ASB News and Events
The latest on land use, livelihoods and environmental services in the tropical forest margins.
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African nations make a stand at UN climate talks
The move by developing countries reflects their deep and growing frustration over the slow progress that industrialised countries are making towards agreeing cuts. With less than three days full negotiating time left between now and the opening of the final talks at Copenhagen, the split between rich and poor countries threatens to blow the talks fatally off course.
In a press conference, the poorest countries demanded that the rich adopt the science-backed target of a 40% overall cut on emissions on 1990 levels. So far, rich countries have pledged an aggregate of less than 10%. The US, the world’s second biggest polluter, has pledged to cut around 4% on 1990 levels, or 17% on 2005 levels.
Uganda Registers First African Forestry Project under CDM
The first African reforestation project to be registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is being undertaken by Uganda’s National Forestry Authority, in association with local community organizations.
The Nile Basin Reforestation Project will receive revenues from the World Bank BioCarbon Fund for carbon dioxide absorbed by a growing plantation of pine and mixed native tree species in the Rwoho Central Forest Reserve, grasslands that were degraded due to deforestation and erosion.
via Uganda Registers First African Forestry Project under CDM – Climate-L.org.
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.
African Continent’s New Climate Leader Outlines common stance
At a recent meeting convened by the UN Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa to promote a common African negotiating position, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said the continent has “no intention to free-ride” a post-Kyoto agreement. Zenawi was chosen to chair a new high-level committee to steer the African negotiation process by heads of state meeting in Libya on 31 August.
Zenewi hopes that Africa can finally speak with one voice at international climate negotiations
“By partnering with us on green development, the developed world could create a more robust market and overall environment for the mitigation efforts that it alone must shoulder,” Zenawi said.
“Our interest is not to claim compensation for climate change and its damages. Our interest is to prevent that from happening. It makes no sense to us for someone to make large parts of our continent unliveable and then pay some compensation for doing so.”
“We want to keep our forests intact and re-afforest those that have over the years been degraded. We want to do so precisely because such an approach is economically more rewarding and sustainable,” he said, but added that the continent was nevertheless “prepared to walk out of any negotiations that threaten another rape of our continent”.
Full story: SciDev.net Africa: Continent’s New Climate Leader Outlines Continent’s Stance