PROJECT PURPOSE

Biophysical and policy research agenda

The objectives, activities and expected outputs for both the biophysical and policy research are outlined in table 3.

• Characterization of the biophysical and policy evironment will be undertaken at each of the proposed study areas. Specific emphasis will be given to an analysis of conditions under which farmers have already started to modify slash-and-burn systems and intensify land use. Such information will be derived from prior studies of land-use systems and from more specific reviews of farms within these systems.

• Using outputs from biophysical, socio-economic and policy research, a regional, geographically referenced database will be developed for the purpose of synthesizing regional information and identifying key socioeconomical and biophysical determinants and processes leading to slash-and-burn agriculture and deforestation. The regional GIS database will provide the global framework under which the research will be conducted and have potential impact.

• For both biophysical and socioeconomic reasons, not all land-use systems currently practised as alternatives to slash-and-burn are sustainable. To evaluate the sustainability of these systems, it is important that criteria be developed against which the systems can be assessed. These criteria will be established by a global working group consisting of participants from the three regions and other experts from relevant research areas. The criteria will be tested in a few selected areas.

• Based on the information gathered regionally and synthesized globally, and utilizing the sustainability criteria, potential alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture will be identified and documented in a geographically referenced database. This database will provide a global reference point for sharing and transferring information for regional and local research initiatives, and the potential relevance and introduction of new alternatives.

• To provide a focus for research and intervention, and based on agroecological and socioeconomic criteria, priority identification domains will be named in each study area. Given the wide spectrum of potential interventions, this activity will maximize the chances for the adoption and impact of sustainable alternatives through the identification of priorities for technology development and system improvement.

• At each study area, candidate systems will be evaluated under field conditions in priority recommendation domains, and their relative sustainability will be determined utilizing the sustainability criteria. Such evaluations may occur both on-station, or where appropriate, in farmers' fields, and will include systems currently practised in the study area and sustainable systems practised in other ecoregions but of potential relevance to new situations.

• Based on the perceptions and aspirations of farmers in priority recommendation domains and the biophysical and socio-economic factors affecting their decision-making processes, key interventions for the improvement of components will be identified. The potential of such improvements to contribute to enhanced system sustainability and productivity, and the principles governing their function, will be evaluated through strategic, process-oriented on-station research. Such research is essential to provide the basic understanding required to predict performance and impact of improved technology over a wider range of environments. Such studies may include agroforestry or legume-based systems with specific studies on components and processes such as nutrient cycling, management of crops and soil organic matter, weed dynamics and management, multipurpose tree improvement and management, and resource sharing or competition for light, water and nutrients.

• Strategic research on improved components and their interactions will generate information that allows the design of improved or new production systems. These systems must be evaluated on a long-term basis and their productivity, sustainability, environmental soundness and social acceptability will be monitored and assessed. Such research will be undertaken both on-station, where the emphasis will be on biophysical monitoring, and on-farm, where the focus will be on assessing the social acceptability, potentials and constraints to adoption. This on-station and on-farm research will provide a sound framework for studies on the emission of greenhouse gases and on land degradation and for identifying policy interventions that would enhance both the adoption and the sustainability of improved alternatives to slash-and-burn agriculture.

• This project would provide a framework, through support facilities and staff, for GCTE to undertake research on the impact of land-use change, through slash-and-burn agriculture, on biodiversity. GCTE's approach is first to investigate the implications of loss of biodiversity on ecosystem function (nutrient cycling, carbon fluxes, etc.). Then studies of the interactive effects of global change, particularly land-use change, on biodiversity and ecosystem function will be undertaken. GCTE's programme will also emphasize research on the viability of isolated populations. This is particularly appropriate for slash-and-burn as this activity normally leaves forest remnants of various sizes and configurations.

• As part of its effort to determine the effects of land clearing and agricultural intensification on quantities and pathways of carbon and nutrient loss (and their regulation) in the humid tropics, GCTE will measure emission of greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O) to the atmosphere, from slash-and-burn and associated land-use systems. Emission-controlling processes, such as the effects of cattle grazing on soil structure and the effects of an altered microclimate following land clearing on fire frequency and on litter decomposition in residual forest fragments, will be quantified; associated microbial processes will also be measured. The work on emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere will be undertaken in collaboration with the IGBP International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Core Project, with this project providing well-characterized sites and support facilities, where appropriate.

• One of the major aims of this project is to determine the extent and type of soil degradation associated with slash-and-burn practices. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding the dynamics of soil organic matter and the cycling of nutrients, particulary nitrogen and phosphorus, through the system. The key issue in the latter is to determine the quantities and pathways of nutrient loss from the system. Another important aspect of soil degradation that will be studied is the physical loss of soil material through hydrological pathways and by water erosion. GCTE can add a further global change component to this work by investigating soil organic matter dynamics under elevated CO₂ and by determining soil erosion potentials under altered rainfall regimes.

• To maintain the holistic nature of the project and to keep the multiplicity of issues and linkages in perspective, the following procedural mechanisms will be adopted for conducting policy research:

• Factors and policies will be considered at local, regional, national and international levels.

• Research will be conducted as much as possible with the participation of the farmers.

• Policy research will be conducted in continuous interaction with the biophysical research aimed at technology development.

• A multidisplinary approach will be used in the implementation of research activities.

• Consideration will be given to inter-sectorial and intrasectorial linkages and to the relationships among on-site and off-site factors.

• Important items to be included in the specific and more focused policy research are:

• fiscal policies (taxes, subsidies, etc.)

• trade and market policies (imports and exports regulations and taxes)

• monetary policies (credit, interest rates)

• organization policies (farmers' associations and participation, NGOs)

• tenure and property rights policies (land, trees, water, biodiversity)

• regulatory policies (regulations on use of land and natural resources)

• processing and marketing (agricultural products and inputs)

• services (extension, transport, education, health, communications)

• population growth and related policy issues

• gender and family issues

• international institutions (development organizations, donors, etc.)

• indigenous cultural and rights issues

• valuation of environmental benefits and costs

• Off-the-land alternatives for economic activity and employment

• labour and employment issues

The matrix presented in table 4 shows the levels at which socioeconomic and policy research activities will be conducted to achieve the objectives of the project.