New indicators of vulnerability and resilience of agroforestry systems to climate change in West Africa

Abstract

Climate change threatens ecosystems, including traditional agroforestry parklands. Assessing the level of vulnerability and resilience of any ecosystem to climate change is important for designing sustainable adaptation strategies and measures. We assessed farmers' perceptions of the vulnerability of agroforestry systems to climate change in Benin. The objectives of the study were to (i) assess the effect of changes in climatic conditions on agroforestry systems, (ii) assess the endogenous indicators of vulnerability of agroforestry systems to climate change, and (iii) analyze agroforestry and cropping systems' resilience to climate change. We hypothesized that some agroforestry systems are more resilient to climate change than others. A total of 233 household heads were surveyed, and seven agroforestry systems were assessed. Data collected included components, indicators of vulnerability, and the level of resilience of agroforestry systems. We characterized the agroforestry systems using a proportion of each woody trees species and density of tree. We differentiated the agroforestry systems with regard to vulnerability indicators using canonical factorial discriminant analysis with heplots for pairs of discriminant variables. The resilience of agroforestry and cropping systems was evaluated on a scale of 0 to 3 (0-not resilient to 3-most resilient). The number of components damaged in the system was the main indicator of the vulnerability of Anacardium occidentale and Citrus sinensis parks to climate change effects. Local people perceived age and density of Vitellaria paradoxa parks and mixed parks (Vitellaria paradoxa-Parkia biglobosa) as factors determining the vulnerability of these agroforestry systems to the effects of climate change. All agroforestry systems were perceived to be resilient to climate change but in different degrees. Manihot esculenta was reported as the most resilient crop to climate damage. For the first time, we found out specific endogenous indicators of the vulnerability of agroforestry systems to climate change, which are important to identify better adaptation strategies.

What affects farmers in choosing better agroforestry practice as a strategy of climate change adaptation? An experience from the mid-hills of Nepal

“…Farmers are often independently adopting different strategies at the grassroots level instead of following adaptation measures recommended by authorities ( Semenza et al., 2008 ; Bryan et al., 2009 ; Simane et al., 2016 ). Several scholars have claimed that farmers are adopting agroforestry practices as a climate change adaptation strategy to make themselves more resilient and reduce the vulnerability of agricultural production ( Palsaniya and Ghosh 2016 ; Gnonlonfoun et al., 2019 ). But agroforestry has been practiced from long ago as a traditional farming practice, even before climate change emerged as a critical issue in the agriculture sector.…”

The Current State of Knowledge of Shea Butter Tree (Vitellaria paradoxa C.F.Gaertner.) for Nutritional Value and Tree Improvement in West and Central Africa

“…The physical properties of the tree include moisture content (19.89% ± 6.67%) and density (1.22 ± 0.18 g/cm 3 ) [40]. The tree also plays a vital role in climate change mitigation by improving soil and water conservation in parkland agroforestry systems [33,[91][92][93].…”

The adaptation mechanism based on an integrated vulnerability assessment of potato production to climate change in Inner Mongolia, China

“…However, it is difficult to quantify the components of vulnerability. Some scientists have made positive efforts in the quantitative assessment of the vulnerability of agricultural production (Bellon et al 2011;Dong et al 2015Dong et al , 2018Fan et al 2018;Parker et al 2019;Gnonlonfoun et al 2019) while some key scientific issues remain unresolved, such as simulation of agricultural production, and the relations between the sensitivity and the adaptability. Only when these issues are effectively addressed will the results of vulnerability assessments be reliable.…”