Agroforestry systems for mitigating climate change and reducing Carbon Footprints of land-use systems in Southern Africa

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Farming systems in Southern Africa are mostly maize mixed cropping, with some tree and/or root crop-based systems.Agroforestry systems (AFS), in particular, represent a model for ecological sustainability, with the potential of sequestering carbon (C) within soils and biomass.This review reveals that rotational woodlots sequester more C than other AFS types in the region.Additionally, C levels above and below ground range from 0.29 to 15.21 Mg ha -1 yr -1 and 30 to 300 Mg C ha -1 in the first 100 cm soil depth, respectively.To measure C belowand aboveground biomass in different AFS, variable -and not easily adoptable -methodologies are being used in Southern Africa, which limits the standardization of C stock accounting.Since the magnitude of C sequestered in AFS is dependent on the species used, AF and farm management, and environmental conditions, we recommend the adoption of rigorous and replicable methodologies to account for C stocks in different AFS over time in Southern Africa.