AGROFORESTRY AND REFORESTATION

FORESTS, AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

STATE OF THE FOREST

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Halting deforestation is a global challenge largely due to unsustainable agricultural practices that degrade natural ecosystems.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the world’s forests lost about 20% of their coverage. Ninety percent of deforestation is the result of agriculture, with 60% due to the extension of agro-industrial intensive farming (soya, palm oil, corn…), and the remaining 30% caused by small-scale and subsistence farmers. Close to 20% of all carbon emissions result from deforestation and forest degradation.

Climate change will increasingly affect agricultural conditions and there is an urgent need to make farming practices evolve to adapt to climate change. In 2007, experts at the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) stated that agro-ecology was the most reliable way to guarantee food security in our future. They based their findings on tangible data, collected in developing countries where industrial agronomy has already showed signs of reaching its limits with: catastrophic erosion, increased climatic instability, desertification.

AGROFORESTRY: THE ART OF INTEGRATION

Agroforestry is the smart integration of trees into farming systems. Unlike full-sun fields, vulnerable and contributing to ecosystems degradation, agrofrestry is a way to preserve productive ecosystems and adapt to climate change. The trees provide multiple services for improved quality and long-term sustainability of the production.

Different agroforestry models with trees integrated in the perimeter of fields, intercropped, or at landscape level will deliver a mix a various ecosystem services for the farmers.

CARBON FORESTRY PROJECTS

We envision carbon projects as a way to foster socio-economic development while enhancing and preserving the environment. This is the spirit of the Kyoto protocol. It is important to keep it in mind the development aspect of the carbon market. It is a key component and fundamental criteria. While the carbon market is often perceived as simply a financial market, or perceived at best only as an environmental initiative to fight climate change, it is actually a way to fight climate change by bringing additional funds from rich countries (listed in the “appendix 1” of the UN) to poorer countries (in appendix 2 of the UN).

Forestry projects are fully in line with this vision of solidarity especially in how PUR Projet operates. Reforestation projects help small and disadvantaged populations to plant trees and reforest their parcels where they previously could not afford it, or did not have the capacity to implement. They benefit in terms of natural resources preservation, soil enrichment, increased and diversified incomes.

MULTIPLE BENEFITS FROM AGROFORESTRY

Land conservation with agroforestry is a powerful tool to restore degraded ecosystems and improve farmers’ livelihood. Together with trees, multifunctional agroforestry systems acting as natural ecosystems allow a progressive self-enrichment of the system. It is well adapted to small areas and local farmers.

FROM INTENSIVE MONOCULTURE...

... TO AGROFORESTRY INSIDE FARMS...

...AND ECOSYSTEM BALANCE

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