Climate Change and Agroforestry Systems


Book Description

This new volume addresses the burning issues of the impact of climate change, the alteration of environmental quality, and subsequent mitigation and adaptation strategies through various agroecosystem practices, primarily in agroforestry. The book discusses in depth the impact of climate change on forests and other agroecosystems. It presents new research on mitigation strategies, looking at carbon sequestration in agricultural soils, environmental greening, natural resource management, and livelihood security. It provides a thorough analysis of the potential of various modern, improved, and scientific farming practices, such as climate-smart agriculture and agroforestry systems for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The book also examines the invasion of major fungal diseases in forests and agricultural crops due to climatic fluctuations and goes on to look at water and waste management practices.




Agroforestry in Europe


Book Description

Agroforestry has come of age during the past three decades. The age-old practice of growing trees and crops and sometimes animals in interacting combinations – that has been ignored in the single-commodity-oriented agricultural and forestry development paradigms – has been brought into the realm of modern land-use. Today agroforestry is well on its way to becoming a specialized science at a level similar to those of crop science and forestry science. To most land-use experts, however, agroforestry has a tropical connotation. They consider agroforestry as something that can and can only be identified with the tropics. That is a wrong perception. While it is true that the tropics, compared to the temperate regions, have a wider array of agroforestry systems and hold greater promise for potential agroforestry interventions, it is also true that agroforestry has several opportunities in the temperate regions too. Indeed, the role of agroforestry is now recognized in Europe as exemplified by this book, North America, and elsewhere in the temperate zone. Current interest in ecosystem management in industrialized countries strongly suggests that there is a need to embrace and apply agroforestry principles to help mitigate the environmental problems caused or exacerbated by commercial agricultural and forestry production enterprises.




Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation


Book Description

The Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation addresses the scientific, social, political and cultural aspects of climate change in an integrated and coherent way. The multi-volume reference focuses on one of the key aspects of climate change: adaptation and how to handle its impacts on physical, biotic and human systems, analyzing the social and normative scientific concerns and presenting the tools, approaches and methods aimed at management of climate change impacts. The high-quality, interdisciplinary contributions provides state-of-the-art descriptions of the topics at hand with the collective aim of offering, for a broad readership, an authoritative, balanced and accessible presentation of the best current understanding of the nature and challenges posed by climate change. It serves not only as a valuable information source but also as a tool to support teaching and research and as help for professionals to assist in decision-making.




Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use


Book Description

This volume contains a solid body of the current state of knowledge on the various themes and activities in agroforestry worldwide. It is organized into three sections: the Introduction section consists of the summaries of six keynote speeches at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009; that is followed by two sections of peer-reviewed thematic chapters grouped as “Global Perspectives” (seven chapters) and “Regional Perspectives” (eleven chapters), authored by professional leaders in their respective agroforestry-related fields worldwide. A total of 130 professionals from institutions in 33 countries in both developing and the industrialized temperate regions of the world contributed to the book as chapter authors and/or reviewers. Thus, the book presents a comprehensive and authoritative account of the global picture of agroforestry today.




Carbon Sequestration Potential of Agroforestry Systems


Book Description

Tree based production systems abound especially in the tropics. Despite the pervasiveness of such multipurpose “trees-outside-forest” resources, they have not attracted adequate attention in the development paradigms of many nation states. These multispecies production systems impact the ecosystem processes favourably. Yet, our understanding of the diversity attributes and carbon dynamics under agroforestry is not adequate. This book focuses on the role of multispecies production systems involving tree and crop species as a means for carbon sequestration and thereby reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Sixteen chapters organized into three broad sections titled: Measurement and Estimation, Agrobiodiversity and Tree Management, and Policy and Socioeconomic Aspects represent a cross section of the opportunities and challenges in current research and emerging issues in harnessing carbon sequestration potential of agroforestry systems.




Integrating Landscapes: Agroforestry for Biodiversity Conservation and Food Sovereignty


Book Description

Agroforestry systems (AFS) are becoming increasingly relevant worldwide as society has come to recognize their multiple roles and services: biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, adaptation and mitigation of climate change, restoration of degraded ecosystems, and tools for rural development. This book summarizes advances in agroforestry research and practice and raises questions as to the effectiveness of AFS to solve the development and environmental challenges the world presents us today. Currently AFS are considered to be a land use that can achieve a compromise among productive and environmental functions. Apparently, AFS can play a significant role in rural development even in the most challenging socioeconomic and ecological conditions, but still there is a lot of work to do to reach these goals. Considerable funding is spent in projects directed to enhancing productivity and sustainability of smallholders forestry and agroforestry practices. These projects and programs face many questions and challenges related to the integration of traditional knowledge to promote the most suitable systems for each situation; access to markets for AFS products, and scaling up of successful AFS. These complex questions need innovative approaches from varying perspectives and knowledge bases. This book gathers fresh and novel contributions from a set of Yale University researchers and associates who intend to provide alternative and sometimes departing insights into these pressing questions. The book focuses on the functions that AFS can provide when well designed and implemented: their role in rural development as they can improve food security and sovereignty and contribute to provision of energy needs to the smallholders; and their environmental functions: contribution to biodiversity conservation, to increased connectivity of fragmented landscapes, and adaptation and mitigation of climate change. The chapters present conceptual aspects and case studies ranging from traditional to more modern approaches, from tropical as well as from temperate regions of the world, with examples of the AFS functions mentioned above.




Agroforestry as Climate Change Adaptation


Book Description

This open access book provides multidisciplinary perspectives on the potential of agroforestry to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on cocoa production. Against the backdrop of increasingly precarious farmer livelihoods, it focuses on cocoa-agroforestry in Ghana – the second largest producer of cocoa in the world. Taking the reader on a journey across experimental plots and on-farm studies, the book delivers a holistic understanding of cocoa-agroforestry. Chapters examine historical yield and climate interactions, the effects of heat and drought on cocoa plants and the role of differing shade trees on soil fertility, yields, pests and diseases. The book discusses the socioeconomics of shade tree management, including cost-benefits, tree rights and competition for natural resources emphasizing policy implications and recommendations. Taking a multidisciplinary approach to climate-agriculture interactions, the book provides an innovative understanding of agroforestry and perennial cropping systems that goes beyond the Ghanaian cocoa belt. It is of relevance to students, researchers, farmers, practitioners and policymakers working with agroforestry and climate change adaptation. This is an open access book.




Bamboo


Book Description

This new book presents an abundance of important information and case studies that deal with bamboo farming and its effects from and on climate change adaptation and mitigation. There is a lack of research on the role of bamboo in climate change adaptation and mitigation; this volume helps to fill that gap by providing information that will enable policymakers to consider bamboo farming and its implications in carbon trading. Bamboo represents one of the world’s highest yielding renewable natural resources and is an important source of non-timber forest products for subsistence use as well as for materials with many commercial and industrial uses. There are over 1500 documented applications of bamboo products, including materials for bridges, construction, furniture, agricultural tools, handicrafts, papers, textiles, boards, edible, and bioenergy applications. With their fast growth rate and rapid propagation, bamboo forests have a high C storage potential, especially when the harvested culms are transformed into durable products and thereby prolonging the C storage. Environmentalists love bamboo for its quick growth and for the fact that it can be harvested without harming the environment. This volume is a rich resource on the role of bamboo in ecological farming and climate change mitigation. Key features of the book include: • Explores the role of bamboo on climate change and environment and ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change • Considers overlooked bamboo biomass resources • Explains carbon capture and storage potential in bamboo • Assesses opportunities for carbon farming and carbon trading in bamboo • Looks at the role on bamboo cultivation on the livelihood of rural populations • Details the soil properties needed for bamboo-based agroforestry systems




Climate Change Mitigation and Agriculture


Book Description

This book reviews the state of agricultural climate change mitigation globally, with a focus on identifying the feasibility, opportunities and challenges for achieving mitigation among smallholder farmers. The purpose is ultimately to accelerate efforts towards mitigating land-based climate change. While much attention has been focused on forestry for its reputed cost-effectiveness, the agricultural sector contributes about ten to twelve per cent of emissions and has a large technical and economic potential for reducing greenhouse gases. The book does not dwell on the science of emissions reduction, as this is well covered elsewhere; rather, it focuses on the design and practical implementation of mitigation activities through changing farming systems. Climate Change Mitigation and Agriculture includes chapters about experiences in developed countries, such as Canada and Australia, where these efforts also have lessons for mitigation options for smallholders in poorer nations, as well as industrialising countries such as Brazil and China. A wide range of agroecological zones and of aspects or types of farming, including livestock, crops, fish farming, fertilizer use and agroforestry, as well as economics and finance, is included. The volume presents a synthesis of current knowledge and research activities on this emerging subject. Together the chapters capture an exciting period in the development of land-based climate change mitigation as attention is increasingly focused on agriculture's role in contributing to climate change.




Agroforestry


Book Description

The book is a collection of chapters that deal with agroforestry systems on small farms. It compiles a variety of suitable agroforestry systems that can both sequester carbon and mitigate climate change while also providing socio-economic benefits. The book also discusses the ways in which small landholders can use agroforestry to combat land degradation.