The document discusses the need to address land degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and food insecurity through sustainable land use and carbon markets. It notes that 65% of cropland in Africa and 51% in Latin America is degraded while tropical deforestation accounts for 20-25% of global carbon emissions. Agroforestry is presented as a tool to reduce degradation and increase carbon sequestration through deliberately integrating trees into agricultural systems. Carbon markets are also proposed as an incentive to support sequestration in soils and vegetation. The document advocates reducing land degradation while improving food security and cutting anthropogenic carbon through these sustainable land use and emissions trading approaches.

1. Agroforestry and Carbon Markets:
Linking Science and Policy in a
Development Context

2. Framing the Development – Human
Wellbeing Context
 Land degradation
– Degradation affects 65 %
of of cropland in Africa and
51% in Latin America
(GLASOD)
– Deforestation and forest
degradation –
– 66% of new cropland
comes from deforestation
 Hunger and malnutrition
 22Kg/ha of N, 2.3 Kg/ha
P, 15Kg/ha of K lost in 30
yrs
– Equivalent to $4 billion in
fertilizer cost (Sanchez,
2002)
 Persistent decline in
household food
production in 60% of rural
households in the tropics
and subtropics (Stocking,
2003)

3. Framing the Development – Human
Wellbeing Context
 Persistent decline in
household food
production in 60% of rural
households in the tropics
and subtropics
 Globally, ca. (14%) 980
million people in the world
are chronically or acutely
malnourished.
– In SSA, the prevalence of
hunger is 30%
– 50% are smallholder farm
households
 Chronic hunger results in
annual losses of 6 to 10%
in foregone GDP due to
losses in labor
productivity.
– Illness and morbidity
– Human development
– Intergenerational poverty
traps

4. Framing the Development – Human
Wellbeing Context
 Coupling between GDP
and anthropogenic GHG
emissions
 CO2emissions went up in
rapidly expanding
economies, led by China
and India with increases
of 10% and 9%
respectively.
 Natural resource
intensive economic
growth models are
strongly correlated with
tropical deforestation
– high deforestation rates:
27% in Asia; 19% in SSA;
14 % in Latin America
 Tropical deforestation,
accounting for some
20%-25% of global CO2
emissions.

5. A Veritable Carbon Crisis
The Double Whammy: Rapid Increase in
Atmospheric CO2 and Severe Depletion of SOC
Soil
degradation
and
nutrient
depletion
Decline in
environ.
quality;
hypoxia
Depletion
of SOC
Food
security
malnutritio
n and
hunger
Decline in
agronomic
and
biomass
productivity

6. An Existential Challenge
Reduce land
Degradation,
Enhancing
Ecosystem Services
while Improving
Food and Nutritional
Security
Equitable and
Sustainable
Development
Cut
Anthropogenic
CO2

7. Meeting the Challenge
 Sustainable Land Use and Land
Management:
– Sequestration of Carbon in vegetation and soils
– Increasing land productivity
 Market-based Emission Control
Mechanisms:
– Strong targets in industrialized countries and
economies in transition could drive capital flows
and incentive bundles to support sequestration
in soil and vegetation

8. Tools to Meet the Challenge
Reduce land
Degradation,
Enhancing
Sustainable land
Ecosystem Services
use: Agroforestry
while Improving
Food and Nutritional
Security
Emissions
Cut
Trading:
Anthropogenic
Carbon
CO2
Markets
Equitable and
Sustainable
Development

9. Agroforestry
 Land use systems that deliberately integrate trees and woody
perennials with agricultural crops, pastures and/or livestock
on the same land management unit to harness the ecological
and socio-economic interactions and emergent services
(Lundgren, 1982; Nair,1993; Young, 1997).

13. SOC pool under
natural forest
80
60
40
20
Planted Fallows
Historic loss of SOC equals
sink potential
Relative SOC Pool
100
Rapidly growing
plantations
Conversion of
TFE to cropland
Plantation with
shade crop
AF with
cover crops
No till with residue
mulch
Traditional cropping
Improved land use mgt
0
20
Time (yrs)
40
Modified from Lal (2005)