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Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use pp 31–67Cite as

Climate Change Mitigation: A Low-Hanging Fruit of Agroforestry

Part of the Advances in Agroforestry book series (ADAG,volume 9)

Abstract

Agroforestry systems (AFS) have attracted special attention in climate change mitigation and adaptation (M&A) discussions. Various reports on carbon (C) sequestration (and therefore climate change mitigation) potential of different AFSs have been reported from different ecological regions. However, the site-specific nature of AFS and lack of uniformity in C sequestration estimation methods make it difficult to compare the reported results. For convenience of comparative analysis, the various AFS are grouped into five subgroups – tree intercropping, multistrata, protective, silvopasture, and tree woodlots – and the global areas under each are estimated as 700, 100, 300, 450, and 50 million ha, respectively. Tillage, crop residue management, and plant diversity are reported as the major management operations that influence the role of land-use systems in climate change mitigation. The extent of influence of these operations varies considerably in various AFS subgroups; representative values (range) are reported for each. Based on this evaluation, the “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats” of the role of agroforestry in climate change M&A are presented as a SWOT analysis. On a global scale, while existing multistrata and tree-intercropping systems will continue to provide substantial climate change mitigation benefits, large-scale initiatives in grazing land management, working trees in drylands, and establishment of vegetative riparian buffer and tree woodlots are promising agroforestry pathways for climate change M&A. Clearly, climate change mitigation is a low-hanging fruit of agroforestry; enabling policies and rigorous long-term research are essential for facilitating its timely and sustainable harvests.

Keywords

  • Agroforestry subgroups
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Ecosystem services
  • Land-management factors
  • SWOT analysis

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Acknowledgments

The author thankfully acknowledges the comments, criticism, and suggestions of several colleagues who read the drafts of this chapter, notably Dirk Freese, Florencia Motagnini, Rosa Mosquera-Losada, and Asako Takimoto. Thanks are also due to Gregory Toth for help with literature search and manuscript preparation.

End Notes

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  1. School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA

    P. K. R. Nair

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  1. Sch. of Forest Resources and Conservatio, University of Florida, 118 Newins-Zielgler Hall, Box 110410, Gainesville, 32611, Florida, USA

    P.K. Ramachandran Nair

  2. ICRAF (World Agroforestry Centre), P.O. Box 30677, Nairobi, 00100, Kenya

    Dennis Garrity

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Nair, P.K.R. (2012). Climate Change Mitigation: A Low-Hanging Fruit of Agroforestry. In: Nair, P., Garrity, D. (eds) Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use. Advances in Agroforestry, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4676-3_7

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