Forests make a massive contribution to the planet and all who live there. Yet all too often, this sector is talked about in negative terms, focusing on the damage done by illegal logging, land degradation and forest fires. Speaking last week on the occasion of the first annual International Day of Forests, Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), a member of the CGIAR Consortium, called for the day to be used to “share positive views about forests and trees.”
“Forests provide income, food and energy for billions of people. They accumulate a big portion of the greenhouse gases we emit,” he said in a blog. “Trees make landscapes stable, productive and aesthetic. Planted forests protect soils and provide renewable materials for the green economy. Forests preserve biodiversity and provide for recreation and shelter.”
Echoing Holmgren’s call for positive ways of handling forest issues, comes good news from Indonesia. CGIAR Consortium member the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) reports that Indonesia is forging ahead with schemes that offer payment for environmental services (PES), such as well managed watersheds, which provide important ecological benefits. Indonesia has been in the forefront of PES initiatives. Details of how the schemes will work in legal and fiscal terms have yet to be finalized and ICRAF is helping the government to draw up some goalposts and define implementation regulations to make sure the process is “transparent and smooth”.
Sustainable production systems
In northwestern Vietnam, a region that faces a range of daunting challenges, positive steps are being taken to introduce agroforestry on this difficult terrain. The area, home to a number of culturally diverse communities made up of 30 ethnic groups, has three main problems that are mutually reinforcing, reports an ICRAF blog. These are environmental degradation, deforestation and poverty.
Much of the region is mountainous and steeply sloping. Forests occupy more than half the area, but the natural forested area is declining and maize monoculture, coupled with floods and drought, is leading to soil nutrient depletion and erosion.
A joint initiative by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), local partners and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry’s Smallholders’ Production Systems and Markets, is working to introduce new tree varieties to the area. The idea is to develop more diverse and sustainable production systems and increase local communities’ income from tree products.
The systems trialed so far, after consultations with farmers, government agricultural extension agencies and buyers and sellers of agricultural and forestry products, have included Amomum under shade trees, late-fruiting longan trees with maize, shan tea trees with fodder grasses and macadamia and coffee trees with soybeans.
Although it is still too early to come to any definite conclusions, the results appear promising. In March, all the partners met to plan the next steps, with a view to passing on the ideas to other farmers throughout the region.
A winning formula
This same month brought more good news for the forestry sector with the announcement that ICRAF had won a Climate Week Award for the “Best Initiative by a Governmental or Statutory Body.” The award was made for ICRAF’s Evergreen Agriculture project.
In an article announcing the result, ICRAF explains how evergreen agriculture – the integration of trees into crop and livestock systems – “is helping millions of smallholder farmers across Africa protect themselves against drought and hunger, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.” They have been evaluating the use of fertilizer trees and shrubs for the past three decades, and have revealed some convincing results.
“In Malawi, analysis shows that farms planted with these trees can generate between 1.4 and 2.0 tonnes per hectare more maize grain compared to other maize plots on the same farms, without any additional cash costs,” reported ICRAF. “In Zambia, unfertilized maize yields in the vicinity of Faidherbia trees averaged 4.1 tonnes per hectare, compared to 1.3 tonnes per hectare nearby but beyond the canopy, in the absence of any commercial fertilizer application.”
CIFOR DG Peter H celebrated International Day of Forests by planting a tree – Shorea Guiso, whose timber is prized for making furniture and flooring – on CIFOR’s Bogor campus in Indonesia. ICRAF researchers marked the day by planning more ways of using the winning agroforestry strategy. Said ICRAF Director General Tony Simons:
“By 2050 there will be 2.4 billion more people to feed. Their survival will largely depend on the poorest of farmers, most of whom own and farm less than two acres of land in the developing world. These farmers are critical to helping us recover the trees we lose in the forests. And through agroforestry, they reap more income from tree products and they diversify their diets, providing better nutrition for their families.”
For more information:
Sharing positive views about forests and trees on the International Day of Forests (CIFOR)
Indonesia prepares to expand schemes that pay for environmental services (ICRAF)
Which agroforest will improve an H’mong farmer’s life? (ICRAF)
Agroforestry project wins UK Climate Week award (ICRAF)
CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry
World Agroforestry Centre salutes first UN International Day of Forests (ICRAF)
EverGreen Agriculture
Evergreen Agriculture: feeding Africa’s poorest, sustainably (ICRAF PPT)
Fodder for a better future: how agroforestry is helping to transform the lives of smallholder dairy farmers in East Africa (ICRAF PDF – click to download)
Farming trees, banishing hunger: how an agroforestry programme is helping smallholders in Malawi to grow more food and improve their livelihoods (ICRAF PDF – click to download)
Agroforestry and the future (YouTube video)
Creating an Evergreen Agriculture in Africa for food security and environmental resilience (ICRAF)
Photo credit: Ollivier Girard/CIFOR