. Cloud Forest Agenda. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 20. Cloud forest agenda Cloud forest conservation and livelihoods SUSTAINABLE FARMING FOR CLOUD FOREST CONSERVATION Since one of the most widespread threats to cloud forests is conversion to agricultural land and pasture, many cloud forest conservation projects have promoted sustainable farming. Both human population growth and degradation of farmed land are common major driving forces for the clearance of more cloud forests. For example montane forests, some of which are cloud forests, in the Eastern Escarpment of Madagascar declined from 8
. Cloud Forest Agenda. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 20. Cloud forest agenda Cloud forest conservation and livelihoods SUSTAINABLE FARMING FOR CLOUD FOREST CONSERVATION Since one of the most widespread threats to cloud forests is conversion to agricultural land and pasture, many cloud forest conservation projects have promoted sustainable farming. Both human population growth and degradation of farmed land are common major driving forces for the clearance of more cloud forests. For example montane forests, some of which are cloud forests, in the Eastern Escarpment of Madagascar declined from 8 million ha in 1900 to 7 million ha in 1950, and to less than 1 million ha by 1995. This deforestation resulted from slash-and-burn cultivation practised by a rapidly increasing human population. These Madagascan farming systems need to be intensified and made sustainable if they are to provide sufficient food for the people and permit the survival of the montane forests iMesserli, 2000], Another cloud forest region with considerable population pressure occurs in Burundi and Rwanda. These two countries have a combined area of about 55 000 km2and a population of about 13 million people, the highest density in Africa at over 230 inhabitants per km2. More than 90 per cent of the people are farmers and cattle breeders. However, Burundi and Rwanda still maintain afromontane forests in protected areas, all of which are located in the Albertine Rift Mountains. In Burundi these reserves total about 438 km2, representing per cent of the total area of the country. In the Andes, historically, the eco-climatic zone below the cloud forest belt has been preferred for agriculture and human settlement (Fjeldsa and Hjarsen, 1999]. This pattern is maintained in Colombia, with rural population density in the Andean region increasing with altitude, from 20 people per km2 at 500-1 000 m to 48 people per km2 at 2 500-3 000 m lEtter and van Wyngaarden, 1999]. Fjeldsa and Hjarsen 11999] have found
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