Unlocking the potential of agroforestry as a nature-based solution for localizing sustainable development goals: A case study from a drought-prone region in rural India

Agroforestry enhances farmers’ ability to adapt to climate change and delivers multiple ecological, social, and economic benefits. However, scientific evidence linking agroforestry as a Nature-based Solution (NbS) to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular the localization of these goals, is limited. Using a case study from a drought-prone region of southern India, this paper uses a qualitative research methodology to demonstrate how agroforestry offers NbS that localize 10 of the 17 SDG targets. In doing so, it identifies farmers' intrinsic motivations, barriers to the adoption of agroforestry practices as means to adapt to climate hardships, and the role of the carbon market in rewarding environmental stewardship.This case study focuses on the farmers’ narratives, and puts their perspectives at the forefront, emphasizing on basic needs of the poorest of the rural poor, illustrating the “real world” setting of developing countries. The information presented in this paper will be of interest to practitioners, researchers, and policymakers working on community-based NbS in developing countries, as well as those interested in agroforestry as a strategy for advancing the SDGs and its scope under global initiatives as UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration

Climate-Induced Elevational Range Shifts and Increase in Plant Species Richness in a Himalayan Biodiversity Epicentre

10.1371/journal.pone.0057103PLoS ONE82

Elevational plant species richness patterns and their drivers across non-endemics, endemics and growth forms in the Eastern Himalaya

Despite decades of research, ecologists continue to debate how spatial patterns of species richness arise across elevational gradients on the Earth. The equivocal results of these studies could emanate from variations in study design, sampling effort and data analysis. In this study, we demonstrate that the richness patterns of 2,781 (2,197 non-endemic and 584 endemic) angiosperm species along an elevational gradient of 300-5,300 m in the Eastern Himalaya are hump-shaped, spatial scale of extent (the proportion of elevational gradient studied) dependent and growth form specific. Endemics peaked at higher elevations than non-endemics across all growth forms (trees, shrubs, climbers, and herbs). Richness patterns were influenced by the proportional representation of the largest physiognomic group (herbs). We show that with increasing spatial scale of extent, the richness patterns change from a monotonic to a hump-shaped pattern and richness maxima shift toward higher elevations across all growth forms. Our investigations revealed that the combination of ambient energy (air temperature, solar radiation, and potential evapo-transpiration) and water availability (soil water content and precipitation) were the main drivers of elevational plant species richness patterns in the Himalaya. This study highlights the importance of factoring in endemism, growth forms, and spatial scale when investigating elevational gradients of plant species distributions and advances our understanding of how macroecological patterns arise.Kumar Manish, Maharaj K. Pandit, Yasmeen Telwala, Dinesh C. Nautiyal, Lian Pin Koh, Sudha Tiwar

The increase in number of species at the uppermost 200 m elevations of the mountain passes during the last century, scaled by available habitat area.

<p>The increase in number of species at the uppermost 200 m elevations of the mountain passes during the last century, scaled by available habitat area.</p

Magnitude of range expansions and contractions in alpine species of Sikkim Himalaya.

<p>The difference in lower and upper range margins for a species is taken as its range extent. ‘0′ represents no changes between historic and recent range extents, ‘+’ represents positive changes in historic and recent range extents i.e., range expansion, whereas ‘−’ represents range contraction between historic and recent range extents.</p

Comparative species richness patterns of endemic alpine species.

<p>The recent and historical patterns are shown by elevation, scaled by available habitat area (summed across 100 m elevational bins). The vertical lines represent the 50% cumulative species count for historical (solid) and recent (dashed) surveys.</p