Agroforestry solutions for buffering climate variability and adapting to change

Abstract

This chapter will focus on increasing the adaptive capacity of agricultural systems in tropical and subtropical regions through agroforestry. Agroforestry as a concept resists and tries to counteract the way agriculture has been segregated from forests and forestry. Understanding, using and improving agroforestry implies a focus on the interactions between trees, annual crops and domestic stock, given the local abiotic factors of climate, soils, water and nutrient balances, as well as the biotic context (pests, diseases, antagonists, predators, pollinators and dispersal agents), and the use of land, external inputs, labour and knowledge. We pose and review the hypothesis that the presence of trees increases the degree of buff ering of climate variability from the perspective of an annual food crop, and that retention and the increase of trees in agricultural landscapes can be a relevant part of climate change adaptation strategies