Homegrown trees

Several researchers presenting at the forthcoming World Congress on Agroforestry say homegrown systems that capture carbon should be incentivized. They go further to propose the inclusion of agroforests, home gardens and boundary plantings in the UN systems for carbon financing for climate change mitigation.

Prasad V. Jasti and other scientists will discuss a study which quantified the extent of emission reductions and carbon sequestration in a contiguous area of 5000 ha (a grid) involving about 2000 households in three villages in southern India.

One of the important findings of the study is that integrating high-value trees such as teak (Tectona grandis) on farm boundaries could reduce emissions to the extent 60 percent, if done in the entire rainfed area of the grid.

Eskil Mattsson and colleagues will discuss ‘Carbon stock and tree diversity of dry-zone homegardens in southern Sri Lanka’, which also concludes that tropical homegardens hold great potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation, owing to their multifunctional role in providing income and ecosystem services while decreasing pressures on natural forests.

A decade ago, researchers from Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) published a study showing that long-rotation systems such as agroforests, homegardens and boundary plantings could sequester sizeable quantities of carbon in plant biomass, soil, and woody matter.

However, more quantitative data is needed on homegardens and their landscape-wide potential for carbon sequestration. The scientists say such results would be useful to determine whether homegardens should directly or indirectly be considered for inclusion as an activity within UN-REDD national programmes.

In general, Jasti and fellow scientists say agroforestry (farming with trees) and the introduction of energy-efficient systems are compatible with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). However, an umbrella methodology integrating these interventions at a landscape level is lacking.

“Such an approach will not only help to realize the benefits from trees but also make possible returns from carbon finance mechanisms by integrating smallholders,” they say in an abstract titled ‘Greenhouse gas mitigation in a landscape perspective: A case study from semi arid regions of India.’

By Isaiah Esipisu
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Edited by D. Ouya