By Steve Savage •
August 27, 2009
The World Agroforestry Centre has recently released a paper titled ” Trees on Farm: Analysis of Global Extent and Geographical Patterns of Agroforestry.” The researchers used five global geodata sets to estimate the percent tree cover on 22 million square kilometers of agricultural land around the world. They were surprised to find that nearly half of that land had 10% or more tree cover (which is considered “significant” from an agroforestry point of view). The area involved is vast - as large as the Amazon basin.
Even for North America, the percentages were surprisingly high (39% over 10% cover, 17% over 30%). Values in Europe were similar. The highest levels are in central America (98% above 10% cover), South America (81%), and Southeast Asia (82%). Overall, the lowest tree cover is in the most arid areas, but even there >20% of the farmland has 10% tree cover.
By Gavin Hudson •
April 21, 2009
Trees for the Future, a US-based NGO, has planted 65 million trees in dozens of countries. And they’re still going.
For almost exactly 20 years now, Trees for the Future has been coaching farmers on sustainable agroforestry techniques. That’s a fancy way to say farmers can improving their soil and crop quality by planting trees around the farm. The trees help by holding in soil moisture and drawing water back to refill water tables, preventing erosion and improving soil fertility.
Editor’s note: Is planting trees a valuable tool for fighting climate change? Or is it a feel-good activity without much effect? Our friends at Eco-Libris point to another study which argues tree-planting can work in sequestering carbon dioxide. This post was originally published on Friday, May 16, 2008.
There is an ongoing debate on the effectiveness of trees planting operations as a tool mitigate global warming. A new research from Australia adds more input into it, showing that agroforestry and reforestation are an important carbon sink.
The research, as reported on The Age, was conducted by researchers from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Queensland Climate Change Centre of Excellence, and Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries. It was presented to an agriculture, greenhouse gases and emissions trading conference on the Gold Coast.
Dr. Beverley Henry from MLA, who presented the research, showed that different forms of land management had a variety of effects on soil carbon. She said, according to the article, that researchers, analysing data from 74 publications on land-use changes, had made several conclusions:
