ASB News and Events
The latest on land use, livelihoods and environmental services in the tropical forest margins.
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Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses (REALU) Workshop in Vietnam
By Rhiannon Crowe and Hoang Minh Ha, ICRAF – Vietnam
On November 4, 2009 the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Vietnam, together with the General Department of Land Administration (GDLA) of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MONRE) organized a consultation workshop on Reducing Emissions from All Land Uses (REALU). This workshop is one of the activities in Vietnam for the NORAD funded ASB-ICRAF project from July 2009 – July 2010.
The objectives of the workshop were to: (i) develop a common understanding of the REALU project concept; (ii) discuss the initial findings by REALU Vietnam team on analysis, strategy and policy development for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).in relation to all land uses in Vietnam landscape. The outputs of REALU will contribute to the climate change policy framework in the lead-up to Copenhagen in December 2009.
The REALU Architecture project will link knowledge with action by (i) providing analyses of cross-sectoral linkages in the tropical forest margins, based on long term engagement in Asia, Africa and Latin America, (ii) organizing multi-stakeholder events to explore implications for the design of an effective regime in the post-2012 context, and (iii) building the scientific and political basis for change through communicating and networking activities.
The goal of the project is to strengthen the ability of developing countries to build and implement effective strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) within a context of rural development, national sovereignty, respect for local and indigenous peoples’ rights and integrity of national and global greenhouse gas accounting systems.
In the half day workshop, 25 participants from international and national governments and NGOs in Vietnam listened to four presentations of experts from ICRAF, GDLA, and Sustainable Forest Management Institute (SFMI). The topics covered were (i) Introduction of REALU and concepts RED, REDD, REDD+ and REALU; (ii) Land use and emission – a cross-sectoral perspective; (iii) Opportunity costs Analysis, and (iv) SFM and REDD+. During the discussion sections, the participants talked about the readiness of RED, REDD, REDD+ and REDD++ in Vietnam.
In the afternoon, REALU Vietnam experts groups (GDLA, SFMI, ICRAF, SNV) met to discuss the findings from the morning sessions and will use these comments to improve their report and products to deliver at at the upcoming UNFCCC Conference of Parties in Copenhagen (COP 15).
There was much interest and participation at the workshop. All of the attendees provided useful and practical feedback for REDD and REALU mechanisms that can be used in moving forward in Vietnam. Encouragingly, at the end of the day, one SNV international expert said ‘we believe ICRAF is doing some excellent work in this area’.
If we cannot define it, we cannot save it: defining Forests for REDD success
The definition of “forest” could become a major bottleneck in the implementation of a climate agreement. The progression of concepts — from RED to REDD to REDD+ to REDD++ — reflects a tendency to include a larger share of total land-use change. The logical end point is to account for all land use: Reducing Emissions from Any Land Use (or across all land uses) or REALU. This is equivalent to taking account of emisisons from Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Uses (AFOLU). A comprehensive whole-landscape approach can likely incorporate trees outside forests, agroforestry systems and community-based forest management.
Source: van Noordwijk M and Minang PA. 2009. “If we cannot define it, we cannot save it”. European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN) NEWS 50: Forests and Climate Change. November 2009. Tropenbos International, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Available at: http://www.etfrn.org/etfrn/newsletter/news50/index.html
ASB on Voice of America
Voice of America French language radio has posted an interview with Peter Minang that aired on 4 October. Peter discusses the role of agroforestry in helping store carbon and improve environmental services and livelihoods for millions of smallholder farmers. He speaks of some of the challenges for getting this perspective into a future international climate change agreement.
4 October 2009 – La Voix de L’Amérique
Programme: Carrefour Sciences et Sante
Click to listen (.wma, 4MB)
Harnessing agroforestry on the road to Copenhagen
Trees outside forests are an important, and often missing piece, of the carbon emissions reductions puzzle.
Although it’s always been clear that trees store carbon and provide benefits to people, how to institutionalize the role of trees in the fight against climate change is now a top question for the global community. The future of an international climate change agreement will be shaped at the upcoming 15th Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, in Copenhagen this December. Research presented at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry can help generate practical policy options for harnessing the full potential of agroforestry and other non-forest land uses to reduce emissions, store carbon, and bring benefits to millions of smallholder farmers across the world.
Trees on farms hold tremendous potential for climate change mitigation
Incorporating trees into farming systems helps sequester carbon and diversify income
The report Trees on Farm: Analysis of Global Extent and Geographical Patterns of Agroforestry, launched at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry in August, shows that almost half of all farmed landscapes worldwide include significant tree cover. This is the first study to quantify the extent to which trees are a vital part of agricultural production in all regions of the world. It reveals that on more than 1 billion hectares-which make up 46 percent of the world’s farmlands and are home to more than half a billion people-tree cover exceeds 10 percent. This assessment provides a snapshot of the current state of trees outside of forests; but the future of agroforestry depends on many factors.
It is likely that a REDD-plus deal will take shape in Copenhagen. REDD-plus will create incentives for reducing deforestation, forest degradation (REDD), and increasing carbon stocks in forests (plus). However, the proposed REDD-plus mechanism is based on an unclear and narrow definition of ‘forest’, and may not fully take into account potential emissions reductions from trees outside of forests. Nor will it consider how planting trees on farms may reduce people’s motives to degrade natural forests to meet their daily needs. With appropriate incentives, agroforestry systems could help deflect deforestation along tropical forest margins, as farmers plant more trees on farms for timber, fuel and fodder.
A new climate change deal that allows for future whole landscape carbon accounting can achieve more effective and efficient emissions reductions.
Agroforestry and sustainable agriculture create multiple benefits and support climate change adaptation
Good news from the World Agroforestry Centre shows how indigenous trees can enhance soil fertility and boost food production in Africa. Planting species such as Faidherbia albida with crops such as maize, can help reduce reliance on chemical inputs, enhance food security, and create incentives for farmers to plant trees on farms. This natural solution to agricultural intensification can also reduce pressure on forests. Read more: Green fertilizers can boost food security in Africa (PDF).
Incentives for maintaining trees in areas outside of the ‘natural forest’, such as on smallholder farms, can put farmers on a path to sustainable development while also helping them to become more resilient to climate change impacts. Tree-based production systems can diversify sources of production and income, therefore create buffers in times of drought. Trees on farms can also reduce fertility loss and soil erosion, and improve water retention in soils.
In addition to helping mitigate climate change, agroforestry can make tremendous contributions to climate change adaptation. Innovative agroforestry systems with multiple benefits can be married to international mechanisms for mitigating climate change to achieve more effective and efficient emissions reductions.
The future: High Carbon-stock Pathways for Rural Development
Across the tropics, there is evidence that certain land uses can not only store carbon, but create sustainable benefits for smallholder farmers. At the Agroforestry Congress, the ASB Partnership hosted a symposium to look at cases in Asia, Latin America and Africa that show potential for smallholder farmers to contribute to fighting climate change and benefit from global carbon markets. Agroforestry systems such as multi-storey and intensive cocoa, and evolving swiddens in Indonesia, all store carbon, bring short term economic returns, and fit with local traditional practises. What is the potential for high carbon stock rural development in the tropics? Could a new climate change deal help shift land use towards a new “High Carbon Stocks Rural Development” paradigm? ASB is studying these land uses and the options and incentives that can drive high carbon-storing transitions.
With less than 100 days until Copenhagen, ASB’s message to negotiators is “Yes to REDD, and Yes to an agreement that opens the door for whole-landscape approaches to reducing emissions and increasing carbon stocks”
First steps for taking stock of Africa’s biocarbon
How can African countries turn their agricultural and forest lands into a carbon asset? On September 10 and 11, the World Agroforestry Centre convened 30 scientists from the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, and the rest of Africa, to discuss the scientific evidence for Africa’s biocarbon. The workshop was organized in partnership with the COMESA Africa Biocarbon Initiative, and aimed to assess current evidence and research gaps for climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forests. The scientists also proposed next steps for Africa to benefit from its biocarbon resources, via global carbon markets.
Scientists at the biocarbon meeting
Studies were done in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, to assess on the status of climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and forests. The workshop provided a forum for African experts to provide feedback on those studies. Overall, the studies found that there is evidence of climate change in all of the countries, and that all the countries are experiencing an impact on the agricultural sector and rural economies. However, quantitative data on standing forests and carbon stocks in these countries is in short supply, as is data on land use change over time. The scientists suggested that these countries are facing challenges in attracting more carbon mitigation projects due to the lack of reliable data to present to the government, inadequate technology and skills, and insufficient access to finances.