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An e-publication by the World Agroforestry Centre |
IMPERATA GRASSLAND REHABILITATION USING AGROFORESTRY
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Chapter 5 5.1 Introduction 5.1.1 What is Assisted Natural Regeneration?
Assisted natural regeneration (ANR) is a flexible approach to reforestation that:
Natural regeneration. "Pioneer" trees are the natural regeneration already growing in grasslands. These pioneers are already well established and adapted for the site. ANR also stimulates new natural regeneration from seed from nearby natural forest. In both cases, by using naturally occurring trees, ANR avoids the problem of matching species to the site. The encouragement of these species can help restore a diverse, native forest. Imperata grasslands. Preventing fire assists natural regeneration in Imperata grasslands, other grasslands (Miscanthus florida, Themeda triandra, Saccharum spontaneum, Capillipedium parviflorum), and secondary forest. Pressing (Section 3.3.1) is effective in Imperata and Saccharum. Community approach. Assisted natural regeneration has been successfully implemented in village projects on communal or public lands. Full community participation is necessary to prevent fire. In the Philippines, ANR has been used in programs giving villagers legal tenure on national lands, in return for the assistance of the villagers in converting grasslands and mixed brushlands into forest. ANR techniques can also be used on individual farms, especially for fallows and agroforests. Where the ANR approach has been implemented successfully, Imperata grasslands develop into secondary forest. Compared to conventional reforestation with a single tree species, the ANR approach may have social, environmental, and cost advantages. Depending upon the site, it has the potential to:
Akha people who migrated to this village in the mid-1970s were forced to settle in an area dominated by Impemta, with small scattered patches of forest and bamboo. The villagers wanted a community forest for production and for spiritual needs, so they set aside several hundred hectares of Imperata fallow for forest regeneration. In the forest regeneration area, they:
After eighteen years, the village forest had more than a hundred species. About half the species are typical of primary forest. The population has increased and now there is not enough land for villagers to fallow their agricultural fields. Even so, the villagers are continuing to maintain their forest. To handle the increased land pressure, they:
The desire to obtain land rights and citizenship is helping to motivate these villagers to manage the forest in their village, which is within an important watershed.
Here are some problems that can prevent ANR from succeeding, together with possible solutions. Lack of community participation.
Conflicting laws and regulations; insecure land and tree tenure. If communities are not legally allowed to own, enter, or manage their surrounding forests, then the community will not cooperate with fire prevention and maintenance for ANR. Negotiate tree or land tenure as part of the project, to give people long-term interest in planting or caring for trees. Poverty. Local people must provide for their short-term needs. Their time and possibly the ANR area is needed for food production.
Labor scarcity. ANR activities are labor intensive. Labor often becomes a limiting factor, since ANR is usually applied in remote grassland areas with low population densities.
Inadequate extension. Because ANR activities are spread throughout the year, project staff cannot supervise all activities, and must put more responsibility in the hands of villagers.
Lack of staff support. Foresters or other project staff might not support or accept the ANR approach because it is new to them and may seem more complicated than conventional reforestation.
Planning uncertainties. Total nursery costs, maintenance activities, and production are difficult to predict because of uncertainties in the number of seedlings or wildlings needed for enrichment plantings, the time period for the natural woody species to close canopy, and the composition and volume of the secondary forest vegetation that will eventually emerge.
Fire.
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