Environmental Services of Agroforestry Systems

Contents: Preface/Florencia Montagnini. 1. Soil carbon sequestration in natural and managed tropical forest ecosystems/R. Lal. 2. Carbon sequestration in pastures, Silvo-Pastoral Systems and forests in four regions of the Latin American Tropics/Maria Cristina Amezquita, Muhammad Ibrahim, Tangaxuhan Llanderal, Peter Buurman and Edgar Amezquita. 3. Environmental services of native tree plantations and agroforestry systems in Central America/Florencia Montagnini, Daniela Cusack, Bryan Petit and Markku Kanninen. 4. Carbon sequestration in rural communities: is it worth the effort?/Jens B. Aune, Alene T. Alemu and Kamala P. Gautam. 5. Shade coffee agro-ecosystems in Mexico: a synopsis of the environmental services and socio-economic considerations/Sarah Davidson. 6. A review of the agroforestry systems of Costa Rica/Alvaro Redondo Brenes. Index.

From the Preface: "This special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Forestry is one of several outcomes of the First World Congress in Agroforestry that took place in Orlando, Florida, USA, 27 June to 02 July, 2004. Several sessions and symposia dealt with environmental services of agroforestry systems. Agroforestry can also have an indirect effect on carbon sequestration and on biodiversity when it helps decrease pressure on natural forests, which are the largest sink of terrestrial carbon and are also large reservoirs of biodiversity. Another indirect avenue of carbon sequestration is through the use of agroforestry technologies for soil conservation, which could enhance carbon storage in trees and soils. Agroforestry systems with perennial crops may be important carbon sinks, while intensively managed agroforestry systems with annual crops are more similar to conventional agriculture (Montagnini and Nair, 2004)."