Agroforestry as a Nature-Based Solution for Reducing Community Dependence on Forests to Safeguard Forests in Rainfed Areas of India

Abstract

The communities living in the areas that are devoid of irrigation facilities usually categorized as “rainfed areas” cannot meet their subsistence need through conventional agriculture. People in these areas are often forced to adopt alternate livelihood option including extraction of resources from the nearby forests. Extraction in the form of food, fuel, fodder, timber, etc. is more in rainfed regions compared to the areas where agriculture can fulfill such demands. The ever-increasing population of the rainfed areas has resulted in rapid upsurge in the extent and magnitude of extraction. This poses a serious question on self-sustainability of the forests. Forests in such regions are at the various levels of threats in the form of overexploitation, degradation and loss of biodiversity. Situation and site-specific agroforestry models can act as one of the land management intervention to safeguard the forests. Agroforestry provides opportunity to use the same piece of land for multiple benefits such as enhanced crop yield, improved soil quality, supply of fuelwood, fodder and timber, improvement of biodiversity and carbon sequestration, etc. Agroforestry in such regions could serve as one of the options of nature-based solution (NbS) to reduce community dependence on forests. We discuss the various aspects of agroforestry in the context of rainfed areas of India to qualify agroforestry as one of the viable options of NbS. We also present some of the research initiatives in the country in recent years for evolving suitable agroforestry models that could be tested to qualify as NbS.