S15 - Session O1 - Innovative agroforestry designs for tropical plantation landscapes - The TRAILS Project

Authors: Alain Rival *, Marc Ancrenaz, Isabelle Lackman, Muhammad Al Shafiq Bin Mustafah, Jean-Marc Roda, Philippe Guizol, Marcel Djama

TRAILS is a multidisciplinary research project aimed at identifying innovative solutions for wildlife and people in multiple-use landscapes. Mixed-tree forests provide habitat in the context of industrial agriculture: Pioneer tree species are efficient in restoring healthy riparian forests and providing shelter for wildlife. THen small mammals, primates or disseminate seeds originating from nearby patches of natural forests and contribute to the natural cycle of forest regeneration. Biodiversity corridors contribute to climatic resilience as agroforestry systems can mitigate climate change through the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in plants and soil. Changes in GHG emissions and soil organic carbon stocks are monitored after land conversion into agroforest. Mixed plantations can also improve livelihoods: It is key to understand changes in the structure and stability of oil palm planters' income induced by the transition from monoculture plantations towards mixed-planted systems. TRAILS objectives are: To install oil-palm-based agroforestry systems: mixed planting are installed using selected oil palm seedlings and native forest tree species grown in locally-run nurseries in the study area (Sabah, Borneo Island, Malaysia). To monitor wildlife recolonization dynamics (abundance, diversity, and mobility) in areas covered with mixed-planting, riparian corridors, and oil palms. To study the agronomic performance of oil palms: growth, development, and nutrition of palms together with fruit yields and bunch characteristics are measured. To understand key characters of climate resilience through the monitoring of bioclimatic condition of the parcels and their ability to provide environmental services. To analyze the socioeconomic impact of the transition from oil palm monospecific plantation to agroforestry systems. TRAILS builds on a complementary partnership, linking academic, NGOs, private and public stakeholders, thus enabling integrated approaches arising from various science fields, from agronomy and forestry to veterinary sciences while including a detailed socioeconomic approach of livelihoods.