Agroforestry is often discussed as a strategy that can be used both for the adaptation to and the mitigation of climate change effects. The climate of southern Africa is predicted to be severely affected by such changes. With agriculture noted as the continent’s largest economic sector, issues such as food security and land degradation are in the forefront. In the light of such concerns we review the current literature to investigate if agroforestry systems (AFS) are a suitable response to the challenges besetting traditional agricultural caused by a changing climate. The benefits bestowed by AFS are multiple, offering ecosystem services, influence over crop production and positive impacts on rural livelihoods through provisioning and income generation. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps remain. We identify outstanding questions requiring further investigation such as the interplay between trees and crops and their combination, with a discussion of potential benefits. Furthermore, we identify deficiencies in the institutional and policy frameworks that underlie the adoption and stimulus of AFS in the southern African region. We uphold the concept that AFS remains an appropriate and sustainable response for an increased resilience against a changing climate in southern Africa for the benefit of livelihoods and multiple environmental values.

Regional assessments of the wind erosion risk are rare and vary due to the methods used and the available data to be included. The adaptation of existing methods has the advantage that the results can be compared directly. We adopted an already successfully applied methodology (ILSWE—applied in East Africa), to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of the wind erosion risk between 2005 and 2019 in Southern Africa. The approach integrates climatic variables, a vegetation index, and soil properties to describe the potential impact of wind erosion at the landscape scale. The annual and seasonal variability is determined by the vegetation cover, whereas droughts and strong El Niño events had only regional effects. We estimated that 8.3% of the study area experiences a moderate to elevated wind erosion risk over the 15‐year period with annual and inter‐annual fluctuations showing a slight upward trend. In general, the desert and drylands in the west have the highest proportion of risk areas, the moist forests in the east are characterized by a very low risk of wind erosion, while the grasslands, shrublands, and croplands in the interior most likely react to changes of climatic conditions. The validation process is based on a comparison with the estimated frequency of dust storms derived from the aerosol optical depth and angstrom exponent and revealed an overall accuracy of 65%. The results of this study identify regions and yearly periods prone to wind erosion to prioritize for further analysis and conservation policies for mitigation and adaptation strategies.

<p>Water limitation provides the potential to hinder the productivity of agricultural systems especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In agroforestry systems interactions between trees and crops range from mutually beneficial to critically competing, shaping the demand for resources, such as water. In this study, we investigated the hydrological effects of an Italian Alder (Alnus cordata) windbreak on an irrigated blackberry plantation near Stellenbosch, South Africa. We determine the key components of the water budget in the system and compare them at two positions: alongside the windbreak, and amongst the crop away from the windbreak’s influence.</p><p>We measured soil water content depth profiles in the summer months, from October 2019 to March 2020, in both locations with four consecutive time domain reflectometry (TDR) tube sensors, each integrating over 20 cm depth. Potential evapotranspiration (ET) was estimated from site based meteorological observations. We surveyed and classified the local soil, and defined soil chemical and physical properties (e.g. texture, matrix potential). The windbreak structure was measured on a single tree basis (e.g. tree height, volume and biomass) using manual and terrestrial laser scanning methodologies.</p><p>The data indicate that high potential ET, caused by high summer temperatures and strong winds, dominates the water budget at the study site, exceeding the water input of the drip irrigation. We found differences in the water dynamics between the two sites, e.g. greater soil water content at greater distances from the windbreak. Possible reasons are: (1) the water demand of trees increases underground competition for water, and/or; (2) microclimatic conditions closer to the windbreak increase ET. Modelling of the windbreak influence on the ET and further analysis of water fluxes will be conducted as next steps to combine the results from the sensors and the joint field campaign.</p>

<p>Agroforestry systems (AFSs) are associated with many benefits such as augmented soil fertility or enhanced biodiversity. However, in water-limited areas the competition over water resources between trees and crops can reduce the productivity of the crop component. We want to share some of our results gained from in-depth analyses of time series (October 2019 to March 2020) and campaign (September 2019) data of soil moisture and matric potential in a South African AFS.</p><p>Soil water content was measured in a soil profile at two locations within an AFS plot: alongside a windbreak consisting of Italian Alders (<em>Alnus cordata</em>) and amongst the crop i.e. within blackberry rows. Matric potential time series are only available at the windbreak soil profile. Surficial soil samples taken along transects perpendicular to the windbreak were analysed for physical properties (e.g. texture, water retention curve).</p><p>Based on extracted water retention curves and matric potential time series, we found no evidence for plant water limitation during the measurement period (summer months) within the field site. Estimated root water uptake indicated that the trees take water from a greater range of depths, including deeper layers, than the blackberry plants. We observed divergent hydrological behaviour of the soil at the two locations during precipitation events, potentially resulting from dissimilar storage capacities and runoff formation potentials. Furthermore, the matric potential revealed hydrological information on plant water usage that was not as obvious from the soil moisture data.</p>