Many of the crop species of temperate agriculture originated and were first domesticated in the Near East (including Turkey. Iran. Iraq. Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine. Syria and Egypt). where their wild relatives and numerous landraces are still found today. It is an area of megadiversity of important food crops. pasture and rangeland species. The countries mentioned support a population of about 222 million which-with an average annual growth rate around 3%--is expected to more than double by 2025. Agricultural production. including pastoralism, is the principal economic activity of the majority of the population in this region. To meet national aims of food self-security, agricultural land use has been intensified and expanded, leading to severe erosion of biodiversity, and degradation of vegetation, land, and water. Large exclusionary reserves to preserve biodiversity. which remove land from productive use and do not take account of local needs. are unlikely to be popularly accepted; nor is exclusion necessarily the best means of conservation of many species and habitats active management may be required to conserve their diversity. Consequently. Existing traditional and multiple land uses. and the livelihoods that they support must be taken into consideration: ways to build niches for the maintenance of biodiversity within these agricultural systems must be devised. In-situ conservation of biodiversity over large areas of degraded arable- and rangelands in dry areas depends upon enlisting the active support of the land users. This can only be accomplished by a wide range of participatory methods. and by ensuring that land-users appreciate the benefits that can accrue through participatory co-management of natural resources and biodiversity. In June 1992. when world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro agreed on UNCED's Agenda 21. they requested the international research community to consider specific contributions to its implementation. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (IC ARDA). with its sister institute. the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). responded to this request by initiating a proposal in collaboration with the Arab Center for Studies of the Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) to establish a consortium in partnership with concerned national research institutes (NRls) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). For this purpose, a series of workshops was organized during 1994 and 1995 with support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Izmir meeting proceedings reported in this volume represent a follow-on to earlier meetings held in Amman. Jordan. to develop a regional project for biodiversity conservation in the Near East.

At the end of the same century, jungle rubber is left as the main reservoir of lowland forest biodiversity in the plains of Sumatra and probably West Kalimantan. Because of its nature as a complex agroforestry system, biodiversity and structure of these rubber gardens are similar to old secondary forest. The impact of rubber garden selective cleaning on biodiversity and composition is assessed by comparing them to undisturbed secondary vegetation. Results show that regularly cleaned plots have a distinctly lower biodiversity than not cleaned ones. The management intensity decides upon diversity and species composition of agroforestry systems. Several types of Rubber Agroforestry Systems (RAS) are currently being experimented in an on-farm trial network by the SRAP projects. RAS integrates biodiversity with improved cropping system through adaptation to farmers' strategies for land use and ressource management. It is now recognized that local farmers did not cause the majority of the fires, because properly used, fire in traditional shifting cultivation does not spread. The farmers actually, are interested in decreasing shifting cultivation (for the purpose of upland rice production) and are putting emphasis on more intensified and more productive systems based on tree-crops that require less land, new altematives such as RAS which produce a far more interesting return-to-labour and reduce risks. Improved. RAS increase farm income while requiring less land per household and support the development from shifting agriculture to a permanent tree crop based agriculture. The role of rubber agroforestry as an interesting alternative to other systems are also discussed in this paper, as well as the potential for RAS systems to rehabilitate #Imperata# grassland

Noordwijk.M van, 'Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn research in Indonesia: proceedings of a workshop Bogor, 6-9 June 1995', p.275, 1997 | Conversion of tropical rain forest to other land uses is a major concern at global level. Loss of globally unique biodiversity, release of large amounts of stored carbon to the atmosphere,immediate health and visibility problems caused by the haze during forest conversion are only part of the story. The loss of forests as a regulator of water flows and as provider oflocal income are a concern at more local scales. The 'Alternatives to Slash and Burn' (ASB) program was started to test ways to reduce the loss of tropical forests, by enhancing the intensity of agricultural use in already converted lands, and/or to reduce the loss of 'forest functions' in land uses that qualify as 'modified' or 'domesticated' forests. The first approachcame to be known as a 'segregate' approach (intensive agriculture + forest), the second as an'integrate' pathway of development. The ASB program started activities in Indonesia in 1993 and first embarked on a diagnostic phase, to characterize land use and the type of problems that are perceived by various stakeholders. In the second phase a more detailed analysis wasmade of the trade-offs between local and global concerns. In between local stakeholders concerns (income, food security) and global concerns (biodiversity, carbon stocks), a 'missingmiddle' was identified: impacts on what is broadly called 'watershed functions'. In phase 1 and 2 of the Alternatives to Slash and Burn program in Indonesia a number of farmer-developed land use practices were described and analyzed for benchmark areas in Lampung and Jambi that developed as alternative to annual-crop-based agriculture. These systems, broadly indicated as 'agroforests' provide income from domesticated forest and tree systems, with returns to labour exceeding those for upland annual crops, and with environmental values (carbon stocks, biodiversity) that are superior to short rotation crop/fallow systems. In the research, however, little attention was given to the broad category of 'watershed functions', while the main emphasis was on the lowland peneplain and lower foothills where erosion is not a major issue. To complement the Phase 1 and 2 results, a further effort was made to better understand the relationship between forests and derived land uses and these watershed functions - aiming again for a combination of a diagnostic phase ('what if any are the real problems?') and one aimed at practical solutions at farm level, in the context of existing policies for the forest-agriculture interface

Forests are human-dominated ecosystems. Many of the seemingly lightly managed or unmanaged forests are actually in use for agroforestry or for hunting and gathering. Agroforestry does reduce biodiversity, but it can also act as an effective buffer to forest clearance and conversion to other land uses, which present the greatest threat to forested ecosystems. In forests used for logging, whole-landscape management is crucial. Here, emphasis is placed on areas of intensive use interspersed with areas for conservation and catchment purposes. Management strategies for sustainable forestry are being developed, but there is a need for further interaction among foresters, ecologists, community representatives, social scientists, and economists.

This study is a documentation of the Maguindanawn indigenous agroforestry and biodiversity conservation practices. Participant observation, non-structured interviews and questionnaires were the methods used in the collection of data, supplemented by review of related documents. This study is descriptive and analytical. It illustrates and provides benchmark information about the Magindanawn culture and practices in Central Mindanao, Southern Philippines. There were three major concerns in this study. The first was the biophysical environment which includes climate, flora and fauna; land and land-use. Second, the agroforestry technologies were studied in terms of crops and cropping patterns, practices, and tools. Third, the social structure was examined including clan; demographic structure, political systems, religious organization and labor arrangement. The data analysis was guided by the conceptual framework of the Magindanawn culture, and the relationship and interaction between and among the above-mentioned concerns. Three indigenous agroforestry (Kasaparan) systems of the Magindanawn were identified namely: 1) pina-mamulan (mixed agroforestry) 2) dama-niog (coconut-based agroforestry 3) dama-pualas (forested lands). The analysis of these agroforestry systems provides conclusion that the Magindanawn culture has been traditionally linked to biodiversity conservation consciousness and practices. This work also gives several recommendations based on the results of the analysis. Finally, this thesis illustrates and provides benchmark information about the Magindanawn culture and practices in Central Mindanao, Southern Philippines

In China, major agroforestry systems are estimated to cover 45 million ha. Agrosilviculture is a dominant practice. Aquasilvicultures, e.g. tree-fish-arable crop and tree-fish-livestock systems, are alternatives for land use in the wetlands. Silvopastoral systems are popular in the northern and western regions. Compared to a monoculture, well-managed systems have many benefits. The recycling of residues is expected to increase the efficient use of natural resources. The C sink in the vegetation of major agroforestry systems in China was 179 Tg yr-1, and agroforestry is reported to have a positive effect on soil conservation and biodiversity. The major constraint on agroforestry is the most of the systems are on a low level of management, primarily resulting from a shortage of technical support. However, there is a great potential for the development of agroforestry in China. This paper presents recommendations concerning policy options, technical support, extension, and marketing in agroforestry.

Forest clearing, forest degradation through human disturbance, and the deterioration of land productivity due to inappropriate agricultural practices is a major problem in the tropics. Restoration of ecosystem health and productivity has generally relied on abandonment of land and subsequent natural for succession. In recent years there has been consideration of management options to accelerate recovery and restore productivity, biodiversity and other values. The use of tree plantations to catalyze restoration of degraded forests and lands in the tropics was addressed at a symposium in Washington DC in June 1996. The conclusions and suggestions for future research to develop appropriate management options are reported. There is strong evidence that plantations can facilitate forest succession in their understories through modification of both physical and biological site conditions. Changes in light, temperature and moisture at the soil surface enable germination and growth of seeds transported to the site by wildlife and other vectors from adjacent forest remnants. Development and design of management options to assist this process are required, taking into account socio-economic realities, development priorities and conservation goals.

Intensification of agriculture in the tropics has resulted from a shortage of farmland and insufficient food production to satisfy the needs of an expanding population. Many tropical farmers are challenged by the prospect of intensifying their production while sustaining or improving the fertility and productivity of soils with only locally available natural resources. The waste products of plant and animal production represent some of the most abundant natural resources available for use by tropical farmers to achieve these goals. The efficient use and management of these resources depends on understanding the role that decomposer biota play in regulating the structure and function of agricultural ecosystems. Furthermore, the development of agricultural management practices which promote the beneficial attributes of these organisms will be essential to sustaining the productivity and environmental integrity of tropical agriculture. Finally, understanding the role of biodiversity among decomposer biota in maintaining the functional properties of tropical agricultural ecosystems is critical to achieving this goal. The objective of this review is to further that understanding by describing the taxonomic and functional diversity of decomposer biota in the tropics and evaluating known links between their diversity and the function of agricultural ecosystems. We further describe the effects of changing land-use and agricultural intensification on the structure and diversity of decomposer communities in the tropics and suggest some priorities for future research.

The Grassland biome of South Africa is ofmajor importance to this country's agriculture, mining and conservation practices. The extent of urbanisation and economic activity within this biome has led to the destruction or alteration of large areas of it, and concerns over this have led to the formation of a Grasslands Biome Project. A primary objective of the project is to improve our understanding of the workings of grassland systems, so that land use planning and conservation practices can be facilitated. The identification and description of major vegetation types and subtypes in the grasslands of southern KwaZulu-Natal forms part ofthis study. A total of547 sample riots were randomly distributed over an area of 14 000 km 2 between Estcourt and the Eastern Cape border. Stratification was based on Turner's Physiographic Regions ( 1967), Phillips' Bioclimatic Subregions ( 1973 ), and terrain units. The vegetation was classified by means of TWINSP AN and Braun-Blanquet procedures. Altogether 27 plant communities and 41 sub-communities were identified, described phytosociologically and ecologically interpreted. The diversity of these grassland communities was compared to that of grasslands in other parts of the country, and their conservation status was assessed in terms of land utilisation, endemism and biodiversity. | Die grasveldbioom van Suid-Mrika is van groot belang vir die land se mynbou, landbou en natuurbewaring. Verstedeliking en ekonomiese bedryf binne die bioom het tot die vernietiging of verandering van groot gedeeltes daarvan gelei, en bekommernis hieroor het tot die vorming van 'n Grasveldbioomprojek gelei. 'n Primere doel van die projek is om die mens se begrip van die funksionering van grasveldsisteme te verbeter, sodat landgebruikbeplanning en natuurbewaring kan geskied. Die identifikasie en beskrywing van hoof plantegroeitipes in die grasveld van suidelike KwaZulu-Natal vorm 'n deel van die huidige studie. 'n Totaal van 547 monsterpersele is ewekansig oor 'n gebied van 14 000 krn2 tussen Estcourt en die Ooskaap grens uitgeplaas. Stratifisering is gebaseer op Turner se Fisiografiese Eenhede (1967), Phillips se Bioklimatiese Subeenhede (1973), en terreineenhede. Die plantegroei is deur middel van TWINSPAN en Braun-Blanquet-prosedures geklassifiseer. 'n Totaal van 27 plantgemeenskappe en 41 subgemeenskappe is geidentifiseer, beskryf en ekologies gei:nterpreteer. Die diversiteit van hierdie grasveldgemeenskappe is vergelyk met die van grasvelde in ander dele van die land, en hulle bewaringsstatus is geanaliseer in terme van benutting, endemisme en biodiversitiet.

The study characterised stand structure and floristic composition of woody life forms in three, 16-18 year old secondary stands that regenerated after pasture abandonment, and three nearby old-growth stands of tropical rainforest in lowland Costa Rica. Basal area and stem density for each of four plant size classes (seedling, saplings, treelets, trees) were similar among stand types, but density of adult canopy palms (individuals over 10 cm dbh), was lower in the secondary stands. The observed rapid woody regrowth, compared to other published studies in the lowland neotropics, can be attributed to moderate land use and possibly to the influence of nutrient-rich volcanic soils in the study area. Overall, plant species richness was lower in the secondary stands, but this difference was less pronounced in the smallest size classes (seedlings, saplings). Median percentage similarity of all pairwise stand comparisons showed that floristic composition of saplings (stems over 1 m tall and over 5 cm dbh) was more similar between secondary and old-growth stands than for trees (stems over 10 cm dbh). Because the potential value of secondary forests in conserving woody plant diversity appears highest for the young size classes, we suggest that further studies on floristic composition, especially those addressing the dynamics of the understorey component, are needed to refine our understanding of the role of this natural resource in the maintenance of plant biodiversity in disturbed landscapes.