Periodic Reporting for period 2 - UNDERTREES (Creating knowledge for UNDERsTanding ecosystem seRvicEs of agroforEStry systems through a holistic methodological framework)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-07-01 al 2025-06-30
The objective of UNDERTREES is to form an international and inter-sectoral network of 15 organisations in Europe, Africa, South America, working on a joint research programme on agroforestry (AF) and ecosystem services (ES) assessment. The work carried out by UNDERTREES highlighted the complexity of addressing diverse systems such as agroforestry by integrating different yet complementary disciplines. Progress towards the objectives included, on the one hand, the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the factors influencing the provision of ecosystem services from agroforestry systems, in particular provisioning and regulating, in relation to climate change, emissions, water management, while maintaining sustainable levels of production of food, timber, and other benefits, e.g. contrast heat stress in livestock, provide alternative fodder. On the other hand, the training schools delivered by UNDERTREES represented an excellent space for sharing and learning across continents; as well as gather feedback on preferred learning approaches, and needs from practitioners, students and different levels, researchers, and communities who rely on production from agroforestry systems for their livelihoods. Finally, participatory approaches were paramount to engaging with all relevant actors involved in agroforestry production systems. Their knowledge and feedback on agroforestry ecosystem services was important in the definition of local action plans for developing sustainable and viable agroforestry systems. The information is the useful for future EU CAP revisions and relevant policies.
After a extended period of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 58 staff exchanges were carried out involving partners in Europe, Africa and Latin America. Four Training Schools were completed, two in Italy and two in Chile, generating considerable interest and engagement from the countries of the project and beyond, including Asia. Fieldwork in European, African and South American sites was carried out, complemented with scenario analysis and socio-economic analysis to combine work on the ground and modelling approaches to better understand ecosystem services from agroforestry systems. Two project conferences took place in March 2023 and June 2025; they were very good opportunities to share findings and engage with interested stakeholders. Stakeholder networks were created, followed by a multi-actor engagement on the definition of ecosystem services from agrofoestry. This highlighted the importance of participatory approaches to support the development of local action plans, and further on, of guidelines for EU CAP development. Additionally, while the project did not aim at producing commercially exploitable results, important results include the work on (i) the socio-economic analysis across EU27, the UK, and Switzerland classified regions into high, medium, and low potential for agroforestry adoption, helping tailor support strategies to local contexts; (ii) the multi-criteria sustainability evaluations, using tools like the Analytical Network Process (ANP), assess environmental, economic, and social indicators to develop holistic sustainability criteria and identify best practices; (iii) the SEICAT tool being developed to assess the socio-economic impacts of non-native trees in Chilean agroforestry systems, integrating community knowledge to create locally appropriate and effective management strategies; (iv) ecological-economic modelling in the Ecuadorian Amazon showed that organic/agroecological cocoa cultivation in agroforestry systems can match conventional farming in income while offering better environmental outcomes, supporting Ecuador’s sustainability goals; and (v) the prototyping of the Agroforestry Sustainability Index (AFSI) in Spain.
Agroforestry (AF), “the deliberate integration of woody vegetation (trees and/or shrubs) as an upper storey on land, with pasture (consumed by animals) or an agricultural crop in the lower storey” (Mosquera-Losada et al., 2009) has risen to prominence as a land use to help address climate change and provide environmental, economic, and social benefits. The tradition of separating between science and practice in agriculture and in forestry has led to untapping opportunities for a functional use of trees in agroecosystems in order to sustain food, fibre and timber production. Trees have great potential to play an important role in the sustainable management of agricultural landscapes increasing ES generated by both traditional and innovative integrated cropping systems. ES are benefits that the human population derive directly or indirectly from ecosystem functions. Supplying the increasing demand for provisioning services (food, energy, minerals) often comes at the cost of decreasing cultural, regulating or supporting services (MEA 2005). The ES concept proved applicable for the comprehensive assessment of agroecosystems, highlighting trade-offs among services. However, it needs to be further developed to consider the relationship between the application of agricultural inputs and the resulting negative externalities which may derive from them, e.g. soil losses, greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, pesticide resistance, biodiversity losses, contamination of soil or water. In the EU, the area of AF systems is approx. 8.8% of the agricultural land. It is grouped in three main agroforestry categories, with specific subcategories: arable AF; livestock AF; AF with high value trees. Compared to conventional agriculture, AF may contribute significantly to carbon sequestration, increase several regulating ES, e.g. soil conservation, fertility, enhance biodiversity. Positive effects on provisioning ES (food, fibre. timber production) by AF systems seem to be globally unclear compared to conventional agriculture. In tropical regions, AF has been widespread as a traditional land use developed by subsistence farmers and as an important livelihoods option to tackle several challenges addressed in the global development agenda. In the last decades, land-sparing to facilitate the expansion of intensive agriculture has led to decreasing of tree presence on farmland. Intensification of tree crop cultivation, e.g. cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is associated with deforestation and loss of biodiversity and ES. Sustainability assessment of AF systems is commonly focused on a small number of indicators and ES. Until today stakeholder involvement in the assessment process has been poor; this should be increased to complete a holistic framework in which biophysical measurements are complemented by monetary and socio-cultural data. There is a need to build a shared, comprehensive, strengthened methodology for the assessment of ES in agroforestry systems to define new sustainable and efficient practices for land management. Novel research pathways should be designed with an inter-sectoral multi-actor approach to create a holistic methodological framework, such is the objective of UNDERTREES: 1.Go beyond biophysical and monetary evaluation towards a common method for ES assessment at various temporal and spatial scales; 2.Involve stakeholders to map and estimate ES; 3.Adopt multiscale approaches to inform regional, national and EU policymakers.