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A Simple Planting Technique for Re-establishing Trees Where Frequent Inundation Occurs
Published on: January 26, 2018
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Community-driven tree planting greens the neighbouring landscape
Joshua Buxton1, Tom Powell2, John Ambler3
1Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK. j.buxton@exeter.ac.uk.
Scientific Reports
|September 15, 2021
Summary
Community-led agroforestry initiatives in Kenya demonstrate significant landscape-scale regreening. Remote sensing confirms positive impacts on tree planting and carbon sequestration, benefiting local ecosystems and agriculture.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Climate Change Mitigation
- Remote Sensing Applications
Background:
- Nature-based solutions (NbS) are key policy priorities for climate change but quantifying their benefits remains challenging.
- Community-led agroforestry programs, like The International Small group and Tree planting program (TIST), incentivize tree planting for agricultural and carbon sequestration benefits.
- Assessing the landscape-scale impacts of such initiatives requires robust monitoring methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To quantify the direct and indirect benefits of community-led agroforestry by TIST in Kenya using remote sensing.
- To evaluate the impact of TIST initiatives on landscape greening and carbon sequestration around Mount Kenya.
- To assess the spatial extent and influence of TIST activities on surrounding agricultural lands and local forests.
Main Methods:
- Utilized Landsat-7 satellite imagery to analyze landscape changes between 2000 and 2019.
- Quantified greening trends within TIST farmer groves and compared them to the wider landscape.
- Mapped the spatial extent of TIST groves and identified positive spill-over effects on adjacent areas.
Main Results:
- Identified significant positive greening trends in TIST groves covering 27,198 hectares.
- Detected positive spill-over effects influencing an additional 27,750 hectares of neighboring agricultural land, extending up to 360 meters.
- Observed benefits to local forests, including reduced extraction of fuelwood and fodder.
Conclusions:
- Community-led agroforestry initiatives, exemplified by TIST-Kenya, can achieve successful landscape-scale regreening over decadal timescales.
- Remote sensing provides a valuable tool for quantifying the multifaceted benefits of NbS.
- These findings support the scalability and effectiveness of community-driven climate change mitigation strategies.
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