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Agroforestry -- the practice of integrating trees and other large woody perennials on farms and throughout the agricultural landscape -- is increasingly recognized as a useful and promising strategy that diversifies production for greater social, economic, and environmental benefits. Agroforestry and BiodiversityConservation in Tropical Landscapes brings together 46 scientists and practitioners from 13 countries with decades of field experience in tropical regions to explore how agroforestry practices can help promote biodiversity conservation in human-dominated landscapes, to synthesize the current state of knowledge in the field, and to identify areas where further research is needed. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes is the first comprehensive synthesis of the role of agroforestry systems in conserving biodiversity in tropical landscapes, and contains in-depth review chapters of most agroforestry systems, with examples from many different countries. It is a valuable source of information for scientists, researchers, professors, and students in the fields of conservation biology, resource management, tropical ecology, rural development, agroforestry, and agroecology.
This second edition includes an updated bibliography.Astley's signature is a highly allusive, layered and self-conscious prose style, non-linear and open-ended (Gillian Whitlock, JASAL: Journal of Association for the Study of Australian Literature, 6, 2007, p. 154.)The essays offer insights into issues of language, art, gender and religion ... as well as Astley's evolving body of writing and the historical and literary context of her work (Lyn Jacobs, Australian Literary Studies v.23, n.3, 2008, p.358).
Concerns for biodiversity conservation have heightened since Rio de Janeiro 1992 meeting of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and the subsequent Convention on Biodiversity. However, the rate of investment in agroforestry systems for agro-biodiversity conservation has been slower than expected. The Kakum Conservation Area (KCA) in Ghana is a national forest reserve, which forms part of the severely fragmented Guinean Forest of West Africa. It is a habitat for endangered larger mammals such as forest elephants, leopards, giant forest hogs, diversity of insect and birds. Nevertheless, the livelihoods of about 240,000 people depend on this forest. The people engage in economic activities such as cocoa farming in the fringes of the reserve which affect the KCA management. Conservation International with funding from World Bank developed a conservation cocoa agroforestry technology to enhance agro-biodiversity conservation by cocoa producers in the buffer zones of the KCA. This book explains how the socioeconomic characteristics of cocoa producers, market incentives, biophysical and other factors influence the extent of producer investment in the technology.
Global demand of cocoa for chocolate moved the native cocoa production frontier from ancient Maya and Aztec to other favorable tropical locations around the world. Cocoa growing arrived in West Africa sometime by the late 1800s and was an instant success story. A massive investment in the form of expansion of lands under cultivation, intensification driven by improved varieties/systems and a plethora of farming incentives have led West Africa to supply more than half of the world's cocoa. Cocoa agroforestry provides a livelihood for many smallholder farmers and significant contribution to national economies; however, it also results in deforestation and land degradation. The traditional cocoa agroforestry system in highly forested tropical regions, utilized shade cocoa systems and require overhead canopy and favorable humidity to thrive. Thus, lands suitable for forest reserves or timber production, are also suitable for cocoa production. Land conversion of biodiverse High Forests in Ghana, part of the global biodiversity hotspot of the West African Guinean forest landscape, have allowed Ghana to become the second largest global cocoa producing nation. Cocoa led deforestation dominates the reported 2% rate of deforestation. In order to curb cocoa-led deforestation, it is essential to understand the crucial social, economic and environmental underpinnings of cocoa production. This study focuses on determining land use change and deforestation in the Krokosua Hills Forest Reserve, one of the most important cocoa producing areas of Ghana. Land use types are regulated within the reserve and timber production and protected area inside the reserve were compared with areas immediately outside the forest reserve over a 17-year period using multispectral satellite images acquired from Landsat and Sentinel earth observatory programs. A two-step land use pattern of change was observed, with closed forest land changing to open forest, and open forests were converted to croplands. These changes were mostly observed in areas of the forest reserve which have been technically designated as a production zone for wood/timber harvesting and admitted farming, in comparison to the areas specifically maintained for forest protection. Tree species composition varied significantly among the two broad management zones in comparison to uncultivated land within the forest reserve. Classifying tree species into ecological guilds depicts a natural reference condition of shade tolerant species, with non-pioneer light demanders among natural regeneration encountered in uncultivated areas. In contrast with other areas of the reserve where cocoa farming is interspersed with forests, regeneration of shade tolerant species is rare, with a greater amount of species as non-pioneer light demanders and pioneer species. Species composition of adult trees also showed a pattern of higher proportions of economically valuable species on cocoa farms compared with natural forest areas that are more diverse and have species represented in all the economic valuation classes of trees. In essence, cocoa farming promotes deforestation and species compositional changes that unequivocally present a challenge for forest management, particularly where objectives of cocoa farming and forestry are both emphasized within a broad land use category. This study suggests timber production and cocoa production, two vital industries in Ghana are connected with initial cutting leading conversion to cocoa. Cocoa production is susceptible to climatic variations which may be mitigated by environmentally friendly shaded cocoa production which effectively reduce associated deforestation. However, once cocoa farms are established, reduction of shade trees increases forest degradation, as farmers seek to increase cocoa yields. Therefore, land use change and the physical environment are interconnected. Since cocoa cultivation is essential to many livelihoods in Ghana, a changing global climate is of concern to smallholder cocoa farmers. Understanding cocoa farmers' perceptions on topics of climate change and its impacts are thus necessary to assess the potential of recent economic incentives to enhance sustainable cocoa production. A social survey of farmers' perception/knowledge of climate change and its potential effect on cocoa production was conducted to assess beliefs. I examined the potential of economic incentives of a REDD+ climate mitigation strategy as an alternative income generating avenue to maintain lower intensity, shaded cocoa production. Farmers' perceptions of climate were not in agreement with empirical data. Although farmers recognize the need to protect trees to provide ecosystem benefits, the system of direct monetary benefits associated with tree protection/maintenance presents a challenge for the success of integrating climate change mitigation strategies (REDD+) into cocoa farming. Common farm/cultural practices of cocoa farmers (e.g. slash and burn) may also degrade land, reducing forest biodiversity and releasing carbon.
Landscapes are frequently seen as fragments of natural habitat surrounded by a 'sea' of agriculture. But recent ecological theory shows that the nature of these fragments is not nearly as important for conservation as is the nature of the matrix of agriculture that surrounds them. Local extinctions from conservation fragments are inevitable and must be balanced by migrations if massive extinction is to be avoided. High migration rates only occur in what the authors refer to as 'high quality' matrices, which are created by alternative agroecological techniques, as opposed to the industrial monocultural model of agriculture. The authors argue that the only way to promote such high quality matrices is to work with rural social movements. Their ideas are at odds with the major trends of some of the large conservation organizations that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. They argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach anachronistic and call, rather, for solidarity with the small farmers around the world who are currently struggling to attain food sovereignty.Nature's Matrix proposes a radically new approach to the conservation of biodiversity based on recent advances in the science of ecology plus political realities, particularly in the world's tropical regions.
The first volume devoted to anthropogenic effects on interactions between ants and flowering plants, considered major parts of terrestrial ecosystems.
Human well-being and the prerequisite sustainable environmental management are currently at stake, reaching a bottleneck when trying to cope with (i) the ever-growing world population, (ii) the constantly increasing need for natural resources (and the subsequent overexploitation of species, habitats, ecosystems, and landscapes) and (iii) the documented and on-going impacts of climate change. By this, the role of conservation and management practices for the environment is characterized as a crucial and top issue and should deal with (a) promoting best practices from the local to the global level, (b) identifying spatial and temporal knowledge gaps, (c) multidisciplinary aspects for sustainable management practices, (d) identifying and interpreting the role of stakeholders and socio-economic parameters in the decision-making process, and (e) methods and practices to integrate the concept of ecosystem services into natural capital assessment and accounting, conservation and management strategies. Modern literature highlights that land use change and prioritization, the restoration of natural areas and cultural landscape identification and maintenance, should be considered at the top of the scientific and policy agenda, as well as at the epicenter of novel awareness-raising strategies for the environment in the near future.