Forest foods play a key role in helping the rural poor cope with seasonal shortages, recurrent climate anomalies and economic downturns.

Thornton et al., 2012

Adapted from Scherr et al., 2012

Extra facts

  • Agroforestry (trees on farms), which increases soil fertility, lessens soil erosion and provides other environmental benefits, can help farmers deal with increased climate variability. (Thorlakson and Neufeldt 2012).
  • Farming communities living near forested watersheds are impacted less and receive higher profits during droughts (Pattanayak and Kramer 2001).
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Methods, caveats and issues

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Sources

  • Thornton P, Cramer L, eds. 2012. Impacts of climate change on the agricultural and aquatic systems and natural resources within the CGIAR’s mandate. CCAFS Working Paper 23. Copenhagen: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. (Available from http://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/21226)
  • Pattanayak SK, Kramer R. 2001. Worth of watersheds: a producer surplus approach for valuing drought control in eastern Indonesia. Environment and Development Economics 6:123–145.
  • Thorlakson T, Neufeldt H. 2012. Reducing subsistence farmers' vulnerability to climate change: evaluating the potential contributions of agroforestry in western Kenya. Agriculture & Food Security 2012 1:15.
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