologies on sloping land based on agroforestry.
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.
Bundling of payments/rewards for environmental services a viable incentive system under development in the uplands of Northern Vietnam
Mechanisms for Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) are developing in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular. It is clear in Vietnam that single payments for water as an environmental service from forest, or for forest carbon through a REDD mechanism, gives forest owners insufficient income, thereby limiting livelihood improvements and forest protection. A viable incentive system that contains rewards, payments and livelihood options — ‘bundling’ payments for ecosystem services or ‘co – investment for PES’ — being developed in Ba Be district, Bac Kan province, is an option to this limitation (Photo 1 ). Bac Kan was chosen owing to it 40 % poverty rate, 55 % forest cover and complex landscape
Alternatives to slash and burn: a pragmatic approach for mitigating tropical deforestation
Alternatives to slash and burn agriculture
Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn: a global initiative
This summary report reflects the joint effort of the CGIAR, NARS and NGOs towards the development of a global research and development strategy that will address global environmental issues as well as socioeconomic problems affecting small-scale farmers associated with tropical deforestation. As the Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn (ASB) programme progress, it is hoped that the scientists involved will continue to review and refine their research methodologies so as to maintain the coherent approach needed in this global strategy.
Are conditional and realistic REDD + mechanism feasible? A case of a rich forested district in Indonesia: II. Option for setting up reference emission level for REDD+ within REALU in Berau, East Kalimantan
We use national wide land cover map to conduct cluster analysis of drivers or land cover composition and configuration and land use trajectories District with high forest cover-high deforestation (HF-HD) may set their REL at most the same with level of past emission (Historic emission approach) or certain percentage within their Reference Region. Districts with high forest cover-medium deforestation (HF-MD) can set their REL by projecting changes in drivers within their Reference Region (Adjusted historic emission ).District with high forest cover-low deforestation may set their REL based on development plan and spatial plans (Forward loking) Berau district is classified as HF-LD district.