“Rainforestation Farming” – an Appropriate and Applied Ecological Approach for Landscape Rehabilitation and Impact Mitigation of Climate Change in the Humid Tropics

Abstract

While the last century was mainly focusing on conservation measures in landscape ecology, the present century has certainly to deal with restoration, rehabilitation and reclamation of entire landscapes. Aspects and forms of degradation are discussed in this paper showing the complexity of the task ahead for researchers and applied agriculturists. The tropical forested areas are of special concern under the aspect of their enormous variety of biotopes and biocoenosis and their protective functions and ecological services to man in a given landscape. The specific responsibility of agro-forestry systems is described and the innovative “Rainforestation Farming” technology for rehabilitation of degraded landscapes in a “near-to-nature” farming system is described. The gradual transformation of monocultures into highly diverse tree farming systems is discussed and also some aspects of global dimension, like the reduction of carbon dioxide and aspects of carbon sequestration.