Abstract
Agroforestry is often discussed as a strategy that can be used both for the adaptation to and the mitigation of climate change effects. The climate of southern Africa is predicted to be severely affected by such changes. With agriculture noted as the continent’s largest economic sector, issues such as food security and land degradation are in the forefront. In the light of such concerns we review the current literature to investigate if agroforestry systems (AFS) are a suitable response to the challenges besetting traditional agricultural caused by a changing climate. The benefits bestowed by AFS are multiple, offering ecosystem services, influence over crop production and positive impacts on rural livelihoods through provisioning and income generation. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps remain. We identify outstanding questions requiring further investigation such as the interplay between trees and crops and their combination, with a discussion of potential benefits. Furthermore, we identify deficiencies in the institutional and policy frameworks that underlie the adoption and stimulus of AFS in the southern African region. We uphold the concept that AFS remains an appropriate and sustainable response for an increased resilience against a changing climate in southern Africa for the benefit of livelihoods and multiple environmental values.
Highlights
The agricultural sector faces an unprecedented and daunting task of meeting global food requirements whilst dealing with climate change in a sustainable manner [1]
In the light of such concerns we review the current literature to investigate if agroforestry systems (AFS) are a suitable response to the challenges besetting traditional agricultural caused by a changing climate
The state of the world’s forests report 2018 [14] states as a key message that “It is time to recognise that food security, agriculture and forestry can no longer be treated in isolation”, a statement that clearly recognises the importance of including trees in a farmed landscape
Summary
The agricultural sector faces an unprecedented and daunting task of meeting global food requirements whilst dealing with climate change in a sustainable manner [1]. AFS have frequently been framed as an important development concept that is able to augment and enhance existing agricultural systems to alleviate production deficits and risks in the light of a changing climate. AFS are deliberate combinations of at least two differing plant types, or in case of silvopastoral systems plants with animals, one component within AFS is always a woody perennial This combination should interact within the same land management unit with distinguished spatial arrangements or temporal sequences, and have well-defined outputs [4,5,6,7]. To meet the demands of rural stakeholders, the aim of AFS is to combine ecological with economic returns, i.e., to integrate the cultivation of trees with regular farming activities representing a more natural and diverse ecosystem. In the light of such concerns, we intend to investigate if agroforestry can act as an appropriate and sustainable response to the challenges besetting agricultural production systems caused by a changing climate in this region
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