The Social and Economic value of trees and forests

In Agricultural Systems for Landscape Resilience

Presented by Marlon Beale

Zonal Director, Forest Operations (Eastern)

Presentation Outline

Definition of key terms

The value of trees and forests

Agricultural systems and food security (Caribbean context)

Importance of forests and trees in agricultural systems

The work of the Forestry Department

Key Definitions

RESILIENCE

The capacity of an environment to absorb external shocks and continue function at optimal levels

LANDSCAPE

Which is dynamic, flexible and multi scalar, can act as the device capable to allow the territory to find continuous adjustments in front of variable dynamics

AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

Represents an appropriate combination of farm enterprises, cropping systems, livestock, fisheries, poultry and the resources available to the farmer to raise them for food and or profitability

Definitions cont’d

VALUES

Social (and Cultural): related to spiritual or aesthetics; interactions and relationships between and among people (trees)

Economic: consumer preference and people’s willingness to pay for a particular good or service

Value of Forests and Trees

The Caribbean region contains a rich variety of complex ecosystems with a great abundance of plants and animals species.

The high level of endemism also makes the regions forests important and of high value

The change from agriculture based economies to service based economies (mainly tourism) has implications for Forest resources and their management

Agricultural Systems and Food Security The Caribbean has one of the most diverse and complex range of

agricultural systems in the world

Three main systems used:

Multi cropping (predominantly used in subsistence farming)

Mono cropping (used both by subsistence and commercial farmers)

Pastoral farming (for livestock production systems

Food security and quality food products are a priority to island communities.

Statistics show that people sometimes cannot afford to buy good quality food and instead consume cheaper or more convenient but unhealthy processed food

Systems and Security cont’d

AGROFORESTRY

Properly managed agroforests protect watersheds and are typically superior to tilled field agriculture in protecting soils from erosion.

Agroforests can enhance economic productivity by cash cropping and providing materials and experiences for island tourism industries.

The economic values of subsistence crops should be better recognized and quantified in terms of import substitution and cash equivalence for family incomes

Has social and cultural benefits; practicing agroforestry can help retain traditional ecological knowledge and cultural practices related to specific systems and species

Systems and Security cont’d Types of Agroforestry used within the Caribbean and Jamaica

Urban Agroforestry

Combination of agriculture and forestry practices in an urban setting

Shade Coffee

Growth of coffee in secondary forest setting and provides socio-economic benefits, through sustainable forest products

Multi-storey Agroforestry

Not much practiced, but allows socio-economic and commercial benefits, and maintains ecosystems services within an agricultural setting

Wind breaks

Basically used for wind protection especially in areas where salt spray in coastal areas may impact production

Systems and Security cont’d

Silvopasture systems

Combination of trees and pasture production to make efficient use of space and natural resources to produce animal products as well as tree products

They help create resilient landscapes by conserving soil humidity, reducing wind, improving water quality, and reducing soil erosion

Specific benefits of silvopasture trees include mitigating climate change by storing carbon, recycling nutrients from deeper layers of soil for use by plants and microorganisms nearer the soil surface and in the case of nitrogen fixing species, by adding nitrogen to the system.

Shade Trees Strategically placed shade can promote more uniform grazing over the paddock.

Living Fences They provide shade, shelter, fodder, and aesthetics. They also serve as ecological

corridors. The most common species used in the Caribbean Area are Gliricidia sepium and Guazuma ulmifolia.

Alley Cropping This practice involves producing forage in alleys between rows of trees or shrubs

Protein Banks This practice involves producing forage in alleys between rows of trees or shrubs

Systems and Security cont’d

Importance of forests and trees to Agricultural Systems Forests, trees on farms and Agroforestry systems contribute to food

security, nutrition and livelihoods in several ways

Provision of genetic material important for crop and livestock improvement and are home to many pollinator species

Mountain forests provide essential ecosystem services, such as the provision of high-quality water for downstream communities and their agricultural activities

There is enormous potential to use more forest species, including plants and insects, for the largescale production of foods. Many forest foods and tree products have extremely high nutritional value.

Forests and Agricultural Systems cont’d

Forests and trees are important sources of food and income, especially for the poor and women, and may be key in times of economic, political or ecological crisis.

The presence of forests and trees increases ecosystem resilience and the capacity of people to meet their nutritional needs.

Indigenous peoples and other local communities hold an immense wealth of traditional knowledge on the cultivation, harvesting and preparation of forest foods and tree products and on sustainable land management.

Traditional forest–agriculture landscapes tend to have high resilience in the face of environmental and social perturbations

Food security is grounded in diversity:

In terms of biota, landscapes, cultures, diets, production unit and management. Forests and trees are critical for maintaining that diversity

Forests and Agricultural Systems cont’d

Forestry Department‘s Work

The Forestry Department is guided by 5 Strategic Objectives

Two of these are most relevant to agricultural systems

Increase participation of the private sector and non-government organisation

Increase community participation and public awareness

The Private Planting Programme

Established early 1950s and essentially is the free distribution of seedlings in response to levels of deforestation and forest degradation

FD’s work Private Planting Programme Facts

Targets a wide range of stakeholders including small and large scale farmers and public land holding entities

Farmers with small to medium-size holdings have been the main beneficiaries of the programme to date, however, an ever increasing number of large estate owners are planting portions of their lands with timber trees for commercial production.

Free timber tree seedlings and technical advice are provided by the Department, especially to farmers.

The programme currently has over 4000 registered participants

In the process of determining the actual contribution of these participants to forest cover

Summary Climate change is present and will impact food security.

Agricultural systems used are essential to food security within the Caribbean and in particular Jamaica

The natural environment namely forests and trees are key to the sustainability of agricultural crops presently and in the future especially in the Caribbean.

For climate change impacts to be mitigated against landscape resilience has been identified as a key component for food security.

Therefore the incorporation of landscape resilience strategies in our agricultural systems augurs well for the Caribbean

The Private Planting Programme of the Forestry Department complements other climate work related with agricultural systems especially in Agroforestry and Silvopasture.