Bӧckingstraße 55, Kӧln Mülheim 51063, Cologne, Germany.
Center for Sustainable Development, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Nov 10;742:140509. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140509. Epub 2020 Jun 24.
Regions affected by resource scarcity, poverty, and land-use conflicts need to advocate the merits of practices strongly grounded in sustainable land management. This review paper provides an analysis of agroforestry as an integrated system embedded in complex relations between resource uses in the Water-Energy-Land-Food (WELF) nexus. Using the African Sahel region as a case study, the paper explains the need for understanding land management practices, such as agroforestry, through the lens of trade-offs and benefits inherent in the WELF nexus. Agroforestry practices are demonstrated to be valuable interventions leading to i) resilience to climate stresses, ii) water, energy, and food securities, iii) mitigation of resource-oriented harbingers of conflicts and iv) development opportunities. These goals can also yield valuable results in terms of promoting sustainable development, i.e. functional ecosystems, livelihoods, and human security. Two overarching sub-nexuses, namely agroforestry-food-energy and agroforestry-food-water-climate, are identified in the Sahelian context and conceptualized. Primarily, the trade-offs outlined within these sub-nexuses are fuelwood vs. crops, use of land for more forests vs. more cropping, and water availability for agroforestry vs. agroforestry impacts on the water cycle. Despite the positive outcomes and opportunities, agroforestry systems in the Sahel still face some challenges such as vague land use rights, inadequate capacities and lack of investments. Policy recommendations are synthesized at three levels. This synthesis involves remedies to lessen pressures at the interlinks of WELF resource use, overarching remedies in the two sub-nexuses, and remedies across all the sectors and issues for improving agroforestry outcomes. Optimal remedies stress the importance of choosing the right land, water and plant combinations as well as incorporating efficiency measures and alternative sources. A successful agroforestry system is characterized by a conducive environment at the farm level in terms of institutions, management, enhancing the farmer's capacity, and good infrastructure.
受资源短缺、贫困和土地利用冲突影响的地区需要大力倡导以可持续土地管理为基础的实践。本文通过对水-能源-土地-粮食(WELF)关系中资源利用之间复杂关系为背景的农林复合系统进行分析，阐述了在非洲萨赫勒地区作为案例研究的土地管理实践，如农林复合经营的必要性。农林复合经营实践被证明是有价值的干预措施，可带来以下效益：缓解气候压力、水、能源和粮食安全，减轻资源导向冲突的先兆以及发展机会。这些目标也可以在促进可持续发展方面产生有价值的成果，例如功能性生态系统、生计和人类安全。在萨赫勒背景下确定并概念化了两个总体的次关联体，即农林复合经营-粮食-能源和农林复合经营-粮食-水-气候。主要的是，在这些次关联体中概述的权衡取舍包括薪柴与作物、土地更多用于森林与更多用于种植、以及水的可用性用于农林复合经营与农林复合经营对水循环的影响。尽管存在积极的成果和机会，但萨赫勒地区的农林复合系统仍面临一些挑战，例如土地使用权不明确、能力不足和缺乏投资。在三个层面上综合了政策建议。这种综合包括减轻 WELF 资源利用相互联系压力的补救措施、两个次关联体中的总体补救措施以及所有部门和问题的补救措施，以改善农林复合经营的结果。最佳补救措施强调了选择正确的土地、水和植物组合以及纳入效率措施和替代资源的重要性。一个成功的农林复合系统的特点是在机构、管理、增强农民能力和良好的基础设施方面，在农场层面上创造一个有利的环境。
