Category: Valuation

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Eucalyptus: it’s complicated

Are eucalyptus plantations good or bad?

I’ve been wondering about this one for a while. Back in 2010, I wrote about my mother-in-law’s eucalypts near Limuru in Kenya. She had been tending and coppicing them for years, and they were her main source of firewood. When part of the plantation was felled by government decree, she considered planting indigenous trees, but eucalypts were, as I put it then, “too fast-growing to give up altogether.”

Two new studies make the same point rather more systematically. In Uganda, eucalyptus plantations appear to have some positive effects on livelihood, including higher cattle holdings than among households near pine plantations, without producing the sweeping negative effects sometimes attributed to them. In Brazil, mixed eucalyptus–native plantations (as a transitional stage in restoration) produced substantially more biomass than native-only plantings, while allowing native trees to regenerate. The timber income also covered a significant proportion of restoration costs.

So the value of eucalyptus depends on what it’s doing there, what it replaced, what else is growing with it, and what people are getting from it. A plantation replacing native forest is one thing. Eucalyptus providing firewood to my mother-in-law, generating income from degraded land, or helping pay for ecological restoration is another.

The tree is the same. The story isn’t.

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Nibbles: Johnny Appleseed, ICRAF genebanks, China lychee genebank, Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute, Saudi tree genebanks, European genebank data, Pricing nature

  1. Johnny Appleseed basically set up fruit tree genebanks 200 years ago.
  2. Modern fruit tree genebanks could probably learn something from Mr Appleseed.
  3. Is there a Mr Lycheeseed, I wonder?
  4. There are probably some fruit tree collections at the Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute.
  5. Saudi Arabia is betting on tree genebanks. Maybe even fruit tree genebanks.
  6. All genebanks need to share their data, according to the guy in charge of helping European genebanks share their data.
  7. Can you put a value on genebanks? Should you?
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Nibbles: Maize history, Maize in Tanzania, WorldVeg feature, Pigeonpea speed breeding, Valuing nature in food, GIAHS, Ancient Egyptian brewing redux

  1. The history of maize — according to Pioneer.
  2. The importance of maize — according to Dr Mujuni Sospeter Kabululu, Curator, National Plant Genetic Resources Centre—Tanzania.
  3. The future of vegetables — according to WorldVeg.
  4. The future of pigeonpea — according to ICRISAT.
  5. How should we value nature in our food systems? By true cost accounting — according to TABLE.
  6. A good way to value nature in our food systems is through recognizing Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems — according to FAO.
  7. How strong was ancient Egyptian beer? Not very — according to ethnoarcheobotanists. But it’s still worth trying to reproduce it — according to me. Seneb!
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Nibbles: Nourishing investments, Genebank RoI, Seed science double, Ecuador genebank, Ethiopian genebank, MSSRF genebank, CG genebanks, Botanic gardens, SwissAid saves seeds, Brazil conservation, Indian diner, Kenyan food, Saladino on citrus, Lost apple, Seed Savers, Hybrids, Germplasm crime

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Nibbles: Tree seeds, Tepary beans, USDA trials, Seed Savers Exchange, China genebank, Nepal indigenous crops, Giant yams, Brogdale, Old apples, AI taxonomy, FEED database, IPBES Nexus report, Business & biodiversity

  1. Collecting tree seeds properly and respectfully is not easy.
  2. No word on how easy it is to collect tepary beans respectfully.
  3. Helping the USDA with their germplasm evaluations, on the other hand, is a breeze. Any tepary beans?
  4. Seed Savers Exchange makes conserving seeds look easy. Spoiler alert: it isn’t.
  5. It seems to be very easy to open new national genebanks in China.
  6. Farming is easier in Nepal with indigenous crops.
  7. Giant yams don’t look very easy to grow, but that’s not stopping some dedicated Indian women.
  8. It’s pretty easy — and fun — to visit the United Kingdom’s National Fruit Collection.
  9. Someone mention apples? Loammi Baldwin knew a thing or two about them.
  10. It’s going to get easier to identify plants. It says here.
  11. If you’re looking for interventions or policies to shift diets towards being healthier and more sustainable, your job just got a little easier.
  12. Likewise if you think the crises of biodiversity loss, water and food insecurity, health risks and climate change should be tackled together.
  13. Yes, even if you’re a business trying to manage your biodiversity risk you have a right to have it easier. Start by being respectful when climbing trees?