Crous-Duran, J.

den Herder, M.

Giannitsopoulos, M.

Graves, A.

Kay, S.

Moreno, G.

Mosquera-Losada, M.R.

Palma, J.H.N.

Pantera, A.

Roces-Diaz, J.

English

UTL Repository

  Agroforestry policies  1014th European Agroforestry Conference  Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use Agroforestry can mitigate environmental problems in European agricultural deficit areas Kay S1*, Roces- 1, Crous-Duran J2, Giannitsopoulos M3, Graves A3, den Herder M4, Moreno G5, Mosquera-Losada MR6, Pantera A7, Palma J2, Szerencsits E1, Herzog F1  (1) Department of Agroecology and Environment, Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland (2) Forest Research Centre, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal (3) Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom (4) European Forest Institute, Helsinki, Finland (5) Forestry Research Group, Universidad de Extremadura, Plasencia, Spain (6) Crop Compostela; Campus Universitario s/n, 27002 Lugo, Spain (7) Forestry and Natural Environment Management, TEI Stereas Elladas, Greece *Corresponding author: sonja.kay@agroscope.admin.ch  Abstract Agricultural production is one of the main causes for pressure on natural resources and environment in Europe. Agroforestry is known to provide food, fodder and material while enhancing ecosystem services and environment. In this context, this study evaluates how agroforestry can help to reduce environmental pressure in Europe. In the first step, we localised environmental deficit regions in European farmland areas based on a literature review and existing digital spatial information. For the second step local agroforestry experts were consulted to propose agroforestry systems, which they recommend to farmers of those regions to mitigate the environmental deficits.  Keywords: ecosystem services; deficit regions; carbon storage; biodiversity  Introduction In Europe, environmental pressures such as water pollution or impacts of climate change have been increasing over the last decades. With the Nitrate Directive (91/676/CEE) in 1991, the Water Framework Directive (Directive 2000/60/EC) in 2000, and the Biodiversity Strategy in 2010, the European Commission showed awareness to environmental problems and tried to mitigate undesirable effects. Nonetheless, these problems persist and are linked to or caused by (intensive) agricultural production.  In this context, agroforestry (AF) can play an important role in future agricultural policy to mitigate critical emissions: agroforestry systems are known to simultaneously provide food, fodder and material whilst generating ecosystem services such as soil protection, water regulation, landscape diversity and (functional) biodiversity (Torralba et al. 2016). Additionally they have a great potential for climate mitigation and adaption (Hart et al. 2017).   Against this background, the European AGFORWARD project (www.agforward.eu) tried to answer the question, what agroforestry can do to help reaching the above-mentioned environmental targets. The study presented here was conducted as part of this project and is organized in two steps: First, based on a literature review and existing digital spatial information, farmland areas with potential (overlapping) environmental deficits in Europe were localised. Secondly, local agroforestry experts were consulted to propose agroforestry systems, which they recommend to farmers of those regions to mitigate the environmental deficits.      Agroforestry policies  1024th European Agroforestry Conference  Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use Materials and methods In this study, the focus was on agricultural land in Europe, both arable land and grassland et al. 2013; BFS 2015) without the Natura 2000 areas (EEA 2015), existing Agroforestry areas (den Herder et al. 2017) and the High Nature Value Farmland (EEA 2015). We proceeded in two steps: 1. Based on literature and existing information, we identified areas with potential environmental deficits in i) soils (soil erosion by wind and water, soil organic carbon), ii) water (water pollution by nitrates, water use efficiency in irrigated land), iii) affected by climate change (e.g. rising temperature) and iv) deficits in ecological functions (pollination and pest control deficits, threats to soil biodiversity). These analyses resulted in nine continental scale maps of ecosystem service deficits. By combining the maps, we created a heat map for environmental deficits to identify priority regions for the implementation of AF. 2. Based on participatory research and development (R&D) in 40 AGFORWARD working groups across Europe, we propose specific agroforestry systems that can mitigate the above-mentioned deficits and reduce the critical loads. Those systems are tailored to the respective deficit regions and based on advice from local agroforestry specialists. This resulted in a matrix of agroforestry systems divided into arable and grassland.  Results In total, more than half of European agricultural was in good condition and grasslands were less harmed than croplands. While e.g. climate change (temperature increase until 2050) affected more than 80% of arable and grasslands; soil erosion by wind was almost not relevant. The worst 10 % of the area with accumulated deficits were defined as priority regions, where the implementation of AF can be particularly effective. Regional hotspot areas for environmental deficits are the north-western part of France, Denmark, the centre of Spain, the North (Po region) and the south-west (Sicily) of Italy and the eastern part of Romania. Regional experts suggested suitable agroforestry systems for affected cropland and grassland per biogeographical region. Table 1 gives an extract of the recommended systems, the potential tree species, number of trees per hectare, tree products and suitable crops.  Table 1: Extract of expert recommendation summary of suitable agroforestry systems  Region Type Species Trees ha-1 System Crops Tree ProductsMediterranean lowlands Silvopastural single trees Poplar; Peduncolate oak  57 lines grass fodder tree,timberMediterranean hills Silvoarable single trees Fruit trees 417 lines fodder crops fruits Atlantic Silvopastural single trees Poplar 25 boundary grazing, hay, silage timberAtlantic Silvopastural single trees Ash and Oak 400 single tree scattered grazing, hay, silage fodder tree, timber Discussion The analysis addressed nine deficits indicators and their occurrence in European agricultural land. The best available data were used, being aware that differences in scales (100  1000 m), time periods (2006 - 2017) and objectives (e.g. modelled nitrate losses in EU vs. nitrate losses in Switzerland) exist and might result in spatial inaccuracies (Schulp et al. 2014).   Agroforestry policies  1034th European Agroforestry Conference  Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use Additionally, our results provided ideas for suitable tree and crop species and a possible composition of agroforestry systems. Nonetheless, we are aware that the systems are highly dependent on soil, water and climate conditions of a specific plot or location. The underlying hypothesis that agroforestry can mitigate the environmental deficits was verified in various studies at plot and landscape scale (e.g. Nair et al. 2007; Reisner et al. 2007; McIvor et al. 2014).  Conclusion The study provided an indication on where and which kind of agroforestry can mitigate the environmental problems in Europe and help to reach the ambitious European policy targets.  References BFS (2015) Arealstatistik 2004 -https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/raum-umwelt/erhebungen/area.html (accessed 18/04/2018). den Herder M, Moreno G, Mosquera-Losada RM, Palma jhn, Sidiropoulou A, Santiago-Freijanes JJ, Crous-Burgess PJ (2017) Current extent and stratification of agroforestry in the European Union. Agric Ecosyst Environ 241:121 132.  EEA (2015) Natura 2000 data - the European network of protected sites.  Hart K, Allen B, Keenleyside C, et al (2017) Research for Agri Committee - the Consequences of Climate Change for Eu Agriculture. Follow-Up To the Cop21 - Un Paris Climate Change Conference.  McIvor I, Youjun H, Daoping L, et al (2014) Agroforestry: Conservation trees and erosion prevention. Encycl Agric Food Syst 1: 208 221.  Nair VD, Nair PKR, Kalmbacher RS, Ezenwa I V (2007) Reducing nutrient loss from farms through silvopastoral practices in coarse-textured soils of Florida, (USA). Ecol Eng 29: 192 199.  Reisner Y, de Filippi R, Herzog F, Palma J (2007) Target regions for silvoarable agroforestry in Europe. Ecol Eng 29:401 418.  Schulp JEC, Burkhard B, Maes J, Van Vliet J, Verburg PH (2014) Uncertainties in ecosystem service maps: A comparison on the European scale. PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109643 Torralba M, Fagerholm N, Burgess PJ, Moreno G, Plieninger T (2016) Do European agroforestry systems enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services? A meta-analysis. Agric Ecosyst Environ 230: 150 161.   (2013) Continental-scale assessment of provisioning soil functions in Europe. Ecol Process 2: 32.    

Agroforestry can mitigate environmental problems in european agricultural deficit areas

Universidade Técnica de Lisboa

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Agroforestry can mitigate environmental problems in european agricultural deficit areas

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