Les populations locales sont-elles conservationnistes? Des agroforêts aux plantations monospécifiques en Indonésie

Les cultures de rente se développent dans les régions autrefois boisées de l'Indonésie, parallèlement aux améliorations commerciales et économiques. Les cultures pérennes comme le café, le cacao et l'hévéa ont d'abord été plantées dans des domaines par des entreprises privées ou publiques. Les populations locales ont ensuite intégré ces cultures dans leurs systèmes agricoles, souvent par la plantation d'agroforêts, c'est-à-dire la culture intercalaire de la nouvelle culture commerciale avec le riz de montagne et les cultures vivrières. La culture était généralement mélangée à des arbres fruitiers, du bois d'oeuvre et d'autres plantes utiles. Une spécialisation géographique s'est produite, motivée par des contraintes biophysiques et des opportunités de marché, avec l'expansion du cacao à Sulawesi, du café à Lampung, et de l'hévéa à Sumatra Est. Cependant, au cours des trois dernières décennies, ces agroforêts ont de plus en plus été converties en monocultures plus productives. Une trajectoire commune peut être observée dans les paysages agricoles dominés par une culture de rente pérenne : du ladang aux agroforêts, puis aux plantations en monoculture. Ce processus combine l'expansion agricole au détriment des forêts naturelles et la spécialisation agricole au détriment de la biodiversité et des habitats fauniques. Nous avons déterminé les principaux moteurs de l'expansion et de l'intensification de l'agriculture dans trois régions d'Indonésie sur la base d'enquêtes de perception et d'analyses de rentabilité de l'utilisation des terres. Lorsque les contextes nationaux et internationaux influencent clairement les décisions des agriculteurs, les populations locales semblent très sensibles aux opportunités économiques. Ils n'hésitent pas à changer leur système de subsistance si cela peut augmenter leurs revenus. Leur attachement culturel ou sentimental à la forêt et aux agroforêts n'est pas suffisant pour empêcher leur conversion

Industrial investments in agriculture in Central Africa. Establishing the conditions for sustainability and equity

In Central Africa, industrial investments in agriculture have been increasing for the last ten years, constituting one of the many drivers of deforestation. If these investments are to contribute to socioeconomic development without harming the environment,they need to be more effectively monitored.Analysing successes and failures in four Central African countries helps to identify ways to increase the chances of success for projects: carrying out independent impact assessments before projects are launched; obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of the communities concerned; and encouraging companies to meet certification criteria. The host governments should be able to take advantage of actions by people- and environment-friendly companies in order to create a virtuous circle, and should build agro-industrial projects around national land use plans

What will happen to the forests of the Congo basin, how and why

Statements about the future do not fall under the constraints of classical logic. They are not true or false. They are undetermined, so-called future contingents. This unescapable uncertainty is a source of stress and discomfort for all, political leaders included. The use of scenario planning for decision-making is a way to reduce this discomfort, and to develop strategies that are better able to cope with surprise. However, the development of scenarios requires underlying mental models, however loose. All models are wrong, with one exception. All others degrade the information to make it manageable with our cognitive limitations. This degrading is done across several dimensions. A useful framework proposes a trade-off between precision, realism and generality. Another major limitation is the representation of human agency in these models, a critical determinant of the dynamics of social and ecological systems. The manner in which agency is represented is often unsatisfactory. We present here how we overcame these trade-offs and obstacles, clarifying here the contribution of different forms of models to the development of narratives of possible futures. To explore the futures of the forests of the Congo Basin, we developed theoretical, empirical and process-based models that merge expert, local and scientific knowledge, integrating social, economic, governance, ecological and geophysical processes. These models represent, predict and explain regional trajectories of landscape change at the time scale of 50 to 100 years. The scenarios explicitly address different management and policy options. Taken together, these three types of models explain what will happen to the forests of the Congo Basin in the coming decades, how and why. As in any good crime story, this leaves only two questions unanswered: who? and when? But these are no longer questions scientists can explore. These belong to the realm of strategy and decision making. They belong to the realm political will, corporate commitments, and stakeholder livelihood strategies

Deforestation for food production

Deforestation contributes to carbon emissions and therefore to climate change. Within food systems, agricultural production is the stage which plays the largest role in deforestation and forest degradation, and it is therefore the focus of this chapter. There is a critical link between food systems and deforestation. Arable lands most often have a forested past. It might be ancestral, with deforestation having happened in the early occupation of land by humans or be very recent on current forest frontiers. Over the past two decades, commercial agriculture has overtaken subsistence agriculture as the main driver of deforestation in LI and LMI countries, especially in tropical areas

Are sustainable pathways possible for oil palm development in Latin America?

The palm oil sector in Latin America emerged in the 1930s with investments of private industries. After a long period of poor development, the sector has known a new youth in the 1970s with the involvement of the States. Public incentives then favored an agro-industrial business model. Since the 1980s it has been experiencing a promotion of more growers' inclusion in the value chain, local development and sustainability of production. 'Strategic alliances' and 'social sector' models emerged as answers to this demand. They now represent almost 30% of the regional production. The agro-industrial sector is also moving towards a more sustainable production by adopting the RSPO criteria and certification, and by developing 'strategic alliances', with the support of national public policies. Latin America appears on the way to lead sustainability in the palm oil sector. But challenges are numerous and the way is still long and perilous

The importance of agricultural land uses in the provision of ecosystem services. A gender perspective in Nicaragua

There is a link between agricultural systems (crops of basic grains, livestock, agroforestry systems for coffee and cocoa) and poor populations in rural areas. These land uses not only provide food, but also other ecosystem services (SE). In turn, each of these farming systems impacts the communities differently and the benefits they provide are perceived differently, for both men and women.In Nicaragua, agricultural production in rural and poor areas is poorly technified and is closely linked to the benefits offered by nature. The main objective of the study was to determine the importance of land uses in the provision of different ecosystem services with a gender focus. We studied nine farming communities in three municipalities in the center and north of Nica-ragua: El Tuma-La Dalia, Waslala and Siuna. We conducted 58 semi-structured interviews and 13 open interviews with key informants in order to determine access to the SEs. We also conducted two focus groups per community, one for men and one for women, using partici-patory mappings and the pebble distribution method, in total 41 men and 53 women attended. Our study finds that the use of forest land is one of the largest providers for SE communities; however, it is perceived as one of the least contributes to the family's economy. We also find that the land uses that provide the most benefits for women are the urban center and the crops of basic grains, while for men it is the agroforestry system

Spatial modeling of the potential of agricultural or forestry production for sustainable land use planning

In Central Africa, oil palm is a major food-crop used in everyday cooking. All the countries of the region are importing palm oil, often from south-east Asia, to cover their domestic demand. Palm oil production is dominated by small scale agriculture, with a diversity going from the small backyard garden to the monospecific plantation of several hundred hectares. Most of the industrial plantations date from colonial periods. New industrial plantations have been expanding in the last decade, with successes and failures, with the help of southeast Asian and European multinationals and domestic investors. The States want to increase their national palm oil production and industrial investments. They hope for socioeconomic benefits and food security. Such plans for agricultural development also present threats such as deforestation, loss of biodiversity and land use conflicts, and caution and planning are needed to avoid negative social and environmental impacts. In order to provide decision-makers with accurate information and useful decision-making tools to plan the development of the palm oil sector at national and subregional scales, the WWF asked CIRAD to map lands potentially favourable to the production of sustainable (P&C RSPO) palm oil in 5 countries of the Congo basin: Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Central Africa. We use a step by step method to 1/ measure and locate territories which are suitable for oil palm culture, 2/ prevent threats over biodiversity and land use by respecting the social and environmental constraints edited by the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (P&C RSPO), 3/ plan development strategies for palm oil production which are coherent with the national context and specificities (through an evaluation of the adequacy of various production models). The maps resulting from this study are useful decision-making tools that allow analysing trade-offs between opportunities of production and prevention of threats on biodiversity and land use issues. These maps can be useful in the design of national programs of agricultural development that avoid deforestation and preserve biodiversity corridors. Our results in Gabon are consistent with the maps of biodiversity and conservation importance produced by the National Agency of National Parks. In Republic of Congo, they are used in the discussions on the agricultural component of the REDD+ program. (Texte intégral

Spatialized production models for sustainable palm oil in Central Africa: Choices and potentials

The communication presents an analysis of lands potentially favorable to the production of sustainable palm oil in accordance with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) principles and criteria, in 5 countries: Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. A spatial modeling exercise locates the areas (I) suitable to oil palm, (II) available after taking into account the RSPO social and environmental constraints, (III) profitable according to various production models. The two production models tested consist of an industry associated with out-growers, and smallholders' plantations associated with family extraction and micro oil mills. The smallholders model was declined in two scenarios, the first regarding as available only lands currently not-cultivated, the second authorizing the plantation of palm trees on lands used for commercial crops at a minimal distance of 2 km of villages (reserved for food-crops). The maps generated are useful decision-making tools. (Résumé d'auteur