Title |
Cocoa Intensification Scenarios and Their Predicted Impact on CO2 Emissions, Biodiversity Conservation, and Rural Livelihoods in the Guinea Rain Forest of West Africa
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Published in |
Environmental Management, December 2010
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DOI | 10.1007/s00267-010-9602-3 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Jim Gockowski, Denis Sonwa |
Abstract |
The Guinean rain forest (GRF) of West Africa, identified over 20 years ago as a global biodiversity hotspot, had reduced to 113,000 km² at the start of the new millennium which was 18% of its original area. The principal driver of this environmental change has been the expansion of extensive smallholder agriculture. From 1988 to 2007, the area harvested in the GRF by smallholders of cocoa, cassava, and oil palm increased by 68,000 km². Field results suggest a high potential for significantly increasing crop yields through increased application of seed-fertilizer technologies. Analyzing land-use change scenarios, it was estimated that had intensified cocoa technology, already developed in the 1960s, been pursued in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon that over 21,000 km² of deforestation and forest degradation could have been avoided along with the emission of nearly 1.4 billion t of CO₂. Addressing the low productivity of agriculture in the GRF should be one of the principal objectives of REDD climate mitigation programs. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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Unknown | 1 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
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Scientists | 1 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
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United States | 6 | 1% |
United Kingdom | 4 | <1% |
Indonesia | 2 | <1% |
Brazil | 2 | <1% |
South Africa | 2 | <1% |
Bolivia, Plurinational State of | 1 | <1% |
Ghana | 1 | <1% |
France | 1 | <1% |
Kenya | 1 | <1% |
Other | 4 | <1% |
Unknown | 467 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Researcher | 85 | 17% |
Student > Master | 83 | 17% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 79 | 16% |
Student > Bachelor | 45 | 9% |
Other | 24 | 5% |
Other | 79 | 16% |
Unknown | 96 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 141 | 29% |
Environmental Science | 125 | 25% |
Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 24 | 5% |
Social Sciences | 22 | 4% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 20 | 4% |
Other | 42 | 9% |
Unknown | 117 | 24% |