(Bac C-D 2012)

Agroforestry, that is the cultivation of trees together with crops can help farmers cope with several of the adverse consequences of climate change. The world Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) has assessed the potential for Agroforestry to help adapt to climate change. Researchers have found that planting trees between crops and in the boundaries around crops can help prevent soil erosion, restore soil fertility, and provide shade for other crops.
Agroforestry also has the benefits of contributing to climate change mitigation, because trees and shrubs tend to sequester more carbon than other crops.

Given that deforestation and agriculture together account for 32 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, some argue that farmers in developing countries, who are so at risk from climate change, should be able to improve their livelihoods by participating in carbon emissions trading as part of the Kyoto Protocol's clean Development Mechanism. Odin Knudsen, formerly senior manager of the Carbon Finance Unit of the World Bank, says that carbon payments to farmers could encourage them to change their farming practices in ways that benefit the globe while also helping to enhance their incomes. But to achieve these goals, the Clean Development Mechanism would need to change in several respects. Agricultural land use change and forest preservation should be included as eligible activities, procedures for gaining payments for afforestation and reforestation should be simplified, and limits to payments in these categories should be removed. Then farmers' cooperatives, or even rural banks, could arrange for certifying the group's carbon sequestration, applying for carbon payments, and distributing funds back to farmers.

Extracted from International Food Policy Research institute (IFPRI) Forum, December 2006; p. 11

Vocabulary
- To enhance: to improve, to increase.

Questions
Answer the following questions using your own words.
1) According to the text, what does agroforestry consist in? (2 points)
2) Referring to the text, give the advantages of agroforestry? (4 points)
3) Relying on the text, how can agroforestry influence climate change? (3 points)
4) According to the text, what must be done to meet agroforestry objectives? (5 points)
5) Comment on the following statement: "A person who plants a tree is a useful person to his/ her society". (6 points)