Evaluation of ecosystem services of agroforestry systems

The PhD in Forest and Agroforestry Ecosystem Management at the University of Dschang will focus on the benefits of agroforestry systems, that combine forest cover and food and other commodity production.

Deforestation and the degradation of forest ecosystems in the Congo Basin are issues of concern, given the major role played by these forests in combating climate change, conserving biodiversity and preserving water resources. The expansion of agricultural land is the main cause of deforestation in the Congo Basin. In view of the vision of the countries in the sub-region, which is to achieve development and combat poverty, there is a gradual need to increase agricultural production, requiring an increase in production land to the detriment of forest land. This increase in agricultural land implies the deforestation of vast areas, leading to forest degradation, large-scale destruction of wildlife habitat and climate change.

It is therefore necessary to promote production systems that increase productivity without compromising sustainability, particularly in terms of deforestation and biodiversity loss.

Agroforestry systems, which integrate trees and other forms of life on the same land management unit, are seen as a land use option that can help resolve several threats to forests. In Cameroon, to diversify crops and production, farmers have adopted agroforestry systems by conserving or introducing useful woody species to their farms. These agroforestry systems offer a range of ecosystem services such as biodiversity and soil conservation, soil fertility maintenance and carbon sequestration. Through the various food products they provide, they also help to ensure food security and improve farmers’ living conditions. It is necessary to measure the ecosystem services of agroforestry systems over long periods to understand temporal variations in these services.

The successful applicant will build a database of agroforestry monitoring sites, and quantify the ecological, social and economic benefits that these systems provide. This will establish a baseline of study locations to monitor the effectiveness of agroforestry as a potential solution to maintaining forest cover while increasing human welfare.

Data collection methods include field inventories and socio-economic surveys. In the monitoring sites, plots will be delimited and floristic inventories carried out to assess biodiversity and analyse the structure, diversity and floristic richness of agroforestry systems. To characterise the agroforestry systems, mapping and standard structure indicators (height/individual, density, basal area of associated trees) and diversity indices will be used.

The successful applicant will then investigate how changes In agroforesty may impact various ecosystem services.
The aim is to see whether the level of biodiversity in an agroforestry system influences its productivity. The production of agroforestry systems with different levels of diversity and management methods will be compared qualitatively and quantitatively. Household surveys will be conducted to determine the supply services and use value of the species present in agroforestry systems. Inventory data will be used to quantify biomass to estimate the carbon stocks

Finally, the successful applicant will integrate their findings to integrating agroforestry systems into biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management policies are proposed.

This project is part of the Congo Basin Science Initiative Vegetation, Soil and Biogeochemistry Observatory, and will be begin long-term monitoring of agroforesty systems in the Congo Basin, and is part of the CBSI Science and Capacity Plan.