Dataverse World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
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Trading Natural Riparian Forests for Urban Shelterbelt Plantations—A Sustainability Assessment of the Kökyar Protection Forest in NW China
No full textCities at the fringe of the Taklimakan desert in NW China are prone to dust and sand storms with serious consequences for human well-being. The Kökyar Protection Forest was established in the 1980s as an ecological engineering project with the intent of protecting the city of Aksu, NW China, from these impacts. It is designed as a combination of poplar shelterbelts and orchards, irrigated by river water from the Aksu River, the main tributary of the Tarim River. Prevalent literature describes it as an afforestation project for combatting desertification with manifold positive effects for the economic, social, and environmental dimension of sustainable development. This paper sets out to challenge these claims by a sustainability assessment in which the plantation is examined from a broader perspective, embedding it to the wider context of social and environmental problems in South Xinjiang. Methods comprise evapotranspiration calculations, interviews, a socioeconomic household survey, stakeholder dialogues, and literature research. Results affirm its economic sustainability, but see a mixed record for the social sphere. From the nature conservation point of view, it has to be classified as unsustainable because its high irrigation water consumption results in the downstream desiccation and desertification of natural riparian forests along the Tarim River, causing a forest loss in the downstream area twice the size of the forest gain in the upstream area. There is a trade-off between artificial shelterbelt plantations for urban ecosystem services on the one hand side, and natural riparian forests and their biodiversity on the other hand side. The paper recommends restricting agricultural extension, and using locally adapted less water consuming agroforestry schemes to protect urban dwellers from dust stress
Replication Data for: Landscape approach to assess key soil functional properties in the highlands of Cameroon
No full textUnderstanding spatial variability of soil properties is essential to support land management decisions. However, despite the growing worldwide emphasis on integrated landscape management, soil variations resulting from land use changes have rarely been documented. The study used the land health surveillance concept in combination with simple geostatistical approaches to describe key soil properties among land use types and characterize their spatial variability in the highlands of Cameroon. A total of 320 soil samples were collected in two sites with contrasting land uses (agricultural and pasture) and were analyzed for granulometric fraction, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen (N), soil reaction (pH), phosphorous (P), calcium (Ca), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al) and zinc (Zn). The spatial correlations between the soil properties revealed the factors responsible for the observed differences and showed that wide ranges were obtained in agricultural site as opposed to pasture. SOC and N decreased in the order of forest > grassland > fallow > croplands > pasture due to inherent soil properties, anthropogenic activities, land cover/land use and topographic factors. Kriged maps provided detailed visualization of soil properties at landscape scale, and helped to identify critical areas for targeted land management interventions to improve land quality. The spatial distribution of selected soil properties showed a well-defined pattern of higher concentrations in the lowlands and valleys and areas with permanent vegetation cover in both sites. These results are useful for improving the efficient use of inputs such fertilizers. Context-specific land management based on spatial variability of soil properties is highly recommended and more research is required to generalize our knowledge about spatial variability of soil health indicators and the casual factors in the highlands of Cameroon
Replication Data for Yet Another Empty Forest: Considering the Conservation Value of a Recently Established Tropical Nature Reserve
No full textThe primary approach used to conserve tropical biodiversity is in the establishment of protected areas. However, many tropical nature reserves are performing poorly and interventions in the broader landscape may be essential for conserving biodiversity both within reserves and at large. Between October 2010 and 2012, we conducted bird surveys in and around a recently established nature reserve in Xishuangbanna, China. We constructed a checklist of observed species, previously recorded species, and species inferred to have occurred in the area from their distributions and habitat requirements. In addition, we assessed variation in community composition and habitat specificity at a landscape-scale. Despite the fact that the landscape supports a large area of natural forest habitat (~50,000 ha), we estimate that >40% of the bird fauna has been extirpated and abundant evidence suggests hunting is the primary cause. A large proportion (52%) of the bigger birds (>20 cm) were extirpated and for large birds there was a U-shaped relationship between habitat breadth and extirpation probability. Habitat specificity was low and bird communities were dominated by widespread species of limited conservation concern. We question whether extending tropical protected area networks will deliver desired conservation gains, unless much greater effort is channeled into addressing the hunting problem both within existing protected areas and in the broader landscape
Survival assessment of Gliricidia sepium at Chitedze field Orchad, Malawi, 2015.
No full textSurvival assessmen
Farmer communities’ history and agroforestry in the Peruvian Andes
No full textThis data set presents transcriptions from open-ended exploratory interviews with farmers in three communities of the Peruvian Andes on a range of topics related to the local context, including the communities’ history, land use change and climate change, gender roles and social organization, agroforestry practices and species. Data was collected in 2015 in Pacobamba District, Apurimac Department, Per
Replication Data for: Drivers of farmers’ decisions to adopt agroforestry: Evidence from the Sudanian savanna zone, Burkina Faso
No full textIn most developing countries, there has been a long-standing conflict of interest between using land for agriculture and the conservation of biodiversity. This paper reports on a study of factors influencing farmers’ decisions to integrate trees into their agricultural practice. We also discuss the possibility of protecting and managing planted and naturally regenerating trees on farmland in order to restore degraded land and improve biodiversity. Data were collected from interviews with farmers in the Center-West region of Burkina Faso and analyzed using Principal Component Analysis, multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression. The results show that farmers’ decisions to incorporate trees into their farmland were mainly influenced by silvicultural knowledge and skills, participation in farmers’ groups or other social organizations with an interest in tree conservation, the social value of biodiversity in the rural landscape, and the perceived economic benefits of trees on farmland. The most important factors associated with variation in levels of motivation to conserve trees on farms included household wealth, gender, age, education level, marital status, residence status, farmland size, household size and technical support. We conclude that an agroforestry project will be more successful if the local biophysical conditions and diversity of smallholder socio-economic characteristics and their perceptions, needs and preferences are considered in its design. There is also an immediate need for coordinated development of information and training to raise local community awareness of the potential of agroforestry as well as to disseminate information about adding value to tree products in order to encourage farmers to protect on-farm trees
Replication Data for: Improving commercialization of Cola spp. in Cameroon – applying lessons from NTFPs in a context of domestication
No full textDevelopment organizations and research institutes worldwide have implemented numerous projects that target improved production, use and commercialization of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) and Agroforestry Tree Products (AFTPs) for livelihoods, markets and biodiversity purposes. These projects aim to contribute towards the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and hunger and
promoting social equity and environmental sustainability. Given the current lack of impact studies, this review paper attempts to summarize the bottlenecks, potentials and impacts of improved NTFP commercialization, and apply the lessons learnt in a context of emerging domestication efforts on cola nut (Cola spp.) in Cameroon. Several limitations to increased cola commercialisation are listed. There are biological
constraints, as well as those related to market organization. Projects aiming to improve NTFP/AFTP commercialization have the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and to contribute to the conservation of the natural resources. However, no consensus on the real impact could be deduced from evaluation studies, since some of these projects failed to deliver the expected benefits in terms of poverty alleviation, led to resource overexploitation and put pressure on traditional tenure systems. On the other hand, collective action at producer level was found to result in improved market information, increased product quality and quantity, reduced transaction costs, enhanced negotiating abilities and strengthened social bonds. Benefitting also traders, group sales comprised a win-win situation.
Finally, this article looks at the position of women who are important NTFP/AFTP value chain actors and finds that improved commercialization can have both positive and negative effects on women’s livelihoods
