sustainable use of biological diversity.pdf - India Environment Portal

Agroforestry homegardens in rural landscapes of Bangladesh
findings also show the potential of carbon sequestration,
thus contribute to reduce atmospheric carbon
(Kumar, 2006).
It is well established that tree-based homestead
and cropland agroforestry systems have some obvious
advantages over other production systems since
these can maintain production in a wide range of climatic
condition. Bangladesh’s northwestern region,
our study area, is particularly prone to drought due
to long-term climate variability and change (FAO,
2006). Agroforestry homegarden farming systems
in this drought-prone region provide a healthy ecosystem
for humans, animals, birds, livestock and
miscellaneous flora and fauna. These multistrata
agroforestry homegardens play a critical role in
moderating microclimate through soil water conservation,
reducing effects of heat stress and thus
influencing local air temperature and acting as a
barrier against soil erosion through reducing wind
speed and surface run-off in this drought-prone area
(Alam, 2008; FAO, 2006).
6. Sustainability issues
A homegarden system is sustainable when it maintains
several characteristics: it should be able to
maintain productivity through diverse crops for
meeting subsistence and cash needs of the households,
should enhance social and gender equity,
should be based on traditional wisdom, and should
ameliorate the surrounding environment (Huxley,
1999; Torquebiau, 1992; Kehlenbeck and Maass,
2006). The homegarden farmers of Bangladesh never
‘eat their seed corn’, i.e. maintain sustainable harvesting
of agroforestry products. Thus sustainable use,
reuse and recycling of resources in the homegardens
are consistent with ‘The Threefold Vision’ of the Satoyama
Initiative. Also consistent with the concept
of Japanese Satoyama, relationships exist between
different components of agroforestry homegarden
systems in Bangladesh. For instance, animal dung
is used in fertilizing crop lands, and the crop residues,
in return, are converted to animal feed; the
fallen leaves of trees increase soil fertility that result
in increased crop production and so on. These interrelationships
are maintained by humans for the
improvement of the system and benefits of rural
livelihood. A positive relationship between human
and nature exists in this way for time immemorial in
rural ecosystems.
The homegardens are a result of the traditional human-nature
relationship within the rural landscape
and their contribution to the country’s overall food
security and poverty alleviation through sustainable
management and utilization of agriculture, forestry,
animal husbandry, poultry and fishery is immense.
The management of these socio-ecological integrated
production systems is mostly based on traditional
ecological knowledge base (TEK) that has been
passed on from older generations. In poultry, animal
husbandry and fishery, however, modern scientific
knowledge has been integrated with TEK.
Multiple functions of homegardens
Provisioning services Regulating services Cultural services Supporting services
• Fruit
• Vegetable
• Spices
• Medicine
• Staple food
• Stimulus
• Timber
• Fodder
• Income generation
• Fishery products
• Livestock products
• Poultry products
• C-sequestration
• Flood control
• Ameliorating micro
climate
• Water quality
• Soil erosion
• Microclimate
• Pest and disease
control
• Benefit sharing
• Sacrifices
• Pride
• Pleasure
• Aesthetic
• Employment
• Social status
• Habitat for wild
flora and fauna
• Nutrient cycling
• Nutrient dispersal
• Seed dispersal
figure 2. ecosystem services provided by the agroforestry homegardens
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