ZeroMission’s carbon offset projects support smallholder farmers. The reforestation projects under the Plan Vivo standard all include, to a greater or lesser degree, agroforestry activities (as seen in the photo below from Trees for global Benefits-project in Uganda and the ArBolivia project). Agroforestry is the practice of planting crops amidst trees and it can be supported through carbon offsetting.
On Monday this week the Agroforestry Network launched a report on the role of agroforestry in meeting the SDGs. The report was written by representatives of organisations such as the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Stockholm Resilience Centre and Vi-skogen. They reviewed over 1000 scientific publications as well as case studies.
These are some of the key points from the seminar:
- Smallholder farmers with less than 5 ha of land, produce almost half of the world’s food
- International institutions such as the UNFCCC, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank recognise the important of agroforestry for sustainable food production.
- Conversion of agricultural land to agroforestry can sequester large amounts of carbon (27.2 ± 13.5 tons CO2e per ha annually, at least for the first 14 years after establishment).
- Studies show that agroforestry increases crop yields.
The report identifies the SDGs to which agroforestry can contribute most. These are the same SDGs that the Plan Vivo reforestation projects address:
For more information on how carbon offset through Plan Vivo is supporting agroforestry, download our book “Roten till det goda” here.