Tropical Ecology 59(4): 605–618, 2018 ISSN 0564-3295 © International Society for Tropical Ecology www.tropecol.com Prospective of rubber-based agroforestry on swidden fallow for synergizing climate change mitigation and adaptation ANUJ KUMAR SINGH Meghalaya Climate Change Centre, Meghalaya Basin Development Authority, Shillong-793003, India Abstract: There are global calls to address the concerns associated with the global climate change. The world-wide efforts to mitigate and adapt climate change have a concerted focus on increasing the forest and green cover and augmenting the process for achieving the land degradation neutrality. The global scientific and policy making bodies have agreed upon a common agenda to minimise the implications of climate variability and to realise that it has become essentially vital to act on both the fronts of mitigation and adaptation synergistically and find ways to dovetail them for optimizing the efforts at all levels of efforts. Agroforestry provides with such opportunities in tremendously beneficial ways. This has potential not only to provide an alternative to the traditional plantation but at the same time offers a package of ecological and sustainable economic benefit. Natural rubber based agroforestry on swidden fallow and degraded land may significantly contribute to strengthen the resilience of the overall ecosystem as well as of the farming community by diversifying their livelihood activities in the face of climate change. Rubber is a popular cash crop in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and has been grown mainly as monoculture plantations. In Asia and Southeast Asia continents, natural rubber has been cultivated in slash and burn agriculture system since long back. However, with the advent of rubber-based agroforestry models it has been being recognised as an effective land management system and is seen as an alternative to swidden agriculture. Though, it needs extensive trials and testing before actually implementing the agroforestry model on a specific type of soil and climatic settings. In the present article, a review of adoption of rubber agroforestry systems on swidden landscapes and their potential in synergizing mitigation and adaptation is endeavoured estimating the multiple benefits of such systems by way of restoring the degraded land and enhancing the ecosystem’s resilience and reducing the vulnerability of communities to climate change. Key words: Adaptation, climate change, land restoration, mitigation, rubber agroforestry, swidden landscape. Introduction (CO2) is considered as the biggest player. Most of the GHGs emission is released from the burning of Climate change has emerged as one of the fossil fuels, but the emission is compensated by greatest challenges of the 21st century. At the core tropical ecosystems which stores around 340 of this global concern is the unprecedented billion tons of C (Gibbs et al. 2007), equivalent to increase in the atmospheric concentration of more than forty times of the total annual greenhouse gases (GHGs) wherein carbon dioxide anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuels. A large *Corresponding Author; e-mail: [email protected] 606 PROSPECTIVE OF RUBBER AGROFORESTRY ON SWIDDEN FALLOW A Fig 1. Forest transition curve (Source: Barbier et al. 2010; Dewi et al. 2017). amount of this stored terrestrial C is released into B the atmosphere when the land use change takes place and major C reservoirs i.e. forests and grasslands are converted to agricultural systems (IPCC 2007). Land-use and land cover change has been recognised as a major contributor (33%) in global C emission over the past 150 years, however, the relative contribution has significantly declined to the range of 10 to 13% annually (Houghton et al. 2012). Tropical deforestation is largely driven by agricultural expansion, which is estimated to release about 1.5 billion tons of C each year (IPCC 2007). This has led to a growing interest in lowering the emissions rate of GHGs Fig. 2. (A). Degraded secondary forest on swidden from different types of land-use in one hand and landscape in West Khasi hills district, Meghalaya, simultaneously increasing the C sink at the other. India (Photo credit: Anthony Kharkongor), and (B). A Global efforts and negotiations at different swidden land exposed to erosion (foreground) and a platforms agreed upon to focus on forestry and growing secondary pine forest on swidden fallow agroforestry sector with the goal to achieve a (background), (Photo credit: Batiplang Syiemlieh). significant long term reduction in atmospheric GHG levels, particularly from tropical areas (Soto- Many of the swidden fallows are deteriorated to Pinto et al. 2010; Verchot et al. 2007). The land-use the condition that they may not be able to restore and land cover change may be a gradual transition their productivity leading to loss of soil resources process or a sudden transformation. The transfor- and a number of ecological and socio-economic mation of the forests into agricultural land uses is implications. The swidden fallows may also generally characterized by transition curve develop into a secondary forest in 10–30 years but illustrating the shrinkage of forests and tree cover is generally devoid of natural attributes of a forest along a gradient of land use change and agri- and biological diversity (Fig. 2A, B). cultural intensification until a point is reached Adoption of agroforestry as a production system when tree cover is brought back into the agri- is considered as one of the most promising climate cultural land by agroforestry, reforestation or adaptation and mitigation strategies. Agroforestry other similar interventions (Fig. 1) is accepted worldwide and it has potential to Swidden agriculture which is also known as provide a broad range of socio-economic and shifting cultivation have received global attention ecological benefits. Though, agroforestry is an due to direct linkage of tropical deforestation with ancient farming practise being exercised since the biodiversity loss, land-use change, global centuries, however; its importance has increased warming and climate change (Fujisaka & Escobar significantly in recent decades due to recognition of 1997). The land left fallow for many years its multifarious beneficial effect against climate gradually converts into degraded wasteland due vagaries which has very adverse effects on to excessive nutrients leaching and soil erosion. agricultural productivity and subsequently on ANUJ KUMAR SINGH 607 livelihoods of farmers. Agriculture being largely Agroforestry for Swidden fallow dependent upon the climatic variables has always management been one of the high priority sectors where the implications of climate change impacts have Shifting cultivation which is still in practice in potential to exceed the adaptive capacity of millions about 40–50 countries is estimated to be responsible of smallholder farmers dependent on this sector. for large scale deforestation (70 and 50%) in Africa Agroforestry interventions, because of their ability and Asia, respectively (Bandy 1994; Mertz 2009). to provide economic and environmental benefits, are The global extent of shifting cultivation may be considered to be the best “no regrets” measures in estimated by the fact that the secondary forests reducing the communities’ vulnerability and generated as a consequence of shifting cultivation enhancing their adaptive capacity and resilience to constitutes a significant portion of the 850 Mha the impacts of climate change as well as (million hectares) of secondary forest in tropical significantly contribute in enhancing the food Africa, America and Asia (FAO 2005). Shifting security (Sheikh et al. 2014). cultivation has a range of associated ecological and Due to increasing demand of supplies and socio-economic implications with a mix of short and products coupled with the accelerated development long term impacts. processes especially in developing countries of the Agroforestry is an important strategy for tropics and sub-tropics, the degradation of natural biological carbon sequestration because of its carbon resources in inevitable and it manifests in land storage potential in multiple plant species degradation, deforestation, soil erosion and combinations and soil as well as its importance in excessive cultivation (Chen et al. 2017). Climate diversifying the production system, land restoration change may act as a catalyst in the process of land and in reforestation (Montagnini & Nair 2004). degradation and un-checked degradation may lead Agroforestry may provide a feasible swidden fallow to desertification. As the ecosystem or the land management option, especially in the landscape are fundamentally single entity vulnerable regions where land and water are composed of various constituent components. already a scarce resource and sustainability of the Thereby, any disturbance or alteration in one environmental services are threatened by climate component triggers change in the other which change. The area affected by shifting cultivation affects the entire system one way or the other with must be taken into management consideration multiple implications. Unchecked deforestation through agroforestry practices. A number of combined with shifting cultivation increases the agroforestry systems have been developed over the vulnerability of the area at the events of flash decades and are being practiced in India. However, floods. The flood water from upper reaches travel any model will only be workable if it is suitable to along