UN biodiversity convention: trees as sentinels
October 12th 2012
Ravi Prabhu, Deputy Director of the World Agroforestry Centre, who is attending the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Hyderabad, India from 8 to 19 October, explains in this video (link below) the vital role trees play in all ecosystems and the increasing importance of their conservation as world population grows. Prabhu poetically describes trees as ‘sentinels’, standing over peoples, times and landscapes like no other organism. He refers to them as islands, even archipelagoes of life wherever they appear, from the forests to the pastures and croplands. He goes on to describe their vital role in many ecosystems, providing shade or nesting space for many organisms.
Prabhu notes that as human population grows there is a tendency to use more of our forested land to produce food. His organisation aims to reduce the consumption of land by introducing trees into agricultural systems, thus improving crop productivity, conservation values and the ecosystem services provided. On grazing land he argues that trees can increase productivity of cattle, and in arable land he argues that trees can improve the fertility of the soil. Prabhu laments that his message rarely reaches agricultural students. He resents the compartmentalisation of the modern world in which both science and government separate issues, thereby losing opportunities for interconnection. He contrasts this to a farmer, who works as part of an entire ecosystem
Video link: RTCC (Responding to Climate Change)
Virenda Pal Singh of ICRAF, the World Agroforestry Centre, who is also attending at the UN convention, explains in this video (link below) how agroforestry can make arable land resilient to the effects of climate change. Singh explains that agroforestry consists of growing trees and crops together, with trees either on field boundaries, in rows or in a block. Singh maintains that certain trees have synergies with certain crops. He give the example of rice crops grown in lowlands and highlands, for which different trees are recommended so as to match the differing water supply. Singh sees agroforestry as contributing towards the sustainability of agriculture, arguing that most field crops are reaching a productivity plateau because of soil exhaustion, and that trees, through decomposition of leaves, can provide new nutrients to the soil. Singh also describes how trees can create resilience to changes in climate. He explains that trees moderate the microclimate, lowering temperatures by a few degrees during hot days and increasing it during cold ones. He asserts that tree can also have a similar moderating effect on the water cycle.
Video link: RTCC (Responding to Climate Change)
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