Lecture 11 - Social Forestry & Agroforestry Flashcards
What does social forestry revolve around?
- continual deforestation and land degradation (largest focus in developing countries)
- the need to find solutions to mitigate degradation
- joint effort of scientists, policy makers, development program admins, and law enforcers
- enveloping community based management of natural resources (promoting rural development, maintaining forest biodiversity and health)
What is the base concept of social forestry?
The promotion of sustainable forest practices can occur while producing income. The practice is integrated with livestock production and community participation.
ex. forest user groups have rights to trees but not the land, yet they have still taken an active role in protecting, harvesting, and regenerating forests (home gardens, agroforestry practices, and tree nurseries)
Describe how there can be forestry-dependent communities
- towns have been abandoned when the forestry industry leaves as well as they have gone from “boom” to “bust”, leading to severe poverty
What are examples of effective strategies some towns have implemented to alleviate poverty?
- greater diversity of timber species
- greater local processing of wood products
- greater use of non-timber products
- development of complementary enterprises
Describe and give examples of social forestry in Asia
There are incentives for communities to support sustainable resource management, which causes communities to receive more direct control over their resources, leading to improved income.
- ex 1. Philippines: community stewardship program provides long-term leases of large land area containing forests
- ex 2. Thailand: gov’t supports reforestation by villagers in/around plantations in addition to access to agricultural fields
Describe and give examples of social forestry in Africa
- communities became active guardians woodlands normally plagued by illegal logging activities
- villagers can use forest and its resources while acting as guardians (mutualism)
- therefore, the forest must be used sustainably
Discuss the success (or lack there of) social forestry programs
- many programs haven’t been successful
- however, the community response to local social forestry opportunities is overwhelming - interest caused new programs to be developed
How is integrating indigenous knowledge important to social forestry? What kinds of knowledge?
It is essential for successful programs (trees, crops, soil, water, animal, and wildlife relationships)
- technical knowledge
- knowledge on social organization
- knowledge on decision making
- innovations/experimentation
- value/belief system
- knowledge of teaching-learning transactions
What does adopting a good social forestry program do/need?
- important for creating a participant environment
- integration of initiatives
- needs to sustain interest and have active participation
- requires community control of forest resources and the ability to market products
- requires equal access to knowledge, goods, and services
What is agroforestry?
The combination of trees/woody perennials with crops (tree-based intercropping).
Defined as: “the deliberate integration of woody perennials with herbaceous crops and/or animals on the same land management unit, fostering ecological and/or economical interactions among the components of the system.”
ex. pine or eucalyptus silvipasture
ex 2. alley crops with trees growing between them
How do Agroforestry Systems Differ from Forest and Conventional Agroecosystems?
- Forest Ecosystem: input=output; self-sustaining
2. Agroforestry System: inputoutput; losses and inputs are high
Describe the history of agroforestry systems
- have existed for centuries around the world (traditional way of agriculture, ex. First Nations)
- left behind in the Green Revolution, but rediscovered in Post-Green Revolution
- used again b/c it can produce food in a small area, restore degraded lands, and there was development of new agroforestry systems (ex. alley cropping)
Why is there a special need for agroforestry in the tropics?
- high urban population
- shortage of productive land
- shortage of food
- conventional agriculture is expensive (b/c has high inputs and there is difficulty obtaining seeds/fertilizers, etc.)
What are some current Canadian examples of agroforestry?
- alley cropping
- silvopasture
- windbreaks
- Christmas tree plantations
- riparian buffers
- forest farming
Why use agroforestry?
Because trees:
- sustain soil
- have high biomass production
- have high nutrient content
- have dense, deep roots (to prevent erosion and nutrient leaching)
- are able to grow on poor soil (nurse species - lessens harshness of environment for other species)
