A new study co-authored by scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre shows how maintaining and enhancing locally evolved agroforestry systems can help farmers adapt to climate change.

Published in the journal, Climatic Change, the study evaluated local vulnerability to climate change in villages in Vietnam and investigated how farmers are adapting.

Vietnam is considered one of the country’s most vulnerable to climate change. The increasing frequency, intensity and duration of severe weather events are posing major challenges to crop production and therefore food security and livelihoods in Vietnam and globally.

The study emphasizes the importance of local experience, accumulated over generations, in adapting to severe weather conditions.

Researchers found 13 tree species grown in home and forest gardens that could provide income, food, feed and other environmental benefits under harsh local climate conditions. While rice and rain-fed crops suffered over 40 % yield losses in years of extreme drought or flood, tree-based systems and cattle were less affected.

Download the full article (with subscription) from Springer: Multipurpose agroforestry as a climate change resiliency option for farmers: an example of local adaptation in Vietnam