Landscape Approaches to Climate
Change in Forestry and Agriculture
Florence Bernard, Peter Minang, Meine van Noordwijk (ASB Partnership, Nairobi, Kenya; A.Minang@cgiar.org)
Balancing the roles of agriculture and forestry in climate change mitigation and adaptation, food security and
poverty alleviation is a key condition for any initiative in developing countries.
Key messages
1. Compared to schemes currently under discussion for forest based
emissions mitigation, whole landscape approaches to reducing
emissions, using the full accounting scheme for Agriculture,
Forestry and Land Use (AFOLU), will be challenging but at the
same time more effective, efficient and equitable
2. Trees outside forest, woody vegetation outside of institutionally
defined forest and peatlands contain large amounts of carbon
stocks that are excluded from current mitigation discussions
within the UNFCCC
3. The whole landscape approach could potentially enhance both
adaptation and mitigation, especially for small holder farmers.
4. Landscape approaches provide a platform for jointly
Most tropical and sub-humid tropics lands are mosaics of interacting land uses that
implementing both adaption and mitigation and hence benefiting
are difficult to separate and are best considered as whole-landscapes.
from dual finance to help meet multiple objectives
REDD+ compared to a landscape approach through AFOLU
Evolution of the scope of REDD since 2005 Case Study: Implications of the varied scope of REDD on
RED: Reducing emissions from (gross) deforestation; only effectiveness in emissions reductions in Indonesia
changes from forest to non-forest land cover types are Applying a range of RED (D) (++) rules to actual land use change data for 3 provinces in
Indonesia yields results that depend on both the rules set and the definitions. Some
included, and details depend very much on the operational
combinations will see only 20% of the total net emissions while, for other combinations,
definition of forest the gross emission counts exceed the net emissions of a whole landscape C accounting.
REDD: RED and (forest) degradation, or the shifts to lower Emission estimates for three provinces with different RED(D)(++) rules and different forest
carbon stock densities within the forest; details depend very definitions; (ton CO2-eq/(ha y))
REDD (gross
much on the operational definition of forest . RED (gross emissions, from REDD+ (net
REDD+: REDD and restocking within and towards forest (as emissions, only forest to lower emissions, from REALU (net
from forest to C-stock forest or forest to any land emissions, all
specified in the Bali Action Plan); in some versions REDD+ will Lampung non-forest) non-forest ) cover) changes)
also include peatlands, regardless of their forest status; details definition A 2.55 3.14 3.14
still depend on the operational definition of forest . definition B 3.14 3.14 3.14 3.08
definition C 0.65 3.47 3.15
REDD++ = REALU: We propose a definition that includes Jambi
REDD+ and all transitions in land cover that affect carbon definition A 1.60 4.95 4.95
storage, whether peatland or mineral soil, trees-outside-forest, definition B 4.95 4.95 4.95 6.58
definition C 6.17 6.57 6.56
agroforests, plantations or natural forest. It does not depend
E.Kalimantan
on the operational definition of forest . definition A 7.71 11.83 11.83
definition B 6.67 11.83 11.83 11.79
Land use is a significant (20-30%) contributor of global definition C 6.78 11.96 11.96
Forests definitions: A. Only undisturbed forest; B. Natural forest (undisturbed and logged-over forests); C.
emissions. REDD as just a partial accounting of land use is Natural forest and agroforest (mixed tree-based systems)
challenged by cross-scale issues such as additionality,
leakage, and permanence.
The way forward
Trees on farms 1. Promoting high carbon stock land uses and reducing
emissions from all land uses in a comprehensive manner
Intermediate land uses such as Tree-based agricultural systems remains the best way to achieve global climate goals and
can mitigate climate change, enhance resilience to climate sustainable development in developing countries.
variability and improve food security and livelihoods.
2. Whole landscape approaches and accounting (AFOLU) is
needed as a way of minimizing leakage and definition /
eligibility questions that may hamper the implementation of
REDD+, CDM and other mitigation options.
3. Targeting intermediate land uses such as agroforestry that
address both climate change, food security and biodiversity is
needed.
4. Cross-sectoral approaches are needed to enable landscape
approaches