ASB/MA Inception Meeting 17 – 19 March, 2003 Alberdare Country Club Kenya

1. ASB/MA Inception Meeting 17 – 19 March, 2003 Alberdare Country Club Kenya

2. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Forest and Agroecosystem Tradeoffs in the TropicsA crosscutting assessment by the Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Consortiumconducted as a sub-global component of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) -- launched on June 5, 2001 (World Environment Day) by the United Nations, scientific groups, governments, foundations, and other international agencies -- is a three-year (2002-2004) global environmental science initiative to study the state of the world's major ecosystems, including forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes, farmlands, and oceans. Two pioneering aspects distinguish the MA from past global assessments: (1) it is being conducted as a "multi-scale" assessment with integral sub-global components being undertaken at community, watershed, national and regional scales; (2) it will incorporate both traditional knowledge and scientific information in the assessment process. Effective linking of local and global assessments into a multi-scale assessment will require the creation of mechanisms that enable these different "ways of knowing the world" to be either integrated or coordinated. The Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn Programme (ASB) is conducting a nested, multi-level assessment of a transition area of global significance: the interface between the tropical forest ecosystem and forest-derived agroecosystems, focusing on the landscape mosaics that characterize the forest margins. This will include assessment of driving forces of land cover change; identification of indicators of environmental, social and economic impacts; assessment of winners and losers, with particular attention to poverty reduction; valuation of ecosystem goods and services; participatory identification and testing of alternatives; and capacity development of national partners and communities. • ASB/MA Focal Issues • Human activities at the interface of tropical forest ecosystems and forest-derived landuse mosaics • Interlinked problems of rural poverty and loss of habitats from rainforest conversion • Policy, institutional and technological options for sustainable landuse and raising rural incomes • ASB/MA Topics • Conditions & trends in: • driving forces of landuse and land cover change • carbon stocks and biomass burning • soil and water resources • ecosystem goods • (food, feed, timber, etc) • biodiversity • human well-being, livelihoods and poverty reduction • Scenarios & response options http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/ http://www.asb.cgiar.org

3. MA expectations and objectives The MA defines an assessment as “a social process to bring the findings of science to bear on the needs of decision makers.” The following points are paraphrased from MA design documents. 1) Assessments should represent the latest scientific findings and be as comprehensive as possible. Because this is an assessment rather than a research process, most activities will involve synthesis of findings and information derived from existing publications and datasets. ASB proposes to lead one of the sub-global assessments and will be responsible for discrete outputs. ASB assessment products also will feed into other components of the assessment – including the global assessment and some other sub-global assessments. 2) However, it is recognized that some research and data collection will be necessary, especially at the local scale (corresponding to ASB benchmark sites). The proposed assessment and research activities for the ASB assessment are mutually complementary and fit with the new directions for ASB research approved by the GSG in 2000. 3) Assessments and their supplementary research activities are not to be academic exercises; they will be user driven. Stakeholders at the local and national scale should set the agenda for and review the results of assessment activities and related research. The existing network of benchmark sites and the ASB national consortia mean ASB already has many of the mechanisms in place to establish the key social processes of consultation and review.

4. 4) Capacity building for future assessments has equal priority to current assessment activities in the MA. Partnership with the MA will provide opportunities for capacity building within ASB, including methods for extrapolation of ASB results at larger spatial and temporal scales, and collaborative development of new methods. 5) Partnership with the MA will facilitate access to data by ASB partnersand greater impact of ASB datasets and methods through use by MA partners outside ASB. 6) Partnership with the MA will significantly enhance ASB’s public awareness and fundraising activities. Some seed money to launch the crosscutting assessment may be provided by the MA. Funds for most of the proposed activities will be raised though a joint effort that fits ASB’s fundraising initiatives, including development of a concept for a CGIAR challenge programme.

5. ASB/MA Inception Meeting Working Group Topics Landscape mosaics at tropical forest margins Ecosystem conditions and trends . Goods- food, fiber, feed, etc. . Services- water supply carbon sequestration air quality nutrient supply . Resource base soil biodiversity water . Human well-being, sustainable livelihoods, and poverty reduction Driving forces of land cover change, scenarios, and response

6. Services Local community Global community Air quality Human health ecosystem health Climate change (aerosols) C sequestration Soil health (cross cutting) Climate change, GHG Working group: CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND AIR QUALITY A. Users and Uses Ecosystem health also links to other goods and services

7. MA Core questions 1. (Global): What is the C sequestration potential of, and the aerosols (and other GHGs) produced by, different land uses ranging from agriculture/agroforestry/natural forest? 1. (Local): What are the effects of biomass burning on human health, ecosystem health, security/safety? 2. How have ecosystems changed in the past in terms of C stocks, C sequestration rates and GHG emission rates (aerosol precursor emissions)? 3. What are the most critical factors, proximate and ultimate, affecting the observed changes? (are these the same as direct/indirect driving forces?

8. Indicators C sequestration C stocks x area of land uses (aboveground biomass, necromass, soil, belowground biomass). Time-averaged data Air quality Human health: incidence of respiratory diseases Ecosystem health: plant growth suppression Risks: Incidence and extent of fires Also regional aerosol production and ozone concentrations

9. Service Analysis Reporting C sequestration C stocks plot land use/ region Sequestration ecosystems (towers) region Air quality Aerosols plot level region Human health community district to country Ecosystem health field to community community to ecoregion Fire (risk) region region Scales of analysis and reporting

10. Data ASB data C stocks for different land uses in all sites Gas emissions (CO2, N2O, CH4), all sites? Other data sources: Brazil: LBA/ pre-LBA, Tipitamba, NCSU, ABLE, Woodshole, MPEG, IPAM, Imazon, INPA, Shift. Peru: Not much Indonesia: GTZ in Sulawesi (Storma?), Tsukuba Uni /, CIFOR fire project  Also general census, statistical government agencies, FAO etc. Additional data and data management needs Ozone (may be available), belowground C (* important), aerosols.  Need a central ASB database, accessible through the web. Need protocols for collection, storage reporting (need standard units).  Also need to determine ways to access other datasets (intellectual property, credits in publications).

11. 1.      Pilot assessment Deliverables Aboveground C stocks, GHGs, Soil organic matter to 30 cm depth. (benchmark site leaders need to drive this, C. Palm also needs to help locate data). Maps across TFB (need a GIS person) Identify other datasets and obtain (negotiate) permission. Land-use change maps for benchmark sites (1:50,000).