General

Steep slopes of the upland areas of Montane Mainland Southeast Asia are rapidly exploited for agriculture leading to challenges of surface runoff, erosion and soil degradation in turn leading to low yields and profitability of agriculture. Agroforestry (AF) with contour farming techniques is suggested as a solution to reduce soil erosion and land degradation, while improving farm productivity, food and nutrition security and aid in climate change adaptation. This project will assess options for profitable, sustainable, diversified farming systems on sloping land through integration of fruit trees, annual crops and perennial fodder crops. Specific objectives are to evaluate AF-contour farming systems´ potential (1) to buffer extreme weather events and contribute to climate change adaptation and resilience, (2) for soil conservation, system productivity and profitability, and identify success factors, (3) redesign mature AF systems to optimise productivity and profitability, and (4) to sustainably enhance smallholder livelihoods and factors affecting adoption. The proposed project will utilize existing on-farm field trials and demonstrations, and base-line data from an on-going project (Agroforestry for Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Vietnam 2012-2021) and thus be able to carry out complementary and more in-depth research on mature AF systems. It will also include participatory data collection and AF system evaluation with farmers and extension officers.

General

An estimated 80% of the global population lack secure water resources. Many also lack ready access to fuel wood and other tree derived benefits. However, the current scientific paradigm says that we must choose which problem to solve as increasing tree cover always reduces water availability. Consider the costs if this thinking is wrong. In Africa, 175 M ha of degraded lands are judged suitable for tree planting which could significantly enhance people’s livelihoods. Our previous research in the seasonally dry tropics indicates that an intermediate tree cover can often improve groundwater recharge. This need testing on a larger scale, but if confirmed will upend the prevailing view in hydrology and have profound implications for policies affecting millions of livelihoods and the environment.  Thus, the aim of this project is to provide evidence for better policies and management that will benefit poor people in drylands by evaluating the novel “optimum tree cover theory” for groundwater recharge across African drylands. The project involves four leading institutions; SLU, ICRAF, WU and NMBU. We will use the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework; a unique dataset that is available across Africa. It consists of multiple variables, including tree cover and key soil variables. We will do complementary strategic measurements of soil water flow and tree water use to model groundwater recharge as a function of tree cover under common conditions of the seasonally dry tropics.

General

Questions of governance and access to resources have become even more important with new and emerging forms of land control in the global South. These have implications for smallholder livelihoods and forest futures. The analytical approaches used to deal with the processes of deforestation and agricultural changes, i.e. forest and agrarian transition models, are ill equipped to explain the complex interaction of forest conservation initiatives and local smallholding practices. There is a need to better understand the way new forms of land governance, such as REDD+, unfold locally and what effects they have on smallholders’ lifeworlds. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from SLU (Sweden), Nepal, and Brazil are working on these issues through country specific cases and cross-country comparisons. This project intends to strengthen the ongoing collaboration and also draw in Peruvian colleagues to deepen the comparative analysis. The collaboration among the researchers is expected to provide a solid ground for contextually informed relational analysis, producing high quality scientific outputs and cutting edge questions for future research. The proposed activities include analytical workshops, joint field work, stakeholder workshops and seminars in three countries, and will provide more space for networking and collaboration. We also plan to develop further research applications and lay groundwork for writing a book.