Year: 2026 | Month: May | Volume: 13 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 730-749
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20260573
Agroforestry-Centred Watershed Sustainability at the Land-Water-Energy-Biodiversity Nexus: Integrating Local Wisdom, Bioenergy, and Coastal Conservation
Abdul Samad Hiola1, Asda Rauf2, Fitryane Lihawa3
1Doctoral Program in Environmental Science, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo
2,3Post Graduate Program, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo
Corresponding Author: Asda Rauf
ABSTRACT
Watershed degradation is increasingly produced by interacting pressures: land conversion, sediment and nutrient loss, rural energy demand, biodiversity decline, weak governance, and climate-related hydrological extremes. This review synthesizes the attached literature corpus on watershed management, agroforestry, bioenergy, biodiversity, coastal conservation, and local wisdom to propose an integrated socio-ecological framework for sustainable watershed transitions. The review argues that agroforestry should be understood not merely as a farm-level production strategy, but as distributed green infrastructure that links upland infiltration, erosion control, biomass supply, habitat connectivity, and downstream coastal protection. It further shows that local wisdom and customary institutions can increase legitimacy, compliance, and continuity of conservation action when they are combined with scientific monitoring, supportive policy, and inclusive governance. Bioenergy emerges as a promising but contested component: woody biomass, coppice systems, and diversified tree-based landscapes can improve rural livelihoods and energy access, yet poorly governed energy-crop expansion may intensify land-use trade-offs and biodiversity loss. The synthesis identifies four publication-relevant contributions: a land-water-energy-biodiversity nexus model for watershed planning; a typology of agroforestry ecosystem-service pathways; a governance synthesis linking local wisdom with formal institutions; and a research agenda for evaluating trade-offs across biophysical, social, and economic dimensions. By foregrounding multifunctionality, the article clarifies why watershed science must evaluate hydrology, livelihoods, culture, energy, and biodiversity together across upland, midstream, and coastal interfaces. The review concludes that the next generation of watershed management should prioritize multifunctional landscapes, community-anchored governance, and evidence-based bioenergy development rather than single-objective conservation or production interventions. This synthesis supports transdisciplinary implementation worldwide.
Keywords: watershed management; agroforestry; local wisdom; bioenergy; biodiversity conservation; mangrove restoration; socio-ecological resilience
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