| Agroforestry and Climate Change
Smallholder farmers in developing countries that depend on rain-fed agriculture are among those populations most vulnerable to climate change. Agroforestry is now being considered as a mechanism to increase carbon sequestration while simultaneously strengthening the abilities of the rural poor to cope and adapt to changing climatic conditions.
The presence of trees can help reduce the impacts of climate change by mitigating the devastating effects of droughts and floods, which are increasing along with changes in climate. Adaptation to such events is becoming more and more urgent as climate change seems to be happening faster than initially expected. Agroforestry practices add productivity, sustainability and improve farming systems’ capacity to adapt to climate change. Agroforestry systems are more diverse and therefore more resilient to changes in climate. Multiple crops provide options when one or more fail due to changing weather patterns. Additionally, trees provide shade, increase water retention and reduce evaporation, helping regulate water flows and water availability; increasing the capacity of the farming systems to cope with changing precipitation patterns and increasing temperatures. Finally, trees also have the capacity to prevent erosion under increased rainy circumstances.
Agroforestry systems have the capacity to significantly increase carbon sequestration in marginal and degraded lands if appropriate management practices, that maximize carbon storage in the plants and ground, are put into practice. Because tree-based systems have higher capacity to store carbon than other agricultural practices, converting marginal areas where subsistence or low productivity agriculture is currently being practiced, into agroforestry systems, can greatly increase carbon storage while simultaneously increase the livelihoods of farmers. This generates the potential to generate new sources of revenue through carbon credits.
For a list and brief description of the species provided by the program click here
To learn more about agroforestry, you can also read our report about Agroforestry in Africa or look at this report from the World Agroforestry Center on agroforestry in Malawi.
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Agroforestry is a way of farming that combines trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock in order attain a multitude of beneficial connections. Agroforestry recreates the natural environment and leads to more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems. The practice of agroforestry can provide poor smallholder farmers with the necessary food supply and extra income to improve their quality of life and the health of the surrounding environment. More recently agroforestry has taken on added importance due to its capacity to increase carbon sequestration in degraded lands and increase the capacity of smallholder farmers to adapt to climate change.