Agroforestry adaptation and mitigation options for smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate change....

Agroforestry adaptation and mitigation options for smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate change

Dr. Brenda B. Lin

Research Scientist

October 27, 2011

CSIRO. Agroforestry adaptation and mitigation options for smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate change

Agriculture and climate change effects

• Temperature• Maximums and

minimums• Seasonal shifts

• Precipitation• Extreme events• Flooding• Drought

Fisher et al, 2005; Parry and Livermore, 2005


Lansigan et al, 2000; Porter and Semenov, 2005; Wollenweber et al, 2003

Maize - reduced pollen viability above 36 °C

Wheat - heat pulses applied to wheat during anthesis reduced harvest

Rice - decreased seed weight during El Niño drought seasons

Agricultural Vulnerabilities


• Agricultural based economies with few other livelihood strategies

• Reliance on ecosystem services, natural resources - water, soil, air

• Small family farms have little capital to invest in adaptation strategies

Smallholder farmers: Exposure and Sensitivity


Varieties, planting times, spacing

Stubble, water, nutrient and canopy management etc

Climate ready germplasm

Climate-sensitive precision-agric

Diversification and risk management

Transformation from landuse or distribution change

New products such as ecosystem services

Climate change

Ben

efit

fro

m

adap

tati

on

Incr

easi

ng c

ompl

exity

,

cost

and

risk

Progressive adaptation

Howden et al. 2010


Agroforestry Systems: Adaptation and Mitigation

Schoeneberger 2009


Literature Survey

• Web of Knowledge search • “agfor* AND climate change”

• Two main categories of agroforestry implementation for smallholder farmers• Adaptation tool to protect against climate change• Mitigation tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

What are the ways in which agroforestry can increase farmer resilience to climate change

effects?


Adaptation

Examples from the coffee agroforestry system


Low Shade (LS)Shaded Monoculture

Coffee grown under one species of shade tree

Hei

ght

40High Shade (HS)

Traditional Polyculture Coffee grown under natural canopy, with

other commercially productive trees

Hei

ght (

m)

Medium Shade (MS)Commercial PolycultureCoffee grown only with

commercially productive trees (no natural canopy)

15

Hei

ght

Variation in Coffee Agroforestry

Moguel and Toledo, 1999


Buffering against Temperature variability

15

18

21

24

27

30

0 6 12 18

Temper

ature (

°C)

15

18

21

24

27

30

0 6 12 18

Tem

pera

ture

(ºC

)

Dry Season Wet Season

Time Lin, 2007

Shade cover

Low

Medium

High


0

30

60

90

120

150

High Shade Medium Shade Low Shade

Wat

er L

oss

thro

ugh

Evap

otra

nspi

rati

on

(g H

2O

m-2

h-1

)

Soil Evaporation

Plant Transpiration

High Shade Medium Shade Low Shade

a

b

c

0

30

60

90

120

150

HighShade

MediumShade

LowShade

Water Loss throug

h Evapotranspirat

ion (g H

2O m

-2 h

-1)

Soil Evaporation

Plant Transpiration

Buffering against water loss

Lin, 2010


Philpott et al, 2008

Buffering against extreme events: storms and winds

Tropical Storm Stan: Oct 1-5, 2005

• In Chiapas – economic damages estimated 3 billion in the agricultural sector

• 20% of coffee harvest lost worth $US 4 million in the Pacific region of Guatemala


Greater farming intensity led to greater farm area affected by landslides

P=0.014

y=1.64x-0.8312 R2 = 0.0827

Buffering against extreme events: storms and winds


Carbon sequestration potential

Verchot et al, 2006

Mitigation


• Trees• Agroforestry systems maintains 22 times more carbon stored

aboveground when compared to traditional maize

• Soil organic matter• Improved fallow agroforestry

found to increase topsoil C stocks up to 1.6 Mg C/ha/yr above continuous maize cropping

• Sequestration potential• 95 Mg C ha-1 median value

for the agroforestry system as a whole

Carbon sequestration potential of agroforestry

Soto Pinto et al, 2010; Montagnini and Nair, 2004; Albrecht and Kandji, 2003


Payments for carbon sequestration

• Eligible for afforestation/reforestation (A/R) activity in the Clean Development Mechanism

• REDD – reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation

• At $100 per MgC, carbon sequestration in agroforestry systems could potentially raise per capita incomes up to 15%

Antle et al., 2007


• Less fertilizer use because of nutrient cycling • Mitigate N2O and CO2 emissions from soils and

increase CH4 sink strength

Palm et al 2002; Mutuo et al, 2005

Curbing GHG emissions

Land-use system N 2O emissions CH 4 flux CO2 emissions Source

(µg N m -2 h -1 ) (µg C m -2 h-1) (µg C m -2 h -1 )

Cropping System High input cropping 31.2 15.2 84 Palm et al (2002)Low input cropping 15.6 -17.5 66.6 Palm et al (2002)Cassava/Imperata 7.1 -14.8 Tsurata et al (2000)

Shifting cultivation 8.6 -23.5 67.5 Palm et al (2002)Multistrate agroforestry 5.8 -23.3 32.6 Palm et al (2002)Peach Palm 9.8 -17 66.4 Palm et al (2002)Jungle rubber 1 -12 Tsurata et al (2000)

Rubber agroforests 12.5 -27.5 Tsurata et al (2000)

Forests Forest 9.2 -28.8 73.3 Palm et al (2002)Forest 5 -31 Tsurata et al (2000)Logged Forest 7.2 -38.2 Tsurata et al (2000)

Adapted from Mutuo et al 2005

Agroforestry Systems


Benefits for Smallscale Farmers• Adaptation to climate change effects

• Temperature• Precipitation

• Mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions• Carbon sequestration• Decreased GHG loss and increased sinks

• Increase on farm profitability by• Protecting crop production from climate change and potential

secondary effects • Increasing crop diversification and products produced

including carbon sequestration

Conclusions

Contact UsPhone: 1300 363 400 or +61 3 9545 2176

Email: [email protected] Web: www.csiro.au

Thank you

CSIRO Climate Adaptation FlagshipBrenda B. LinResearch Scientist

Phone: 03 9239 4476Email: [email protected]: www.csiro.au/org/ClimateAdaptationFlagship.html

Agroforestry adaptation and mitigation options for smallholder farmers vulnerable to climate change....

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