MITIGATION

The contribution of agroforestry systems to climate change mitigation is mainly related to their contribution to carbon storage. Papanastasis (2015) points out that in agroforestry systems, in addition to the significant amount of carbon sequestered in aboveground biomass, trees also store carbon in the soil through their root system. Therefore, when such systems are established on agricultural soils they substantially increase the carbon sequestration capacity of agriculture. They also contribute directly to maintaining the carbon storage potential through their highly positive effect on the water economy. Their contribution lies in preventing erosion, increasing the movement of water to groundwater aquifers, and reducing wind speed, among other things. Water is a critical factor in carbon sequestration, since when water is scarce, plants reduce biomass production. This positive effect also applies to adjacent forests and wetlands, which have a huge potential for carbon sequestration.

Additionally, according to Hernández-Morcillo et al. (2018), agroforestry can enhance the resilience of agricultural crops by reducing the impacts of extreme weather events. This is achieved, for example, by the ability of agroforestry systems to reduce extreme wind or soil temperatures. Agroforestry systems offer greater economic stability through diversified crops, allowing for different sources of income and products, providing a cushion against yield fluctuations caused by socioeconomic factors or extreme weather events. For example, silvopastoral systems allow farmers to establish a tree crop that can provide timber and firewood while maintaining pasture and livestock production. Given their potential to produce high quality technical timber, agroforestry systems can also contribute to the substitution of high carbon footprint materials such as steel.

As in the case of adaptation, the mitigation potential of agroforestry systems should be monitored, evaluated and, using the same approach, optimised, both in terms of their biological and socio-economic dimensions.