A Review of the Role of Forests and Agroforestry Systems in the FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme

Santoro, Antonio; Venturi, Martina; Bertani, Remo; Agnoletti, Mauro

doi:10.3390/f11080860

Cited by 79 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…A previous study, however, showed that actively restored forest plots had a more complex topsoil and soil surface structure than agroforestry plots (Damptey et al, 2020) thereby potentially also supporting higher predator numbers. Agroforestry programs in the tropics often aim for an increasing timber or food production (Waldron et al, 2017;Santoro et al, 2020). The observed significantly higher food tree biomass in agroforestry plots compared to actively restored forest plots is therefore not surprising.…”

Section: Es Proxies and Forest Typesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Trade-Offs and Synergies Between Food and Fodder Production and Other Ecosystem Services in an Actively Restored Forest, Natural Forest and an Agroforestry System in Ghana

Damptey

Riva

Birkhofer

2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Active restoration of degraded areas with multi-purpose tree species has been proposed as a measure to counter the losses from deforestation and mitigate consequences for local human communities. In a restoration project at a former mining site in Ghana, ecosystem services (ES) proxies in an actively restored forest were compared to a local agroforestry system and a natural forest. The results provide information about trade-offs and synergies between proxies of multiple ES(s). ES proxies were assessed according to the following categories: (a) food-tree ES: biomass of food and fodder trees, (b) other trees ES: biomass of fuelwood, medicine or mulch trees, (c) ES-providing arthropods: the number of detritivorous and predaceous arthropods, (d) carbon storage, and (e) tree diversity. Eight replicated plots with sizes of 20 m × 20 m were established in each forest type, and the following ES proxies were quantified: tree diversity was estimated as taxonomic richness of all trees with a diameter at breast height ≥ 10 cm in each plot. Tree species were then classified into ES categories (food, fodder, fuelwood, medicine, or mulch). Ground-dwelling arthropods were sampled for 10 weeks with five pitfall traps in each plot and categorized as decomposers and predators. Tree above-ground biomass was estimated based on the measured tree diameter, height, and specific wood density using an improved allometric equation. The above-ground biomass was later converted into carbon storage by assuming 50% of the above-ground biomass of each tree. ES proxies based on tree biomass were highest in the natural forest. Fodder, medicine, fuelwood, and mulch ES proxies were significantly higher in the restored forest than the agroforestry system. Decomposer arthropods were most dominant in the natural forest, followed by the restored forest and the agroforestry system. Predacious arthropods were more dominant in the restored forest than in the other forest types. Carbon storage was highest in the natural forest, followed by the agroforestry system and the restored forest. The actively restored forest took an intermediate position between the agroforestry system and the natural forest regarding values for all nine ES proxies. Out of the 14 possible relationships between food or fodder and other ES proxies, five were significantly positive (synergies) with no observed trade-offs (significant negative relationships). High fodder production in the restored and natural forests went along with higher values of other biomass ES proxies and numbers of beneficial arthropods, while higher food biomass also correlated positively with numbers of decomposing arthropods. Our results document that active restoration of degraded sites provides a valuable framework to promote ES provision to local communities compared to agroforestry system, but at the cost of lower food and fuelwood biomass and carbon storage compared to natural forests.

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Section: Es Proxies and Forest Typesmentioning

confidence: 94%

Trade-Offs and Synergies Between Food and Fodder Production and Other Ecosystem Services in an Actively Restored Forest, Natural Forest and an Agroforestry System in Ghana

Damptey

Riva

Birkhofer

2021

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…While the number of studies on Sentinel-1 C-band SAR-based estimation of θ , either by using physical backscatter models or ML approaches, is steadily increasing, and the possibilities for a more accurate analysis under vegetation (e.g., cropland) are explored, application examples from agroforestry sites are not known. This is noteworthy as those sites hold a multifunctional role for a sustainable development model for rural areas (Santoro et al, 2020). Particularly across European Mediterranean regions that is home to one of the global hotspots of agroforestry sites (Gauquelin et al, 2018), they should provide water supply for multiple uses (e.g., domestic water use, irrigation, ecosystem functions) during the dry season (e.g., García-Ruiz et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical Exploration of SENTINEL-1 Data, Terrain Parameters, and in-situ Data for Estimating the Near-Surface Soil Moisture in a Mediterranean Agroecosystem

et al. 2021

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Reliable near-surface soil moisture (θ) information is crucial for supporting risk assessment of future water usage, particularly considering the vulnerability of agroforestry systems of Mediterranean environments to climate change. We propose a simple empirical model by integrating dual-polarimetric Sentinel-1 (S1) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) C-band single-look complex data and topographic information together with in-situ measurements of θ into a random forest (RF) regression approach (10-fold cross-validation). Firstly, we compare two RF models' estimation performances using either 43 SAR parameters (θNovSAR) or the combination of 43 SAR and 10 terrain parameters (θNovSAR+Terrain). Secondly, we analyze the essential parameters in estimating and mapping θ for S1 overpasses twice a day (at 5 a.m. and 5 p.m.) in a high spatiotemporal (17 × 17 m; 6 days) resolution. The developed site-specific calibration-dependent model was tested for a short period in November 2018 in a field-scale agroforestry environment belonging to the “Alento” hydrological observatory in southern Italy. Our results show that the combined SAR + terrain model slightly outperforms the SAR-based model (θNovSAR+Terrain with 0.025 and 0.020 m3 m−3, and 89% compared to θNovSAR with 0.028 and 0.022 m3 m−3, and 86% in terms of RMSE, MAE, and R2). The higher explanatory power for θNovSAR+Terrain is assessed with time-variant SAR phase information-dependent elements of the C2 covariance and Kennaugh matrix (i.e., K1, K6, and K1S) and with local (e.g., altitude above channel network) and compound topographic attributes (e.g., wetness index). Our proposed methodological approach constitutes a simple empirical model aiming at estimating θ for rapid surveys with high accuracy. It emphasizes potentials for further improvement (e.g., higher spatiotemporal coverage of ground-truthing) by identifying differences of SAR measurements between S1 overpasses in the morning and afternoon.

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“…We can group global literature on the benefits of agroforestry systems into two: ecological benefits and socio-economic benefits. Ecological benefits of agroforestry systems included are carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, soil enrichment, and maintenance of clean air and water quality (Jose, 2009;Santoro et al, 2020). For example, meta-analysis of global agroforestry systems observed the capacity of tree roots on the reduction of chemical fertilizer residues in soil by 20% to 100% and that of chemical pesticides leaching and runoff by 90% (Pavlidis and Tsihrintzis, 2018).…”

Section: Significance Of Agroforestrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroforestry for mountain development: Prospects, challenges and ways forward in Nepal

Atreya

Subedi

Ghimire

et al. 2021

Arch. Agric. Environ. Sci.

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Most of the agroforestry systems (AFS) in Nepal are traditional, and deliberate management of trees, crops and livestock as an integrated and interactive agroecosystem, albeit its enormous socio-economic and ecological benefits, is limited. The objective of this review paper is to understand the prospects, analyze challenges and suggest practical solution for promoting agroforestry as a viable system balancing economic, social and environmental concerns. We develop this paper based on practical experience on the ground and an in-depth review of relevant literature and highlights the prospects, challenges and ways forward of AFS, both farm-based and forest-based, in Nepal. Nepal has enormous agroecological diversity, suitable land availability for agroforestry, traditional knowledge, skill and labor forces, and huge prospects of adapting new technologies and developing market systems, especially considering emerging markets for developing remunerative and environment friendly value chains. However, the prospective value chains of the mountain agroforestry products face many challenges, including i) socio-economic constraints of the farmers mainly because of high initial adoption costs, limited information on benefit-cost of agroforestry practices, limited knowledge on full benefits of agroforestry, and limited markets and marketing information; ii) institutional constraints because of unclear policy to support agroforestry, the lack of extension services and undefined administrative boundaries; and iii) inadequate scientific knowledge, expertise and technologies to address management complexity of agroforestry system. We therefore suggest having a scan of those challenges and find out solutions, especially for promoting growth and competitiveness of the sector with poverty reduction strategy ensuring availability of food, fuel, fodder and employment opportunity for local communities. The paper provides a few successful cases of AFS and finally suggests ways forward to promote AFS and a business model which could help achieve the untapped potentials for enhancing income and employment opportunity, achieving food and nutrition security, and building sustainable land use systems.

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A Review of the Role of Forests and Agroforestry Systems in the FAO Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme

Cited by 79 publications

References 65 publications

Trade-Offs and Synergies Between Food and Fodder Production and Other Ecosystem Services in an Actively Restored Forest, Natural Forest and an Agroforestry System in Ghana

Trade-Offs and Synergies Between Food and Fodder Production and Other Ecosystem Services in an Actively Restored Forest, Natural Forest and an Agroforestry System in Ghana

Statistical Exploration of SENTINEL-1 Data, Terrain Parameters, and in-situ Data for Estimating the Near-Surface Soil Moisture in a Mediterranean Agroecosystem

Agroforestry for mountain development: Prospects, challenges and ways forward in Nepal

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