Brazil is the world’s biggest meat exporter; more than 40% of beef production takes place in the Brazilian savanna pastures. The research site was located in Southeastern Brazil (20º18’16.71”S; 44º55’28.57” W) and had 35.3 ha of silvopasture (SP) with signal grass (Urochloa brizantha) and native legume tree, Pterodon emarginatus,with a density of 156 trees ha^-1 established more than 30 years as cattle pasture never fertilized. The control (CT) had 26.5 ha traditional signal grass pasture. Soil collection profiles were made randomly at both areas at 0-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-100 and 100-140 cm deep, in order to study the chemical attributes and the influence of a stabilized silvopasture. Calcium (Ca⁺²) was higher (P<0.05) in the CT, compared to SP area at 0-10, 10-20cm profiles, but no difference was found in other layers. Inside SP, Ca⁺² in 0-10 cm was higher (P<0.05) than 10-20 and 100-140cm, while intermediate values where found at 20-100 cm profiles. Variables P M1, K⁺, S-SO₄⁼, Zn, B and Sum of Bases (SB) did not show differences between systems (P>0.05), but Organic Carbon (OC), Cu and Fe were higher at SP, while Water pH had superior values in the CT(P<0.05). OC, Fe e P showed decreasing differences (P<0.05) with increasing of depth for both systems. Al, Cu and B were higher (P<0.05) down to 40 cm deep and reduced from this layer. Levels of Zn and SB were higher (P<0.05) at 0-10cm and kept the same values in other depths. Sulfur was higher in 0-10cm in comparison to100-140cm depth (P<0.05), but the other profiles were intermediate. Non-fertilized silvopastoral system with native legume trees adapted to poor acid soil, had higher carbon content than traditional pasture, however, there was extraction of most of the nutrients.

Policies designed to promote agroforestry development require a good understanding of the complex connections between state-sanctioned concessions, forest conversion, informal land markets and migrants. Our case study in the peat forests of the Tanjung Jabung Barat (TanJaBar) regency of Jambi aimed to explore relations between four key stakeholder groups: the state, local communities, migrants, and state-sanctioned concessions and how these relationships affect the land use patterns. We hypothesized that current land use patterns are shaped by insecurity in formal forest tenure alongside informal land tenure arrangements with migrants.

In analyzing the six two-way relationships between the four stakeholder groups, we found that interactions between the stakeholders have changed local norms and practice, causing land conflicts and contested claims that need to be explicitly addressed in efforts to promote agroforestry development in TanJaBar. Relational concepts of land rights between migrants and local community are informed by social identity, expectations of investment opportunities, insecure customary forest tenure and competing land use policies. These concepts at the end determine the land use patterns. Migrants act as intermediaries in shaping the land tenure system and creating a new balance of power between local communities, the government authorities and business concessions.

The Government of Indonesia (GoI) promotes national agroforestry development programs under different schemes of community based forest management (CBFM). However, we conclude that effective and equitable implementation of national agroforestry development programs will need to recognize underlying land ownership dynamics, power struggles and strategic positioning among stakeholders across scales. It is increasingly important to consider migrants, migration and the emergence of land markets as part of the agroforestry development programs.

Nepal continues to face exacerbating poverty, decreasing agricultural productivity and food insecurity. At a time when there is large scale land grabbing taking place with the purpose to intensify agriculture for food security globally and scholarly debate to increase the extent and intensity of land use for agriculture, the Mid-hills of Nepal seems to be witnessing the unprecedented degree of agriculture land abandonment in recent years. Therefore it is important to understand the extent, causes and consequences of land abandonment and its implication to food security and livelihoods. The aim of this paper is therefore to investigate the factors influencing the agriculture land abandonment in the middle-hills of Nepal. This study employs mixed method approach to data collection in 4 mid-hill districts of Nepal, using both household survey and key informant interview.

The results indicate that three key reasons relating to ecological, socio-economic and cultural factors are influencing agriculture land abandonment in Nepal. Firstly, the highly fragile agro-ecology additionally  affected by the unprecedented climate change, forcing many small holder and subsistence farmers either to change land use pattern or abandon their agriculture lands altogether. Secondly, traditional small scale subsistence agriculture in hills with its low return on labour and other investment is not economically competitive with commercial agriculture. Thirdly, farming is no longer viewed as a prestige or viable profession to maintain sustainable household economy. It is no longer a cool career that many young farmers aspire to pursue, forcing young villagers to urban areas and gulf countries, abandoning their farms. In conclusion, we highlight that the land abandonment presents some opportunities to bring the agro-forestry as the sustainable agro-ecological approach which can be successfully reintroduced to enhance an adaptive agricultural approach that can increase food security and livelihood options as well as addresses the climate change threats.

The diffusion of information on agroforestry management practices may rely heavily on social relationships and informal networks in the farming community. The structure of these networks can play a key role in advancing, or limiting, the adoption of agroforestry techniques. Of particular interest are the emergent networks in regions with weak institutional support but high technical necessity, such as the economically vital cocoa belt of West Africa. I draw on findings from a range of complementary but independent studies over the last five years in Ghana, and new data, to chart the role of social networks in agroforestry management. Producer-to-producer ties illustrated agrarian information networks where features of an individuals network correlated strongly to agrobiodiversity (tree and crop species richness) as an estimate of agroforestry adoption. Pooled data showed a negative relationship between the density of ties in an individuals network and the number of reported species, suggesting that adding ties between community members did not forecast adoption of agroforestry. With increasing ties, information may become redundant or even conflicting, therefore I conducted a subsequent study that examined the role of other players in the agricultural landscape. Results demonstrate the significant position of local agriculture institutions on reshaping local networks and the role of migrant farmers as agroforestry information brokers between socially and geographically distant groups. More recently, we ask: do distinct agroforestry information network topologies coincide with predictable patterns of land use? Findings show that diverse, but not necessarily more, network ties correlate to land diversification and the emergence of agroforestry land use. Taking a social networks approach to elucidate the flow and coordination of information on suitable but innovative agroforestry management enables strategies for i) ecological resiliency of the cocoa sector, which is key to rural livelihoods in the region, and ultimately ii) appropriate adoption of agroforestry.

Social science methodologies have been lacking in the field of agroforestry, and this was apparent and admitted at ICRAFs Science Week in 2010. However, the value and contribution of social science methods to agroforestry research are powerful. The interdependent nature of people’s lives and livelihoods with forests and forest resources in developing countries cannot be adequately described and understood through the use of quantitative methods alone. Based on social science research I have been conducting in Malawi since 2010, I outline how the use of these methods have elucidated some of the key research questions I have been adressing within a broad field of study: the dependence of HIV/AIDS-affected households on forest resources, and agroforestry interventions and innovations for meeting their forest resource needs. I begin by summarising an exploratory study whose data were collected using focus groups and semi-structured interviews with local respondents in four Malawian study sites. This study characterised how household dependence on the most important forest resources (firewood, medicinal plants) changed through three phases: the period before HIV became a problem in the household, the period during HIV-related morbidity, and after AIDS-related mortality. It also identified a range of local forest-related coping strategies being used to alleviate the HIV/AIDS burden on their households, and agroforestry interventions that local people would like to try. I provide preliminary results from my current research assessing the socio-economic impacts of several of these agroforestry interventions, and highlight potential social science research that could assess other interventions. Throughout the presentation, I will stress the key contributions that social science methods have made to this globally-relevant research domain.

AGFORWARD is a major four-year research project funded by the European Commission starting in January 2014.  The goal of the project is to promote AGroFORestry that Will Advance Rural Development in Europe.  This exciting initiative will involve over 20 European partners and two international institutions and about 960 person-months of paid input.  It builds on the work of European research projects like SAFE, promotional work by ACTA and AGROOF in France, the establishment of the European Agroforestry Federation, and a recognised role for agroforestry in rural development programmes and the new EU strategy for forestry.

This paper will describe the development, the objectives and the broad methodology of the research project which comprises four main components.   An initial component is focused on understanding the context and extent of agroforestry in Europe.  A large participatory component will work with about 400 stakeholders to identify, develop and field-test innovations to improve the benefits and viability of agroforestry in specific agricultural sectors.  There is an evaluation and modelling component that will examine the opportunities for uptake at field-, farm- and landscape scales, building on previous modelling research.  The fourth component will promote the wider adoption of appropriate agroforestry systems in Europe through a range of policy development and dissemination activities.

In a study conducted in the Aysen Region, located in the extreme south of Chile, it was evaluated the effect of Pinus contorta plantation, managed under two designed silvopastoral systems, in altering climatic parameters under its influence, such as wind speed, wind chill, relative humidity, ambient temperature and precipitation that reach the ground, and its effect on livestock and prairie production. The silvopastoral treatments evaluated were a) strips of four lines of trees, separated between 21 meters each other, and b) traditional silvopastoral system with trees spaced in the land, both with 400 trees ha^-1, compared with c) animal production system without trees, as a control treatment. The results obtained shows that the trees managed under silvopastoral systems modified some ambient climatic parameters. The main parameter that was modified by the effect of the trees was average wind speed. The trees reduced the average wind speed in relation to the control treatment, by 200%. In relation to the wind chill, higher values were recorded between 22 to 26%, for the forest strip and traditional silvopastoral systems respectively, compared to livestock treatment. In average air temperature there was no difference and, relative humidity values were 0.2 to 0.6% higher in the silvopastoral treatments than the control. When analyzing the factors that influence pasture and livestock production, when tree density and arrangement were modified for silvopastoral purposes, positive correlations were obtained between canopy cover and wind speed of r²=0.95; between canopy cover and productivity of prairie the correlationship was r²=0.88 and r²=0.69 for traditional silvopastoral and strips treatment respectively; for animal productivity and wind velocity, it was obtained a r²=0.86. On linear models of more than one variable, also the forest crown coverage, associated with wind, was the variable most incident, which impacts positively the pasture productivity and consequently in animal production.

Forest-based industries in India show significant deficits between wood requirements and supply. Therefore, plantation forestry and imported wood would be the means to fill the gap.  Poplar (Populus deltoides), a native tree of USA introduced in India around 1950, is widely grown on a rotation of 6-8 years in all over northern India as an agroforestry tree because of its desirable characters and multiple uses. Commercial scale plantations of poplar have been expanding since the introduction of buy back guarantee scheme since 1984. Maximum production potential of poplar plantation is upto 65 m³/ha/year and average potential is 35-40 m³/ha/year. Deciduous nature of poplar allows agricultural crops to grow under poplar without much adversely affecting crop production. Poplar-based agroforestry has been very profitable since beginning. Poplar wood prices were reduced drastically during 2000-2004. Farmers were compelled to cut their young poplar trees because of market insecurity.  The poplar plantations are again rising with the increase in price of poplar wood from 2005. Poplar based agroforestry plantations are increasing at a very fast rate with an average density of 400-500 trees per ha. Presently, six to eight years old poplar trees, with girth measuring 1 m at breast height (1.37 m), fetches about Rs 4000 per tree and net income from poplar plantations can be expected to be Rs 200000 per hectare. In this way poplar plantation is the economically excellent alternative in increasing tree cover. Production potential, market trend and economic return of exotic poplar in India have been reviewed.

Europe needs high quality wood. A number of several thousand hectares of hardwood plantations have been established in many regions of the Iberian peninsula. To enhance tree growth frequent harrowing and high levels of water, fertilizer and herbicide inputs are commonly applied. Silvopastoral management could reduce the economic costs and the negative environmental impact of these plantations.

We evaluate the response of intensive irrigated walnut (Juglans major var. 209 x Juglans regia) and wild cherry (Prunus avium) plantations to: (i) alternative methods of controlling the competing herbaceous understory (harrowing, brushcutting, and grazing), and (ii) the substitution of mineral N fertilization by sowing  leguminous pastures (which would also reinforce the pastoral value of the system).

After 12 years of intensive management, the change to alternative management had slight but significant effects on tree growth. Both fertilized and legume-intercropped trees grew similarly and faster than control trees in spite the yield of herbaceous understory almost doubled in both cases respect to control ones (3652, 3564 and 1978 kg DM ha^-1, respectively), and consequently soil moisture was reduced with both treatments. Nevertheless, this had not any significant effect on water status and photosynthetic activity of walnut leaves. By contrast, both fertilized and legume-intercropped walnuts had leaf N content slightly higher than control trees.

Grazing did not affected significantly to soil moisture, tree water status, soil nutrient availability or leaf nutrient content, but reduced significantly the growth of trees compared to brushcutting and harrowing. These results agree with the marginal decrease of CO₂ assimilation rate of walnut leaves in grazed plots. We expect that with more time a more regular grazing will reduce differences among grazed plots and mechanically managed ones.

The overuse of synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer to meet the requirements of food and forage crops species contributes to environmental problems such as nitrate leaching to groundwater and enhanced greenhouse effects through N₂O emissions. Agricultural practices integrating legumes and food or forage crops can address this problem by reducing the reliance on industrial fertilizers through fixation and transfer of N by legumes to associated crops. Belowground N transfers in various systems have been widely researched, however, within the Prairies, there is dearth of information regarding N transfer in shelterbelt-based systems. The field experiment was conducted to determine the amount of N transferred from Caragana shelterbelt to forage crops (triticale and oats) using the ¹⁵N natural abundance technique and to assess effects of this transfer on forage biomass and quality. Plants close to the shelterbelt row received significantly higher % N and actual N transferred compared to those further away. The range of the % N transfer spanned from 8-64 % and 16-70 % for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, respectively. This amount was equivalent to the transfer of 33-329 g N m^{-2 ­}and 67-228 g N m^-2 in triticale and oats, respectively, and it was within the optimum N application rates for these crops. The belowground N transfer reached the optimum N rates even up to 20 m away from the shelterbelt. Total N and crude protein of the test crops improved significantly with the distance from the shelterbelt, signifying that the amount of N transferred enhanced forage crops nutrition. Biomass yield was, however, not affected suggesting that N may not be the main factor driving crop growth in the study site. This study suggests that the N requirements of the forage species can be met by N from the shelterbelt

The scientific foundation that has been laid, over the past decade in particular, has elevated agroforestry’s role as an integral component of a multifunctional working landscape in North America.  Recent trends in the agriculture sector necessitate farm diversification as an essential strategy for economic competitiveness in a global market.  The realization that agroforestry systems are well suited for diversifying farm income while providing environmental services and ecosystem benefits has increased receptivity on the part of some landowners.  Agroforestry systems offer great promise for the production of biomass for biofuel, specialty and organic crops, pasture-based dairy and beef, among others.  Agroforestry also offers proven strategies for carbon sequestration, soil enrichment, biodiversity conservation, and air and water quality improvement for not only the landowners or farmers, but for society at large.  In an era of environmental sustainability and green business, the realization that agroforestry is an environmentally sound, ecologically sustainable, and economically viable alternative to traditional farming will propel its adoption to newer heights in the coming decades.

The global consumption of natural rubber is expected to grow by 3.7% per year to 13.8 Mio tonnes in 2018. Soaring rubber prices have led to rapid land use conversion to rubber in mainland SE Asia and although prices have fallen since 2010 rubber farming continues to be lucrative. An ability to predict where rubber is likely to be planted next is key to targeted policy. We show that the environmental space where rubber plantations have traditionally been established matches the environmental conditions of the natural South American range of Hevea brasiliensis. As much of this ‘traditionally suitable’ environmental space for plantations in SE Asia is now occupied, we have investigated the more recent spread of plantations into new environments and whether this expansion follows a spatially predictable pattern (using MODIS NDVI 250m derived maps for 2004/05 and 2009/10*). The spread of rubber 2004/05 – 2009/10 was strongly related to proximity to the nearest neighbour plantation (70% explanatory power). Of these new plantations 96% were established in non-traditionally suitable environments. Novel environments may not per se be suboptimal for specifically bred rubber clones, but 23% of the plantations were found in areas where temperature seasonality differed by >50% from the native rubber range, and almost a quarter of these replaced areas that prior to 2000 were under forest. Sudden weather extremes in areas with greater climate variability may push even adapted clones to their tolerance margins. Our results suggest that there is a rapid and partly predicable spread of plantations into marginal and potentially risky environments, often at the expense of high-biodiversity value land. We highlight areas that may be next in line for conversion to facilitate targeted policy interventions that prevent “loss-loss” scenarios, e.g. the conversion of high-biodiversity land in areas where environmental stresses may render rubber farming ultimately difficult.

* Li Z & Fox JM (2012) Mapping rubber tree growth in mainland Southeast Asia using time series MODIS 250 m NDVI and statistical data. Applied Geography 32(2):420-432.

Land use change is one of the major causes of global environmental change. In the case of Jambi province, Indonesia, where rapid replacement of agroforests by oil palm and other monoculture plantations leads to environmental degradation, we investigated economic incentives via payments for ecosystem services (PES) to establish rubber agroforestry for sustainable development. To explain farmers’ land-use decisions and determine appropriate payments, it is necessary to focus on uncertainty in profits of land uses coming from the variability in yield, and prices of yield and input. Multi-period linear programming that combines Monte Carlo simulation was used to derive range of conditions for determining payments required to guarantee that the environmentally preferred land use dominates. An empirical application to establish rubber agroforests in Jambi province show that environmental payments for reduction in carbon emissions and biodiversity increase would substantially vary due to the uncertainty in revenues, which in turn would affect negatively or positively the income of farmers. At the same time, maintaining rubber agroforestry would lead to land use diversification of farmers, and consequently allow mitigating revenue risks.

Sustainable biomass feedstock production systems involve biomass generation from non-agricultural or marginal lands with minimal external inputs. Switch grass based alley cropping systems have been proposed as biomass feedstock crop systems in marginal lands. In many areas in the midwest United States, shallow soils above theargillic horizon (claypansoil or often called depth to claypan(DTC)) are susceptible to flooding and drought and thus hinder high economic returns from conventional agricultural production. The main purpose of this research was to assess differences between corn and switchgrass photosynthetic potential as influenced by the DTC. Research was initiated in 2009 in Columbia, MO on 160 plots with corn, soybean, and switchgrass grown on a range of DTC (0 to 80 cm). Biomass data from 2009 to present have revealed that corn yield was sensitive to DTC with greater yield as DTC increased (p=<0.06) while switchgrass yieldproved to be insensitive to DTCfor all years except in 2012. To understand, the fundamental mechanism driving this trend, we used a portable photosynthesis measurement unit (LiCor 6400) to measure the light response curves for corn and switchgrass at three different soil depths – shallow (2 cm), medium (22 cm), and deep (42 cm). Results suggest that soil depth was more important for corn to maintain a high rate of photosynthesis while switchgrass was able to maintain photosynthesis in a more uniform rate irrespective of soil depth. The significance of this research is that it establishes that switchgrass can be used as an alternative bioenergy crop in marginal lands degraded due to erosion such as commonly found in side-slope landscape positions of claypan soils.

The use of clonal planting material is important to increase the latex productivity of traditional rubber agroforestry system among smallholder rubber farmers in Indonesia. There are technical, economic and social challenges associated with conversion from traditional to improved system. Clone-based technology that has significant benefits for rubber systems has been widely promoted, but its adoption by farmers has been less than satisfactory. However, the underlying reasons for the limited adoption of improved system by farmers remain unclear. We studied the adoption of technology to improve rubber agroforestry systems in the two main sites for smallholder rubber systems in Indonesia:  Jambi and West Kalimantan.  The new technology includes recommendation to use clone materials while other aspects of rubber management follows the traditional practice. We used logistic regression to analyze the relationship between socio-economic variables (age, education, experience, labour, land size, incentives, income, jobs, farmer group, demonstration plots, training) with farmers’ decision to adopt the new technology.  The results showed the factors of availability of incentives, level of income, availability of demonstration plots, and land size influenced farmers’ decisions to adopt or not adopt the technology. In Jambi the factors of incentives and demonstration plots are significant, meanwhile in West Kalimantan land, incentives and income are significant. Availability of incentives is an important factor and as an indicator of the available economic resources to start clonal rubber in both locations and the willingness to adopt a new technology. The reasons for different factors influenced in adoption include differences in social, cultural and economic factors between these provinces are also highlighted.  The results provide important clues in motivation and limitation in adoption, and the information will be of importance to extension workers, researchers, and policy makers involved in promotion and interventions needed to accelerate the rate of adoption of improved rubber agroforestry system.

The distribution and density of mycorrhizal fungi are highly influenced by the type of vegetation and land use types. This study was carried out to study Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) fungi status of Faidherbia albida trees grown at three different land use types (area exclosure, grazing and cultivated lands). Soil and live fine roots were collected from the rhizosphere soils of F. albida trees. AM root colonization percentage were determined using the grid line intersect method. Spores were extracted from 100g of air-dried sub-samples by wet sieving and decanting method. Pot experiment was set up in a greenhouse using completely randomized design with four treatments and replicated three times. There was a significant difference on AM colonization among F. albida tree roots grown on different land use types (P<0.0086). Colonization of F. albida roots were higher in area exclosure (71.1%) followed by grazing land (66.5%) and cultivated land (66.1%). Similarly, spore abundance count was significantly higher (P<0.0014) in area exclosure (3041 100g^-1 of dry soil), followed by cultivated land (2002 per 100g^-1 of dry soil) and grazing land (1364 100g^-1 of dry soil). Soil samples collected from cultivated land showed higher number of spores with low AM colonization compared with grazing lands, which implies low level of infective AM populations in cultivated lands. Glomus was the dominant genus identified in all land use types. AM inoculated F. albida seedlings showed significant growth enhancement compared to the control treatments (P<0.05). Growth enhancements of seedlings inoculated with AM fungal inoculums collected from area exclosure was, however, higher than those collected from grazing land and cultivated land. This emphasis the importance of native soil AM potentials in area exclosure and grazing land for better combinations of F. albida seedlings with AM fungi species to achieve optimum plant growth improvement and rehabilitation of degraded lands.

Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) agreements between the EU and countries that grow tropical timber are set to complement, alter, or generate new regulatory mechanisms that seek to ensure the legality of timber products. These regulatory changes will affect specific policies and practices within timber production networks. Smallholder timber production (STP) in Indonesia will come under FLEGT regulation from January 2014. Using grower surveys conducted in the Jepara regency of Central Java (n=204), we generate information on who Jeparanese smallholders are, what they are growing, and why. We draw upon Foucauldian governmentality to understand how STP operates and how Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu (SVLK), the Indonesian method for timber legality verification, might further affect networks of STP. We find that current methods of resource provision, in addition to increased oversight of source documentation, are combining to increase formalization within STP to secure timber resources outside the political forests of Java. Attending to place-specific detail, we provide several potential insights for the optimal application of SVLK certification.

Bowalization is a particular form of land degradation and leads to the lateral expansion of ferricrete horizons. The process occurs only in tropical regions. The term bowe refers to edaphic deserts. The adapted and robust species towards climate change on bowe were identified by taking down the most common present-day bowe species in both climate zones. Then these species were submitted together with significant environmental variables (the elevation and 19 current bioclimatic variables and the digital soil map of Benin) at a spatial resolution of 30s to the ecological niche model of Maxent (Maxent 3.3.3, Phillips et al. 2004). Altogether fifteenth woody and herb of the sub-humid and semiarid climate zones were used. For future prediction of the spatial distribution of the most common bowe species the IPCC4/CIAT climate data for 2050 were applied.In the semiarid climate zone, Asparagus africanus presented a stable performance in the three phytogeographical district (Atacora chain, Mekrou-Pendjari and North Borgou) while Andropogon pseudapricus and Combretum nigricans showed a wider potential distribution in 2050 than today. Hoslundia opposite, Crotalaria macrocalyx, Schizachyrium sanguineum, and Detarium microcarpum were modeled with a smaller potential distribution area in 2050 than today in the three phytogeographycal districts of this climate zone (table 2). Asparagus africanus Andropogon pseudapricus and Combretum nigricans  species are the best for the restoration of bowé since the future climate will be suitable for them.In the phytogeographical district of Sub-humid climate zone (South Borgou, Bassila and Zou) Asparagus africanus was modeled with a similar extension for today and 2050.  Detarium microcarpum and Lannea microcarpa will potentially be distributed more widely except in Bassila while Asystasia gangetica is potentially encountering more favourable environmental conditions in the future (2050) in South Borgou and Bassila. Combretum collinum, Combretum nigricans, Ctenium newtonii, Indigofera bracteolate and Schizachyrium sanguineum will be potentially less distributed in Bassila and South Borgou while Indigofera bracteolate will be potentially less distributed according to the model in the three phytogeographical districts of the Sub-humid zone. Asparagus africanus, Detarium microcarpum and Lannea microcarpa are the best species for restoration in the sub-humid climate zone as the future climate condition will be suitable for them.

REDD+ is rapidly evolving in several countries supported through the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) managed by the World Bank and the United Nations REDD Program (UN-REDD). Concomitantly with national-level and government-led processes towards development of strategies for REDD+ and creating the legal and institutional enabling conditions for performance-based payments, several institutions including the voluntary and for-profit sectors are involved in REDD+ implementation at different scale and using different models.

The early engagement of private sector in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts is fundamental for demonstrating how the sector can draw upon its market-based know-how and financing to take risks and venture into reducing emissions endeavours as providers/suppliers, buyers, or simply investing capital in companies doing either.  There is, however, debate about private sector engagement in REDD+ with some concerned about the robustness of the policy and legal systems for ‘investing’ in ecosystems services commodities such as carbon, tenure arrangements, benefit-sharing, undertaking of free, prior and informed consent processes for local buy-in and participation, the extent and tools used for addressing drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, taxation of income from regulating services.

To help understand the scale of private sector engagement in REDD+ and analyse the issues we constructed a database of 115 initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The paper starts with a brief analysis of the private sector players in REDD+, also focusing on who the developers and beneficiaries are, their geographical distribution (countries), and their motivations or objectives as well as the main activities being undertaken for reducing emissions.  The paper then provides an analysis of rights to carbon and benefit-sharing. A case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo complements these analyses, providing further insights of a policy and institutional framework that is being used for engagement of for-profit sector in REDD+.

About 2 billion ha in the world is affected by various forms of human induced land degradation with erosion by water being the chief contributor (1.1 billion ha). In India, out of 120.8 million ha (Mh) degraded land, 82.6 Mh is estimated to suffer with water erosion, 24.7 Mh from chemical degradation, 12.4 Mh due to wind erosion and 1.1 Mh from physical (mainly due to stagnation of water) degradation. About 6.73 Mh is adjudged as salt-affected. With developing scenarios of severe water scarcity and competition from other sectors of economy, it appears axiomatic that agriculture would have to increasingly depend upon marginal and poor quality waters. In most of the arid and semi-arid regions the ground water aquifers are saline. The groundwater surveys indicate that poor quality water utilized in different states of India ranges between 32 and 84% of the total ground water development.

To meet various diverse needs of ever-increasing human and animal population, we need to be rehabilitate all degraded lands. Many species of forest and fruit trees, shrubs, forbs, grasses and medicinal plants have been identified and evaluated for growing in problematic areas. Vast tracts of arid and semi-arid areas remain barren due to salinity or water scarcity. With use of appropriate planting techniques and salt-tolerant species these could be brought under viable vegetation cover. Auger-hole technique for sodic soils, furrow technique of tree plantation for saline soils, and ridge plantation in waterlogged fields are found quite appropriate. By applying appropriate planting and management techniques (e.g. sub-surface planting and furrow irrigation), various species of forest and fruit trees, forage grasses, medicinal and aromatic and other high value crops have been found equally remunerative. Tree-based technologies have additional environmental benefits including huge amount of carbon sequestration, biological reclamation and mitigating climate change.

Vulnerability related to drought and climate change has led to considerable interest to enhance resilience in drylands. Woody species form an important part of the vegetation of drylands, yet there is scattered knowledge on the role that trees could play in achieving more resilient drylands development. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) organized a consultative assesment process to compile existing knowledge and best practice on trees and resilience to ensure that trees in drylands forests and agro-forestry systems are managed to strengthen people’s resilience to the shocks they encounter. Considering resilience from an ecosystem service perspective has advantages in agroforestry systems where trees have many indirect benefits. An ecosystem service approach was thus taken to assess existing knowledge of benefits that people derive from trees in the drylands of East Africa. The assessment further reviewed fifteen project based natural resource management interventions in African drylands in more detail and assesed to whether experience gained could be upscaled throughout the region. This oral session will present the outcomes of this consultative assessment on trees and resilience.

The formations constituted by individuals of Acacia caven (Espino) in Chile form a system relevance native vegetation can contribute to the development of dry land areas of the Central Zone of Chile in South America. Specifically Acacia caven trees (Espino) is a legume to fulfill important economic, social and environmental issues within this system, the most features to maintain and improve soil resources, create better conditions for developing local prairie and maintenance and livestock production, also has the ability to generate products such as firewood and charcoal wood energy, contributing to improving the quality of life of rural residents.

However, this resource is highly degraded, and as from the past, is currently under strong human pressure, to convert this system to agriculture and livestock, and for the extraction of biomass as fuelwood and coal.

This paper aims to describe the resource constituted by Acacia caven formations, Espino, existing in central Chile and provide background to allow for displaying the contribution that this resource is able to generate for the productive, environmental and economic central Chile.

In analyzing this information, it has been elucidated that Acacia caven formations can be one of the main sustainable development of dry land areas of Central Chile, to use it as a silvopastoral system, but progress is still required in new lines of inquiry, and mainly in a systemic analysis that optimize and give this resource sustainability.

Nepal has one-fourth of its population living in absolute poverty. Major part of the poor population lives in rural areas and relies heavily on traditional agrarian economy with integrated forest-livestock-farm system. Ironically, the much-lauded success of community forestry (CF) institutions have posed restrictions on fodder production and grazing. As a result, number of livestock per household has sharply declined over the past few decades. This is particularly so with the small and marginal farmers who rely on community forests to feed their livestock. It has two consequences. First, the livelihoods and food security of these poor farmers is seriously undermined. Second, the growing demand for meat and milk products in the country is met largely by imports. In this backdrop, this paper investigates why CF institutions are not adequately responsive to the local livelihoods, national economic interests despite its huge potentiality for so through integrated and multiple use of forestry.

The paper is based on critical review of policy documents, secondary information, key informant interview and focused group discussion with community groups. In-depth cases of four Community Forest User Groups of Kavre and Lamjung districts on fodder production and grazing management is developed. It is found that the CF institutions have three major constraints. First, there is strong influence of the conventional forestry science that conceptualizes forest management either for biodiversity and wildlife protection or commercial timber enterprises. Second, there are various regulatory barriers which restrict the use of community forests for fodder production and grazing. Third, the institutional fragmentation restricts the use of forest land for non-forestry species. We suggest adaptive collaborative management approach building on the previous research conducted by ForestAction Nepal in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and International Development Research Center (IDRC) for multiple use forest management. The paper finally draws implications to CF policies and institutional architecture.

The diversity and abundance of natural enemies of insect pests is often higher in agroforestry plantations than in sun-exposed monocultures, and it is often assumed that this will result in improved pest suppression. However, the effect that incorporating trees in cropping systems will have on pest populations also depends on the habitat requirements of the pests themselves. We studied how the abundance of a range of coffee pests was influenced by agroforestry in East Africa. Along the slope of Mt Elgon in Uganda we studied how shade level and altitude influenced the abundance of the white stemborer, Monochamus leuconotus, and the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus  hampei, and close to Kitale in western Kenya we investigated how various pests on coffee leaves, e.g., aphids and lacebugs, were influenced by shade level and the amount of trees in the surrounding landscape. We found that the effect of shade trees differed between pest species. The coffee berry borer was more common on sun-exposed plantations, whereas the white stemborer was more common in shaded plantations. However, the effect of shade level on the white stem borer depended on altitude, with the differences between shade levels being most pronounced in plantations at low altitudes. For lacebugs, Habrochila ghesquierei and Habrochila placida, the effect of shade trees depended on the amount of trees present in the surrounding landscape, with a higher abundance of lacebugs in shaded plantations only in landscapes with a low tree cover. The results from this work show that the impact of agroforestry on pest regulation in coffee is highly context specific; it depends on the identity of the most important pests in the area, the altitude and landscape composition.

There exist a long-standing debate among researchers and practitioners on the role of gender in environmental governance including of trees and forests. While some point to the synergies between women’s interests and the goals of good governance, others suggest that such relationships need to be examined in specific social and historical contexts and cannot be pre-determined. The importance of revisiting this debate is all the more important in light of recent attempts to integrate gender in climate change policies in the forestry and agroforestry sector. Informed by the aforementioned debate, women are portrayed as “victims” of climate change and “agents of change” in designing and implementing climate change policies while others see women as “perpetrators” and suggest including them might risk jeopardizing efforts to adapt to and mitigate against climate change. This presentation will critically review these debates and suggest that the role of gender in forestry and agroforestry in the changing context of climate change needs to be understood from a relational and rights-based perspective, and it will highlight some of the implications for such a change in perspective for policies and practice.

The Chinese government is currently implementing the world’s largest forest restoration program, the Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP), which uses public payments to convert marginal cropland in upper watersheds into forests, engaging millions of mountain-dwelling households. Apart from providing financial incentives, the state has also attempted to promote local autonomy and participation in the program. This promotion is a milestone shift in forest policy to grant more power to local communities and increase the involvement of local governance in decision-making. However, whether the SLCP has been effectively implemented, the extent of its ecological and socioeconomic outcomes and how its performance can be improved are still unclear in the absence of adequate biophysical and socioeconomic data. To gain a holistic understanding of the SLCP’s implementation and impacts, this research examines the interplay between the governance of the policy implementation and local variations leading to the various ecological and socioeconomic outcomes observed based on a comparative case study. It provides a novel explanation of why SLCP succeeds in one place but fails in the other, although the program generally implemented in a top-down approach, and it argued the significance of local institutions in shaping the policy’s outcomes. This paper recommends institutional reform across the country’s socio-ecological system with the national policy-maker allowing flexibility in policy implementation and developing mechanisms for accountability and local institutions.

Agroforestry systems and forests play an important role in providing or supplementing the livelihoods of small holders living on sloping lands. Given this importance, smallholders manage these systems in ways that sustain their livelihoods and the biophysical and ecological integrity of these lands. These groups are also targets of various development interventions  to promote forestry and agro-forestry, usually for the purpose of increasing ecosystem services and goods for people living elsewhere. While often sophisticated in terms of attention to the ecological characteristics of agro/forestry systems, these policies are not sufficiently attentive to the  sociocultural and political economic context within which smallholders operate. Furthermore, “smallholders” are not an unitary group.  Rather, they are as diverse in terms of their needs, characteristics, motivations, and management practices as the agroforestry systems they depend upon. In more remote hilly and mountainous regions far from central authority, dominant national cultures and  prime agricultural land, this diversity is even more pronounced.  In this paper we draw on social science tools and methods to understand the diversity of smallholders and especially their agroforestry management practices.  This understanding provides key insights to analyze incentives and restrictions governing projects targeting sloping lands for environmental interventions to improve, for example, soil and water management.   We will draw on cases from overviews prepared by colleagues in seven Asian countries.   In our synthesis of these cases we argue that the use of social science methods and the inclusion of social scientists on multidisciplinary teams would allow policy interventions to be better adapted to the conditions and needs of heterogeneous populations.

In relation to issue of pollination crisis and importance of crop pollinations to ensure enough food in tropical developing countries, it is crucial to understand roles and effects of human-modified landscapes with fragmented forest remnants in maintaining pollinator diversity while fulfilling the demands of local residences and reducing poverty. To implement appropriate landscape management for maintaining pollination service, sufficient information is essential about parameters of habitat suitability among various human-modified habitats with a range of distances to forests and vegetation characteristics, but such information is scarce. We investigated differences in insect pollinator communities between a remnant forest, two types of mature plantations, two types of agroforests, upland crop fields, rice paddy fields, and human settlements in a forest–agricultural landscape of West Java, and we analyzed the effects of both local and landscape factors on various types of species richness in this landscape. Results of non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed almost no strong difference of insect pollinator species composition among habitat types, although the results also indicated that abundance of crop pollinators (bees and wasps) declined and their replacement with others (beetles, moths, butterflies, and flies) along a gradient of human disturbance. Generalized linear modeling results revealed that insect pollinators were more sensitive to vegetation cover rather than to distance to remnant forest, however crop pollinators were more sensitive to different habitat types: species richness of bees was highest in the remnant forest. Mixed-tree agroforests were colonized by 93 % of crop pollinators found in remnant forest, and maintained the highest richness of insect pollinators together with the remnant forest. We concluded that protection of remnant forests as a source of crop pollinator diversity particularly bees has to be prioritized. However, as different environmental factors affected the richness values of different groups of insect pollinators, appropriate landscape design and habitat management could improve functional diversity in forest–agricultural landscapes in the tropics.

Ghana has since 2001 introduced a number of forest-based strategies for improving livelihoods of forest communities, restore forest cover and address timber deficits. Among these strategies is the modified taungya system (MTS). Through a mix of qualitative methods, field observations, and a household survey among 146 MTS farmers from eight villages in the Tano Offin, Tain II and Yaya forest reserves in the high forest zone, this paper addresses some challenges related to MTS management in Ghana. Results indicate that the quality of partnership (i.e. the actors involved) matters in the performance of the scheme. First, a co-management arrangement exclusively between the Forestry Commission and MTS farmer groups generates poorer results in terms of the quality of the timber stands, income-generating potential and motivation of the actors involved. Second, the lack of income from the MTS between tree canopy closure (when the growing of food crops is no longer possible) and timber harvesting demotivates farmers to invest labour in tree farm maintenance in the meantime. Thirdly, continued commitment of both participating farmer groups and coordinating agencies is key to tree farm establishment and maintenance and the quality of timber stocks. Lastly, the prospects for future income from timber revenues determine to a large extent farmers’ commitment to tree maintenance. Linking up with theories on interactive governance and partnerships, the authors make several recommendations to overcome these challenges.

Coffee agroforestry is considered a promising alternative to conventional agriculture that may conserve biodiversity while supporting local livelihoods. This study analyzed the capacity of coffee agroforestry to conserve the tree species diversity and community composition found in forests in La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. To meet this goal, we compared coffee agroforests to forest in terms of floristic richness estimated by tree species richness, Shannon and Simpson Reciprocal diversity indices, and accumulation curves; vegetative structure characterized by basal area, canopy closure, shade tree density, and coffee shrub density; tree community composition described by non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination and by traits of succession (pioneer, intermediate, and late successional); and the presence and abundance of tree species of conservation concern. We found that, although at the landscape level the ensemble of coffee agroforests may conserve comparable species richness to forests, the species ensemble that is being conserved in coffee agroforests is different from that found in forests. Coffee agroforests were dominated by Inga spp., harbored lower tree species diversity at the plot level, a higher proportion of pioneer trees, lower proportion of trees of conservation concern, and were different in terms of community composition compared to forests. Due to these significant differences in tree diversity and community composition between coffee agroforests and forests, we suggested that conservation practitioners and policy makers seeking to promote coffee agroforestry as a conservation strategy should be mindful of whether coffee expansion is occurring in forests or land previously used for agriculture. Whenever appropriate, strategies and policies should impulse the conversion of crop monoculture and pastureland into coffee agroforests, thereby sparing forests and reforesting tree-less agricultural land. Conservation strategies should also discourage the replacement of diverse forest canopies by Inga-dominated coffee agroforests.

Tree-Based Ecosystem Approaches (TBEAs), which include a variety of land and forestry management systems and practices that combine trees with agricultural production, to seek to sustain or increase productivity, enhance ecosystem services supply, are widely documented. Their potential for economic development, poverty reduction and climate resilience has inspired growing interest and investment, however processes that underpin the scaling up of TBEAs are poorly identified and described, and evidence of the impacts of TBEAs on livelihood improvement is lacking. We conducted a review of peer-reviewed and gray literature on TBEAs to gain insight on: (1) the impacts of TBEAs specifically on food security, resilience to climate change, carbon sequestration, and income generation, and (2) drivers that explain the adoption of TBEAs. Of the 292 documents identified, the 93 containing relevant data for our analysis reported on 40 different tree-based practices across 111 sites in 53 countries where TBEAs are in some stage of scaling up. The most commonly reported drivers leading to the adoption of TBEAs were soil quality improvement, income and subsistence production of food and fodder. External NGOs and local or collaborative mechanisms were frequently reported mechanisms for supporting TBEA implementation or maintenance. We found a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative descriptions for TBEA impacts and poor description of the actual levels of adoption and extent of TBEAs suggesting the need to: 1) develop a shared conceptual framework and assessment strategy to inform cross-site comparative impact analysis; 2) conduct spatial analyses to determine geographic distribution and extent of TBEAs; and 3) conduct comprehensive case studies of TBEAs to better understand scaling processes and dynamics at landscape scale.

The Mekong sub-region faces an exceptional expansion of rubber tree plantations, which represent a potential problem in terms of soil sustainability. However, in comparison with intensive annual cropping, rubber tree plantation could also have a positive impact on soil functioning but data concerning its influence on soil environment remains scarce. To address this question, we investigated the impact of rubber tree plantations on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil biological diversity (soil fauna and microorganisms) related to main soil functions such as OM mineralization and nutrient cycling. All the biologic and physical-chemical parameters were measured from the same sampling set along a rubber tree chronosequence in the eastern province of Thailand, and compared to the former crop cultivated (cassava). Compared to cassava field, most of the variables measured (SOC, soil respiration, microbial activities and density, fauna density and diversity) showed significantly higher level only in the old rubber plantations (23-25 years). However, the shift from cassava to young rubber plantations (< 7 years old) resulted first in a depletion of all these parameters. The soil ecosystem started to recover from the land use change after the closing of the canopy of the plantation. At this stage, aboveground and belowground litter started to accumulate significantly in the system. Interestingly, soil fauna structure varied according to plantation age, while bacterial structure depended more on land use change (cassava vs. rubber). These increasing biological activities seemed to participate to a significant change in OM quality (Rock Eval results). These results suggest that planting rubber trees could be a better alternative than cassava crops in terms of soil sustainability. This first study needs to be generalized through an extension towards other crop systems and soil types.

Improving agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers is a goal of much tropical agricultural research. Smallholder farmers are often faced with poor soil fertility. Researchers have developed agroforestry technologies including improved fallows and biomass transfer to address these problems. These technologies have been promoted for nearly thirty years through the public extension system, international and national research institutions. However, levels of adoption of agroforestry practices are low and impacts on smallholder farmers’ livelihood negligible. This study examines particularly the role of extension technologies and practices on trialling and adoption of agroforestry in four districts of eastern Zambia. A survey was completed of 388 smallholder farmers. Data analysis shows that trialling of agroforestry technologies is generally low, 44.9 percent of farmers trialled improved fallow technology and 21.4 percent trialled biomass transfers. Logistic regression analysis is completed to establish the roles of main sources of information, the work of extension officers and researchers, farmer training in how to practice agroforestry, and farmer visits to extension. Despite low trialling rates, retention among farmers who had trialled these agroforestry practices was high (over 70%). Understanding the factors influencing trialling of agroforestry technologies is crucial to ensuring that many farmers take up agroforestry technologies.

This paper assesses the motivation behind the decisions of smallholder farmers to volunteer as farmer trainers despite the fact that they are not paid for their services. The farmer trainers are volunteers selected by the community on the basis of being good communicators and interest in sharing knowledge on fodder innovations. They are trained in livestock feeds and feeding methods by extension officers. They in turn share the knowledge with other farmers in a participatory manner through demonstrations and interactive learning. A study was carried out to understand the motivations of smallholder farmers to volunteer their time to train and share their knowledge with other farmers without pay. Collection of data was through a combination of focus group discussions and individual interviews with 99 and 190 volunteer farmer trainers (VFTs) in Kenya and Uganda respectively. Findings of the study showed that VFTs were motivated by a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Knowledge and altruism were found to be the most important motivating factors for becoming trainers and even three years after becoming trainers in the two countries. Other factors are social and project benefits. Three years after becoming trainers, income earned from selling inputs and specialized services was a main motivating factor to VFTs in Kenya than Uganda. Reasons  are explored in the paper. Demand for training also emerged as a motivating factor after VFTs started sharing their knowledge. The findings point to the fact that the general reasons that motivate volunteers irrespective of context are driven by personal and community interests. However, certain motivations are context specific.

Coffee agroforestry systems are intermediate between forest and monoculture coffee in many aspects of above and belowground biodiversity and related functions. For the farmer, however, the balance of positive and negative aspects of diversity needs to be understood in relation to key processes such as nutrient and water uptake, slope and topsoil integrity and harvestable yield. Climate variability affects water availability, modulated by the pattern of infiltration and water holding capacity of the soil, but also through pest and disease relationships that influence root functions in water uptake. In the Way Besai catchment (Sumberjaya, Lampung, Indonesia) that has seen a rapid transformation towards coffee in the past 3 decades, we surveyed earthworm, nematode and termite diversity profiles of forest, coffee agroforestry, simple shade-tree + coffee mixtures and coffee monocultures were combined with measurement of soil macroporosity, surface runoff and coffee yields. Four relatively large-bodied native earthworms were lost upon forest conversion, with six exotic and smaller-bodied worms replacing them. The nematode fauna shifted towards plant-parasitic genera, especially where a grass/weed understory was present. Shade trees depress ground vegetation through litter, reducing plant parasitic nematodes, but enhancing earthworms. Gliricidia sepium, a favourite  N₂ fixing companion tree of coffee is toxic for earthworms as well as plant parasitic nematodes, while banana stimulates the nematodes but provides direct yield to the farmer. Termites can shift from beneficial to pest status depending on the availability of woody debris in the system. Overall, the multispecies coffee agroforestry systems are more robust to climate variability, partially through these biotic interactions with soil fauna. Farmer knowledge tends to focus on what is visible aboveground and rationalizes the benefits and negative impacts of various companion trees in terms of ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ soil properties. Although these terms do not directly relate to temperature, management towards ‘cold’ components can in fact buffer them from effects of global warming.

There has been a semantic shift from agricultural research “and development” to agricultural research “for development” (AR4D) or “in development”. This change reflects the need for agricultural research to become more focused on and accountable for its impacts on people’s livelihoods and health, and on the environment. In practice, this new paradigm recognizes that research takes place and is scaled up within complex adaptive systems. Approaches to agricultural research have been dominated by conventional linear research and development models, where scientific advances are assumed to drive the developments that result in changes that impact on people’s lives. Complex systems-based research, of the sort that dominates agroforestry, does not fit this simple model. Scholars have shown that most economic change in society does not often derive from single scientific breakthroughs, but frequently from the re-working of existing knowledge. Scientific-led change takes place in social contexts that are typified by complex interactions among a range of actors, and agroforestry presents a clear example of these complex interactions. Change in these systems is not linear, but consists of many feedback loops whereby knowledge and information flow through the system in different directions.

Many of the implications of understanding how to operate in complex adaptive systems are behavioural, and will require scientists to work with broader ranges of partners and through different working relationships than previously. Other necessary changes are institutional, and include how scientific institutions partner with others, what incentives are provided to scientists to work within complex adaptive systems and how the funders of science allocate funds to allow the merging of science and development. Major changes are needed in monitoring methodologies to allow more rapid learning from experience and the shortening of feedback loops. Better systems for tracking investment in Ar4D are needed.

The past decade has seen a renewed interest in investment in agriculture and particularly extension. However, donors and policy makers would like to see agricultural extension systems that are more participatory, demand-driven, cost-effective, efficient and sustainable. Farmer-to-farmer extension is such a bottom-up approach in which farmers share knowledge on agricultural innovations within their communities. However, for these new extension approaches to be institutionalized, they must demonstrate their superiority over old approaches. Unfortunately, such evidence is hardly available and there are concerns in the literature on the capability of farmers to take up extension.

This paper therefore examines the experience of 34 organisations (i.e. government, international and national/local NGOs and farmer organisations) with the farmer-to-farmer extension approach in Cameroon. Topics covered in the semi-structured surveys with extension managers include selection of lead farmers, their terms of reference, motivation and incentives, training programmes and other capacity development for lead farmers, dropout rates, challenges and lessons for successful implementation of farmer-to-farmer extension under varying circumstances.

The results from this study are of use to decision makers in search for low-cost, community-based dissemination approaches. Information is provided on opportunities that could be explored to improve the motivation and effectiveness of lead farmers and sustainability of farmer-led extension programmes.

Landscape approaches are becoming increasingly common as scientists, policymakers, and local stakeholders recognize the need to increase the multi-functionality of rural landscapes for food production, livelihood improvement, and ecosystem conservation. To date, however, there has been no systematic assessment of the practice or outcomes of landscape approaches. To fill this gap, we surveyed participants and managers in integrated landscape initiatives throughout Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Africa to assess these initiatives’ contexts, objectives, participants, activities and investments, outcomes, and major successes and shortcomings. Results from 104 initiatives in 21 countries in LAC and 87 initiatives in 33 countries in Africa indicate that landscape approaches are being applied to address a variety of challenges in diverse contexts, and that use of this paradigm is expanding. On both continents, initiatives reported investing across four key “domains” of landscape multi-functionality: agricultural production, ecosystem conservation, human livelihoods, and institutional planning and coordination. Initiatives reported positive outcomes across all four domains, but particularly with respect to institutional planning and coordination. These results suggest that landscape approaches have aided in building local foundations for adaptive management and resource governance, including platforms for stakeholder coordination and negotiation, improved inter-sectoral alignment, and empowerment of women and local communities. In Africa, landscape approaches were most commonly rooted in conservation objectives, underwritten by external funding, and often engaged local governments in a superficial way. In Latin America, we found a wider range of entry points and objectives, more robust local participation, and greater evidence of supportive policies and platforms. Key challenges identified by survey respondents—including the long time horizon required to achieve results at scale, unsupportive policy frameworks, and difficulty in engaging the private sector and other important stakeholders—offer insights for improving the future effectiveness of landscape approaches.

Agroforestry is recognized to have the potential to guide the transition to a multifunctional agriculture that successfully addresses the challenge of optimizing crop productivity while maintaining the provision of multiple ecosystem services. The majority of ecosystem processes depend on the soil as the critical and dynamic regulatory center and soil organisms contribute to a wide range of ecosystem services that are essential to the sustainable function of natural and managed ecosystems. Recent evidence has shown that there is strong linkage between aboveground biodiversity (vegetation/crops) and belowground biodiversity (soil organisms). This finding supports the concept that the integration of trees in agriculture can have profound impacts on soil-mediated ecosystem services.  Our study of Tree-Soil interactions is housed within a Land Health Surveillance Framework that involves standardized measurement protocols over sentinel sites (10 x 10 km blocks of land), within which a spatially stratified, randomized ground sampling scheme is implemented. Tree and shrub density are measured and soil samples taken in 100-m² sub-plots, which are nested within 1000-m² plots, in turn nested within 1-km² diameter clusters. The position of the clusters within 2.5 × 2.5 km tiles is also randomized. Soil samples from each plot are characterized using infrared spectroscopy as a front-line tool for screening soil properties. The strategic combination of a whole soil biota sampling protocol, molecular biology tools, and spectroscopic techniques within spatially-explicit sampling frameworks allows the systematic study of tree/soil biota interactions influencing soil-mediated ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes of East and Southern Africa.  Land Health Surveillance can provide a practical, evidence-based approach for considering soil biodiversity and other land health indicators when planning and evaluating land management interventions

The complexity and variability of multi-species, perennial systems creates a challenge for the design of sustainable agroforestry systems that need to be applicable in practice. Combining numerical models with farmers’ participation could help design systems that find optimal solutions for balancing different performance requirements, as well as being acceptable by the farmers who be implementing these new systems. We used a working coffee/shade tree agroforestry model, CAF2007, to search for scenarios where farmers could increase shade tree density in order to decrease runoff and erosion, while maintaining coffee yields. Nineteen coffee farmers, divided into four groups according to their farming practices, were invited to attend five interactive work sessions. We evaluated the effect of introducing a numerical model on the scope and detail of a discussion around design of cropping systems for mitigating erosion at the plot scale. Participants in all groups actively engaged with the model, which served as a support for discussing the processes and parameters affecting soil erosion, including shade tree management. As the study area was located in a highly productive coffee zone, fertilization was also a topic of major interest. Farmers compared simulation outputs to their own observations on the field; feedback on model performance suggested that model sensitivity to certain parameters such as N input and shade tree density needed to be improved. Overall, 78% of participants identified at least one change in practices that they wished to try on their field; the majority concerned changes in the amount and frequency of fertilization applications and/or change in shade tree pruning levels. This study showed that a) numerical models can be a valuable tool for facilitating discussion of the function of complex systems and encouraging on-farm trial of new/modified practices; and b) feedback from such interactions yields valuable information on necessary improvements to the model.

Recently there is an emerging concept that addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation in an integrated manner improves the ineffectiveness and inefficiency resulting from the dichotomized approaches of addressing the two measures. Such arguments base on the fact that addressing adaptation and mitigation as separate policy streams in different institutions increases the cost of climate policy. In tropical and subtropical landscapes, adaptation and mitigation share common resources such as land, natural resource management skills and institutions. Moreover, the two measures strongly complement one another for example failure to adapt among rural households may strongly affect the mitigation efforts in the forestry sector. Despite the envisaged positive benefits of synergizing adaptation and mitigation in the land use sector, there is limited knowledge as to what could be the appropriate basis for synergy to happen.  This study explores the extent of the interdependence between climate change mitigation and adaptation in tropical and subtropical landscapes and how the interdependence can help designing a holistic approach of addressing both measures using environmental services as platforms. Four landscapes – Menagesha Suba area from central highlands of Ethiopia, Bamendjing and Bankim landscapes from Cameroon and Ngitili dominated landscape from Shynianga region of Tanzania – were used for the analysis. Two key lessons are learnt from the study: 1) at landscape level, there is a strong interdependence between adaptation and mitigation; 2) most of the networks of interdependences between adaptation and mitigation are through one or more environmental services. Hence, proper emphasis should be given to practices, functions and processes that promote the provision of environmental services which concurrently facilitate the move to address climate change effectively.

As one of the strategies for alleviating the current environmental degradation problem of Ethiopia, the government has been taking different measures. The forest policy approved in 2007 clearly indicates agro-forestry development as one of the strategies designed to foster private forest development and conservation. Despite the efforts made to understand the role and determinants of adoption of such technologies, there are still little empirical evidences on the  link between farmers’ behavior and other community level variables and the adoption of various types of agro forestry technologies in Africa in general and Ethiopia in particular. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze and understand why agroforestry technologies are not being taken up by examining factors that influence the adoption of agroforestry practices using data collected from different parts of rural Ethiopia. We employ econometric models to address the objective of the paper. The findings show that different factors do have different effects on the different agro forestry technologies. For example, tenure security is important for the adoption decision of some types of agro forestry technologies. Other factors such as improving the access of distant and more marginal villages to infrastructural facilities such as market and biomass availability seem to affect the decision to adopt both multipurpose and fodder positively and significantly. The paper also discusses the effect of other socioeconomic variables and identifies important measures needed to be taken in order to promote different types of agro forestry technologies in rural Ethiopia. The findings of this research may also provide scientific evidence for other similar countries whose livelihood depends mainly on agriculture and natural resources such as forests.

As agroforestry is gaining ground as a Climate-Smart practice, we discovered that very little scientific evidence was documented on the role of trees for farmers’ coping and adaptation strategies, particularly in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, ‘participatory tools’ for this purpose were missing or needed revamping.

Results from a survey of 660 households in northern and north-central Vietnam show 2/3 of women and 1/3 of men had never heard of ‘climate change’ although they were exposed to multiple hazards on an annual basis. This affected how we worked and talked about adaptation.

Here we present a selection of tools designed to encourage inclusive discussions, which were developed specifically to identify the role of agroforestry and trees as coping strategies during extreme weather events and for identifying adaptation options. Next we present key results from focus-group discussions in 18 villages and how these are used for local land-use planning. The tools are available online as a ‘living’ document for further use by agroforesters.

The success of any sustainable integrated natural resource management (INRM) initiatives is determined largely by local level solutions derived from community involvement. This is because community members are more cognizant of processes that bind them and therefore have effective possible solutions to their challenges. However, most community members lack the capacity and ability to individually address these challenges. There is need to enhance their capacity and ability so as to gain access to combined knowledge and to leverage complementary assets to address their underlying challenges. This study examines in details the contributions of innovation platforms towards integrated natural resource management using a case study of Kapchorwa District Landcare Chapter (KADLACC) in Uganda. Emerging studies from KADLACC have shown that addressing complex INRM challenges requires an expanded multi-stakeholder process, otherwise known as innovation platforms. The platforms link local level decision making to various levels of governance, and provides for the institutional capacity to improve livelihoods and landscapes. KADLACC has achieved successful experiences by capturing existing social capital through strategic support of farmer groups, community based organizations and institutions in higher levels of governance like the local government units and technical service providers from government line agencies. Bringing together the various actors across all the levels has enabled farmers to build their capacity to formulate and express their needs and concerns thereby being able to connect between individual issues and possible solutions.

Within agroforestry systems, tree root architecture is a driver of important ecological processes such as nutrient cycling and carbon storage. Yet the belowground component of trees remains largely understudied due to methodological constraints. Conventional subsurface sampling can overlook the heterogeneity of root systems, while complete excavations are destructive and unrepeatable. Thus, there is a need to develop in situ non-intrusive technologies, such as ground penetrating radar (GPR), to measure root systems. Radar signals emitted from GPR into the subsurface are reflected at the coarse root-soil interface due to a contrast in dielectric properties. The returned radar signals can be interpreted to determine root biomass estimates and distribution. This technology was tested in two agroforestry systems: a tree-based intercropping (TBI) system in Canada and a cocoa-shade (CS) system in Ghana. Drawing on these tropical and temperate systems, we provide an overview of the methods used, the limitations of the technology, and the promising applications of GPR to study the ever-elusive tree root in order to answer important ecological questions pertinent to land management objectives. Using GPR image analysis, we successfully and non-destructively detected alley tree and shade tree plus cocoa tree-crop coarse root distributions in TBI and CS systems, respectively. We show strong root plasticity in agroforestry systems as: i) interspecies variability was detected in tree root stratification patterns and ii) coarse root distribution was modified in the presence of a secondary species and under contrasting edaphic conditions. In the TBI system, tree root biomass was accurately estimated for five tree species using GPR image processing when compared to the matched harvested root systems. This new application of GPR allows for the charting of tree root structure and a novel method for root biomass estimation, and therefore carbon storage, in agroforestry systems.

Xishuangbanna, SE China, like most of SE Asia regions, has been largely transformed from biodiverse natural forests and mixed-use farms into monoculture rubber plantations in just twenty years. This conversion has expanded into forests previously protected by the community and onto marginal sites at high-elevation. Market-based ecosystem payments, especially carbon financing, water and recreation market, are potential tools to prevent further forest loss. Here, we compare rubber net present value (NPV), market value of carbon sequestration, Non-timber forest products (NTFPs), other land-use and biodiversity, labor force needs for Xishuangbanna given seven land-use scenarios based on 2010 land-use map: Non-Rubber Scenario, agroforestry 2010, Conservation Oriented Scenario (CES), agroforestry CES, Business-As-Usual Scenario (BAU), agroforestry BAU, Economic Oriented Scenario (EOS), agroforestry EOS using our previously published spatial map of rubber profitability. The spatially explicit models on carbon, NTFPs, land use market price in our study will help us to answer: 1) which is more cost-efficient between rubber monoculture and rubber agroforestry? 2) Which has better ecological functions/values? 3) Is there balance between economic cost-efficiency and ecological functions/values? Which can perform better between rubber monoculture and rubber agroforestry? 3) Which is more implementable based on existing policy-supports?

The results from our study are not only important for China, but also to the SE Asian Countries where rubber monoculture is expanding rapidly. Our methodology provides a direct and spatially explicit approach to identify where market-based payment for ecosystem services and implementable policy-supports could be successfully introduced for sustainable land-use management. Our results are novel and provide a significant insight into the development of sustainable rubber agroforestry through the application of appropriate policy.

In many agroforestry systems (AFS) studies, shade was presented as being the opposite of full-sun condition. This simplification ignores light transmission through canopies or the role of diffuse light transmittance in crop light budgets. We argue here that a detailed and continuous assessment of light availability in AFS is a prerequisite to understand the impact of shade trees on the productivity of the associated crop. With this aim, we applied MAESTRA, a 3D light interception model, to a coffee AFS (CoffeeFlux Observatory) composed of two heterogeneous canopy layers, to assess the level of competition for photosynthetic active radiation absorption (aPAR) between coffee and shade trees (Erythrina poeppigiana) with a spatial resolution from plant to plot and a temporal resolution from 30 min to a whole year. Model predictions were tested against field measurements. We mapped aPAR over the coffee layer. Large and low density shade trees (9% tree cover) reduced the aPAR in coffee by 14% on a yearly average. Shade trees increased the fraction of diffuse irradiance by 20% below their crown, suggesting some positive impacts on the efficiency of coffee photosynthesis. Seasonal variations in aPAR were mainly explained by changes in coffee leaf area index with the annual coffee pruning having the strongest impact. In the actual coffee density, 35% of the incident PAR was still absorbed by the soil due to inter-row spaces; this is a large amount of underexploited energy that could be used by a cover crop. We performed prospective simulations increasing shade tree density gradually. Coffee plantation aPAR displayed a negative exponential relationship with increasing shade tree density. The photosynthesis being non-linearly related to incident light, the decrease in coffee layer photosynthesisis expected to decrease less rapidly than the decrease of aPAR.

This modeling approach allows to assess the light available for individual plants as a continuous factor that can be used as a powerful covariable to study e.g. the determinants of crop yield, the incidence of diseases, etc. MAESTRA can be used to test some simple hypothesis prior to AFS field experiments such as the effects of slope, row orientation, pruning techniques, shade tree arrangement on light absorption… Once carefully verified and parameterized, MAESTRA can be used as a powerful tool to test some new AFS designed to optimize light absorption, canopy temperature, carbon assimilation and/or transpiration

The restoration of Wild Flower Holdings (WFHL) is currently underway in the Deltota Valley in Sri Lanka. This biodiversity rich montane forest area is the watershed of the Maha Oya and where tea was first planted. The Valley is extremely wind swept and dry for much of the year. More than a century later it has lost most of its forest cover, soil and is an unproductive environment.

One and a half years ago, Neo Synthesis Research Centre partnered with WFHL to carry out the ambitious rehabilitation of this landholding. They adopted a landscape approach to rehabilitation. Since this was a commercial land holding the landscape design had to address ecological needs and be economically viable.

The Loolecondera forest, the closest natural forest in the area was first visited to understand its architectural structure and species composition. This information provided the blueprint for rehabilitation. Thereafter, the WHFL landholding was surveyed and sectioned into zones for rehabilitation based on the ecological function they played in the landscape. GIS mapping was undertaken and special emphasis was placed on hydrology since water drained into a large wetland area.

The landscape design adopted a different ‘treatment’ for each of these zones. Areas that had once been planted with tea and were severely eroded were first planted with hedgerows along the contours. In between the hedgerows Cinnamon and Coffee were inter planted with native species. The design varied depending on the wind direction and intensity. In the lower parts of the property subject to less wind damage, other tree crops were planted.

Native shrubs and small and large trees were planted in the riparian zone around the lake and alongside the streams. Bamboo sp. was used in areas prone to erosion.

The land around the house was planted with several ornamental species and an extensive organic vegetable garden.

This experiment may offer the solution to restore vast areas of unproductive tea land.

With today´s need of a project to meet inter-, multi- and trans-disciplinary standards as well as integrating stakeholder based decision making processes into a research framework, project management staff and project proposal writers face quite difficult tasks. Not only do the scientists need to meet their own disciplinary standards, but also it is expected that from the fruitful interdisciplinary interaction something bigger is born.
Within the SURUMER project we have established a working framework that allows for an integrative Ecosystem Service Assessment (ESA) aiming at bringing together both the needs of disciplinary data acquisition and high quality research with interdisciplinary modeling approaches under the umbrella of a stakeholder based steering mechanism.

A continuous stakeholder process focusing on three different groups of decision-makers (village heads and innovative farmers, regional planners as well as politics) in our project region develops key questions related to ESS to be addressed by the project scientists. Based on these questions, scenarios are designed in an iterative process during the stakeholder process. One of the major aspects of these scenarios is the integration of different management methods for various agroforestry-based intercropping approaches. These scenarios are analyzed by multiple disciplinary and interdisciplinary modeling and assessment approaches, leading first to a bio-physical assessment of the scenario. This assessment is, in a second step, supplemented with socio-economic appraisals on expected changes in household income and economic welfare. Finally, these assessments are combined and adapted to be returned into the continuous stakeholder process for information exchange and possible adaption of key scenario questions.

For this World Congress on Agroforestry, the authors present the established framework as well as first results of the ESA. In addition, we want to share our experiences from the stakeholder integration processes and discuss possible adaptation strategies for other agroforestry systems and other (inter-) national settings.

As a name, a brand and a practice, Model Forests are intriguing and counterintuitive. They are, in fact, an original concept and a unique platform of territorial governance that creates conditions for grassroots cross-sector integration tightly linked to progressive public policies. This is because:

Model Forests are not just about forests. Rather, they embrace all forms of land use and activities in a large landscape, such as agriculture, livestock, fisheries, mining, water, energy and health, as well as forests, whether natural or planter, rich or degraded. Even cities can be part of a Model Forest.

A Model Forest is not just a place. It is primarily a voluntary and inclusive partnership among all relevant actors, big and small, in order to ensure the sustainable development of the territory. The partners do this through joint activities, projects and programs of work.

A Model Forest is not a project; it is a life project. It is both an approach and a process by which the partners work together through dialogue, experimentation and innovation to find long term, cooperative solutions to their problems, and to give concrete shape to their aspirations. Each Model Forest is unique, but all are based on the same core principles (Partnership; Landscape; Sustainability; Governance; Program of work; and Networking).

A Model Forest belongs to the local partners; they set it up and run it. However, while autonomous and rooted in locally established priorities, a Model Forest is sponsored by its government to join the International Network. This global community of vision and practice has been gaining ground around the world over the last twenty years.

In Africa, the concept emerged from research on Adaptative Collaborative Management. Today, the Model Forests initiative is in its tenth year of development in Africa.

In situ conservation in Mexico is based in natural protected areas with different categories. They now cover ca. 12% of the territory, from which 8% is covered by biosphere reserves. National parks have the most and oldest protected areas in Mexico, with the first decree in 1917. They cover 1.3% of the territory and represent spaces of high species and ecosystem biodiversity where management activities are restricted. Nevado de Toluca is a forested volcano of 53,000 hectares that used to be a national park from 1936 up to 2013. In this time 5,500 hectares of forest have been fragmented and degraded, 10,000 people established inside the protected area polygon, and maize, potatoes, wheat and cattle are extensively cultivated, being most of these activities illegal, according to the national park status. An initiative by some society individuals from the academy and NGOs, the Mexican National Commission on Protected Areas (CONANP) and local stakeholders proposed a change of status in Nevado de Toluca protected area. From September 2013 it became a “Flora and Fauna Conservation Area”, a less strict status that allows management and agroforestry activities. We propose a zonification and management plan that include a strong link between the local stakeholders and the academy, with preservation areas (strict conservation) and agroforestry actions that do not compromise the sustainability of this volcano. From this background the question is which are the best agroforestry practices involved in the policies in order to get the best natural resources management?

The Moringa fund is the world’s first investment vehicle dedicated to agroforestry with high social and environmental impacts in Latin-America and Sub-Saharan Africa. While its final objective is to raise 100 M EUR, it has already gathered a blend of public and private investors for a total amount of 51.4. M EUR and is now ready to launch its first investments. The main objectives of the fund are (i) to develop sound agroforestry projects providing a commercial return to its investors; (ii) to have a positive environmental impact (climate change mitigation and adaptation, soil improvements, biodiversity conservation, etc.); (iii) to increase the livelihoods of farmers and local communities. The main models targeted are sylvopastoralism, permanent crops under shade trees, and intertwined or mosaïc agroforestry.

While numerous publications describe the economic, environmental and social benefits of agroforestry projects, few detail the advantages of agroforestry from an investor point of view. This article present and discusses key arguments for agroforestry projects in comparison to conventional agriculture and forestry investments. Advantages can be summarized as follows: (i) diversified revenue and market sources (ii) increased yields thanks to synergies involved in agroforestry (iii) maximization of revenues for a given area of land (iv) reduced costs thanks to well designed partnerships and outgrower schemes with farmers (v) positive impacts on climate change, soil, water, biodiversity, etc. and reduced environmental risks (vi) better resilience of investments (vii) increased farmer and community livelihoods, less social risks (viii) reduced land grabbing issues (ix) potential for revenue from environmental services.

Phosphorus saturation ratio (PSR) and soil phosphorus storage capacity (SPSC) are two concepts that have become popular related to phosphorus (P) chemistry and management of many agricultural soils in the United States and other parts of the world during the past two decades. The PSR is the molar ratio of phosphorus to iron and aluminum in an oxalate or a soil test solution such as Mehlich 3, and SPSC signifies the amount of P that can safely be stored within a soil prior to it becoming an environmental risk. The SPSC can be calculated based on a threshold PSR value, above which P release from the soil will increase substantially. In this study we evaluated the potential for using the PSR/SPSC concept to agroforestry and related land-use systems for identifying soils where P could pose a potential environmental threat. Studies were conducted on tree-based agricultural systems on different soil types: Alfisols (Quercus suber silvopasture; Extremadura Spain), Inceptisols (Pinus radiata and Betula alba silvopasture; Galicia, Spain), Spodosols (Pinus elliottii  silvopasture; Manatee county, Florida), Oxisols (Uganda; Coffea canephora and Coffea arabica plantations), and Ultisols (Pinus elliottii  silvopasture; Suwannee county, Florida). At all locations, PSR and SPSC were calculated for soils sampled by depth up to one-meter depth in most cases. Results showed that irrespective of soil type, P release from the soil increased once the threshold PSR value was reached. The P release generally decreased down a soil profile with the P storage capacity increasing deeper in a soil profile in a tree-based system compared to adjacent treeless plots. This is attributed to the ability of trees to remove of excess P (and other nutrients) from agricultural soils. The study suggests that the threshold PSR and SPSC could be used to predict P storage and loss from agricultural and agroforestry systems.

Forest cover in Sri Lanka has declined of which riverine forests form a substantial part. Aside from stabilizing stream banks, controlling soil erosion, providing shade and habitat for surface and aquatic biodiversity, their importance as riparian buffers to mediate the inflow of polluted surface water or in bio remediating ground water must not be underestimated.

The most serious loss was experienced in the upper watersheds where montane forests were cut to plant tea. Current land use in these areas is dominated by tea and vegetable cultivation that use massive amounts of agrochemicals. Many agrochemicals produce and disseminate xenobiotics and their metabolites that may result in dangerous health issues both in the area of application and downstream. Current research suggests that the use of reservoir water might be a cause for acute chronic kidney disease in downstream communities.

Parallel to their impact on surface water quality, the impact of agrochemical leaching into ground water is equally serious. The experience in Kalpitiya where nitrogen based fertilisers has contaminated the prevailing Gyben Herzberg type aquifer is well known.

The Neo Synthesis Research Centre (NSRC) has from 2001 to date been engaged in the restoration of riparian vegetation alongside banks and gullies in the upper reaches of the Mathatilla Oya, Maragala Oya, Bolgoda Ganga, Hulu Ganga, Rakwana Ganga, Lemastote Oya and Maha Oya as well as around Lake Richmond in Haputale. The vegetation used in the landscape design of the riparian buffer zone mimicked the natural forest vegetation of the area. If the buffer zone was inhabited with people who had tea, home or vegetable gardens, efforts were made to induce trees in the area adjacent to the water body and convert cultivation to adopt organic regimes. However, most of these areas also suffer from a lack of sanitation. Hence issues include the intrusion of faecal coliform bacteria into surface water bodies, compounding water quality further. Toilets have been constructed though many more are required. Restoration has, in all instances been undertaken with the participation of the community.

Restoration of riparian vegetation around and along surface and ground water bodies may be a promising and low cost solution to averting the contamination of water resources.

Problems of natural resources management are often wicked problems. They involve multiple stakeholders with different worldviews, different needs and agendas, in a world with pervasive uncertainties.  The answers to such problems are not technical fixes but political process that engage the stakeholders in problem solving iterative loops. However, new technologies, particularly IT, can help navigate the complexities of designing efficient natural resources management schemes. We present here an initiative to develop online participatory tools to contribute to an on-going policy debate in the coffee agroforestry systems in the district of Kodagu (India). In this landscape, driven by market incentives and recently available technologies, farmers are intensifying the production system, replacing the complex and diverse canopy cover with the fast growing Grevillea robusta. In the background, farmers and foresters are fighting for the rights over the native tree species. The outcome of this struggle has the potential to alter dramatically the farmers’ strategies and the distribution of biodiversity at the landscape level.

While earlier research quantified past dynamics and highlighted the main drivers of the present trends, tools are lacking for the decision makers to explore the long term, often unforeseen impacts of their proposed interventions. Based on a conceptual model developed through participatory workshops with local stakeholders, we developed a computerized agent-based model using a dedicated modelling platform, NetLogo. This online-enabled modular platform allows stakeholders to interact on a larger scale, to propose alternative futures and policy changes, and to explore the impacts of these proposed changes. We will use it as a springboard for discussion with local stakeholders and policy makers, to broadly disseminate the results of our research, and to encourage local farmers and outsiders alike to contribute meaningfully to the policy process, allowing for surprise and innovation to emerge from the interactions the platform will generate.

Over the last 30 years, coffee expanded tremendously in the region to the detriment of forest. Still, Robusta (80%) and Arabica (20%) are grown under the shade of multi-strata agroforestry systems (AFS) and hence play a major role in biodiversity conservation and provision of goods and services to local communities. Water is a critical service since the main rivers, providing water for urban centres and agriculture all over Southern India, are originating from these coffee areas of the Western Ghats.

The tree composition of this coffee AFS landscape has been affected by important changes in management practices such as irrigation to stimulate coffee mass flowering and introduction of fast growing tree species (mainly Grevillea robusta) for timber production and stand for pepper. Consequently, we studied for 3 years how the change in tree cover from predominantly native tree species to exotic species affected the water dynamics in coffee AFS of the Kavery watershed of Kodagu district, the most important coffee district of the region.

Conclusions of this study are 1) canopy of coffee and shade trees intercepts 15-25% of the rainfall, 2) coffee trees intercept the largest part of the rainfall (9-21%), 3) coffee under shade of native trees transpires more than coffee under shade of exotic trees, particularly during the dry season, 4) native trees transpire more than exotic ones, especially during the dry season, 5) runoff was comparable (in the range of 3-6%) in native and exotic plots, 6) the amount of rain infiltrating into the soil was greater in native than in exotic plots, and 7) the amount of water drained below the root zone was lower in native than in exotic plots, and hence less water from native plots was going to rivers and recharging the aquifers than from the exotic plots.

Natural Rubber links global industry to millions of family farms. To ensure the sustainability of plantations, conditions should remain favourable during one or two decades. How can such conditions be ensured when the environment is changing? From farm-survey, ecological studies and experiments a multi-disciplinary methodology is developed in Thailand to identify significant indicators to assess the long-term adaptation and sustainability of smallholder’s plantation systems.

Risks and adaptations related to climate. The increase in global temperature will affect directly agriculture, particularly in the tropical area (IPCC 2007). Drought is the more likely climatic risk as rubber plantations expand towards drier areas, and due to the more irregular rain patterns. The hydraulic properties of rubber clones are considered a key for their adaptability to drought. It is also relevant to assess the effects of drought on soil biology, which maintains soil fertility. Extreme events, like flooding, are likely to increase as well but their actual occurrence and effects on rubber trees and farms is not well documented. As rainfall is becoming more erratic, farmers tend to adopt irregular tapping patterns. Assessing the resulting physiological status of trees will help identify adaptive strategies.

Changes in socio-economic context. Rubber price fluctuations have greatly affected the sector recently. This is a risk for farmer’s budget but also an incentive for flexible production systems. Plantations are extending towards new areas where their sustainability is questioned, whereas new investors get involved. These changes will affect the functioning of both the field-plant system and the production system. There is a need to identify the way socio-economic factors interact with biophysical factors to determine farmers’ strategies regarding risks induced by global changes.

Environmental issues. The impact of rubber plantations on natural resources and associated environmental services has been poorly studied. Environmental impacts affect the plantation in terms of soil sustainability (soil fertility preservation related to soil functional diversity) and generate externalities. We consider the risk linked to the extension of rubber plantations in sub-optimal regions and the risk of soil degradation in the traditional area of cultivation after 50 years of continuous rubber cropping.

The Carood watershed incorporates a heavily degraded, mosaic landscape covering 21, 407 hectares in the province of Bohol, Philippines. The area is home to around 60,000 people whose principal livelihood activities of subsistence agriculture – particularly rice and maize production – as well as livestock management and aquaculture, are closely bound to the ecosystem services provided by the watershed. The degraded nature of the watershed, which has been largely deforested and replaced with extensive agricultural and grasslands over the last half century, has disrupted the evenness of river flow resulting in alternate flooding and drought episodes, an accelerated level of soil erosion as well as downstream sedimentation. The degradation of the landscape has impacted the economic activities of local communities and alternative land-use practices which continue to offer livelihood benefits are required to tackle the associated environmental problems. However, reported problems remain largely anecdotal with limited available hydrological data. This study therefore, uses Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate the effects on watershed hydrology of different land use practices under two scenarios: current land-use practices and improved land management using agroforestry in strategic locations.  Using a combination of observed climatic and soil data, land-cover and geomorphological data derived from high-resolution satellite imagery the results reveal the effects of different land-use practices on the quality (sediment load), quantity (surface runoff) and seasonal availability (evenness of flow) of water in the Carood watershed. The simulations demonstrate that the adoption of agroforestry in strategic locations represents an effective land-use option to address the reported water quality and quantity issues. In particular, the use of carefully located or restored riparian buffers in addition to contour planting in grasslands appear to be the most effective techniques to reduce sediment transfer to the watershed river network.

Studies around the world have shown that climate change will have a massive negative impact on coffee production. East-Africa will not be the exception. In this study, we want to show how a systems approach in agricultural research is necessary in order to adapt coffee systems sustainably to climate change.  To develop sustainable climate-smart practices, it is not only necessary to consider processes at the plot level, but also need to take into consideration the adoption drivers and trade-offs at household, landscape and institutional levels.  We will illustrate this by studies on coffee systems in Uganda. In Uganda, coffee is one of the largest export products, generating some 20%-30% of the foreign exchange earnings. Robusta accounts for about 70-80% and Arabica 20-30% of the export volumes of Uganda. To understand broadly the extend to which climate change will have an impact on Arabica and Robusta growing regions in Uganda, maps depicting the suitability changes of Arabica and Robusta due to climate change were developed using the MAXENT approach. This allowed us to focus on regions that were most in need of adaptation measures. In these areas, data was collected at field and household level by conducting surveys. At field level, data analysis showed that climate change did not only have on the crop physiology but also on the pest and disease dynamics.  Furthermore, by measuring yields and pests and disease incidence along an altitude gradient, future production and pest/disease trends could be predicted following the climate analogue principle. We found that some pests and diseases are likely to expand strongly in the future, but effects will be source and site specific.  Farmer interviews confirmed findings concluded from field measurements. Farmers but also other coffee stakeholders largely put shade forward as a good adaptation measure. The selection of the shade type and shade density is a function of managing the competition for light, water and nutrients on the one hand and accounting for the benefits generated by the shade plants on the other hand. Competition can be reduced by applying nutrient inputs or irrigation. For this purpose, we developed site-specific fertilizer recommendations. Shade plants can also affect the incidence of specific pests and diseases. We observed that the incidence of Black Coffee Twig Borer would increase significantly under shade, particularly under Albezia spp, much higher incidence rates of twig borer damage was recorded. Although farmers recognize the constraints and opportunities of using shade as an adaptation strategy in their coffee systems, they explained the lack of access to existing knowledge but also to input markets that made it impossible for them to successfully adopt shade as a sustainable innovation. Furthermore, adopting new technologies like shade requires household members to prioritize their resource investments. Shade plants like bananas can provide food and income benefits in the short term (<1.5 years), whereas most shade trees would take 3-5 years before providing any benefits. Meanwhile, most private and public organizations are recommending this tree species through uncoordinated initiatives without taking into consideration that certain tree species can increase pest and disease incidence. Our work shows there is a strong need for an integrated approach to climate change adaptation, requiring improved understanding and linking of drivers and actors at household and institutional level.

Newly established forest plantations can be intercropped with medicinal plants similar to food crops until the trees cover the ground. The participation of the local people with the right to share benefits of the plantations, especially ownership to crops, has helped government to establish plantations without conflict with the local people in many Asian countries. The same approach can be employed for the cultivation of medicinal plants in the new plantations. In the rehabilitation of degraded forest lands, participating, planning and implementation with local communities and economic benefits from an early stage onwards will ensure commitment of the people. The intensity of shade experienced by the under storey medicinal plants growing in forests and tree plantation affects their growth and chemical composition. In recent year’s attention has focused on the diversified medicinal plant production system for maximizing utilization of resources as compared to the monoculture cropping systems. The improved use of resources results in greater total intercrop yields as compared to sole crops of the same species grown on the same area.

Field experiments were conducted to find out performance of herbal medicinal crops (basil, kalmegh & mint) under Sapota-Jatropha based three-tier agroforestry system at the Agronomy Farm (Block-E), ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari (Gujarat) during rainy season of 2011 and 2012. The experiments were laid out in randomized block design with six treatments and four replications. Three medicinal plants viz., Basil (Ocimum sanctum L.), Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata Well.) and Mint (Mentha arvensis L) were selected for the present study. The observation on fresh weight of plant/plot (kg), dry weight of plant/plot (kg) and economic yield (q/ha) was recorded higher under sole crop of basil, kalmegh and mint as compared to intercrop with Sapota-Jatropha in both the years. While Basil (1.67), Kalmegh (1.46) and Mint (1.40) when grown as intercrop gave higher economic returns as compared to sole crop in 2011 and 2012.

This study examines the impacts of coffee agroforestry system on social-economic performance of Upper Sekampung Watershed in the Province of Lampung, Sumatra-Indonesia.  Way Sekampung is the main watershed and major food baskets and agricultural exports of the province, covering land area of 484 thousand hectare, but also  known to have 49 percent of degraded land, 34 percent of potential to degrade and only 17 percent of non-degraded land.  The rate of soil erosion in the watershed is probably the highest in the country, averaging 67.5 ton per hectare per year, far higher than the tolerable rate of 25 ton per hectare per year.  Coffee agroforestry system in the watershed is aimed at reducing land degradation improving farm income in the region.

The study applies quasi-experimental impact evaluation method using a propensity score matching (PSM) technique by analyzing 248 farm households practicing coffee agroforestry in two subdistricts of Pulau Panggung and Pugung in Tanggamus Districts of Lampung. The PSM technique basically compares farm households that have grown high percentage of shade trees and multi-purpose tree species (MPTS) in their coffee farms and control group that grow small percentage of shade trees and/or not applying shade trees. Observed characteristics of the “participants” are then matched to “control” groups, from basic demography, characteristics of coffee farms and shade trees, estimated income, off-farm and non-farm employment and income, perception on economic and environmental risks, and other related information such coffee certification, extension system etc. The average treatment effect of agroforestry system is then calculated as the mean difference in outcomes across these two groups (matching), representing the overall gain of agroforestry impact on social-economic performance.  The study calls for a more structured and comprehensive action-research and development activities that facilitate the reward transfers for environmental services in the watershed.

Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into production landscapes requires careful consideration of the drivers, needs and constraints of farmers. In many cases, deforestation and degradation are the rational choice, not the result of a lack of awareness or knowledge. Here we present a case study where we used an integrated approach to understand the management of coffee agroforestry system in the district of Kodagu (India). Previous research established that farmers in this biodiversity rich production landscape are slowly replacing the complex and diverse original canopy with Grevillea robusta, a fast growing species originating from Australia. This happens despite local knowledge highlighting the agronomical and multipurpose values of the original tree species and specific tenure systems and policies enforced by the Forest Department protecting them.

We developed an integrated, participatory modeling approach to understand the drivers behind the described landscape transitions and to explore with the stakeholders the plausible livelihood and environmental impacts of a policy change once this was shown as critical. While the underlying ecological processes driving the system were modeled based on expert knowledge and published scientific literature, the actual elements of the system, the key actors and resources, and their interactions were defined together with the stakeholders. The conceptual model was transformed into a Role Playing Game and after validating the model we conducted 7 workshops (52 participants in total) with a No Change scenario as baseline where the policy framework remains unchanged, and a Restitution of Rights scenario where rights over the native trees are handed over to the farmers. The results show the transition into a Grevillea robusta dominated landscape will continue unless there is a change to the policy framework. However, the restitution of rights risks speeding up the process instead of reversing it, as other factors, such as the tree species differential growth speed, kick-in.

Studies on local ecological knowledge (LEK) in agroforestry systems could be a powerful tool to understand how tree species affect ecological processes. Still, due to the qualitative nature of the information it is difficult to compare farmer’s knowledge across regions with different environmental conditions, botanical composition and/or production systems.

In this study we use farmer’s knowledge based approaches with methods from functional ecology to determine:

1. How farmers rank trees according to their impacts on soil fertility, regulation of micro-climate, reduction of soil erosion and  as shade providers in coffee and cocoa agroforestry systems;

2. The correspondence between LEK on tree impacts on ecosystem processes and plant functional traits.

We carried out a ranking exercise for 20 tree species in coffee and cocoa agroforestry systems with 100 farmers in two regions in Costa Rica. We also measured specific leaf area (m²kg^-1), leaf tensile strength (N) and tree height (m) for the same 20 tree species. Results from the ranking analysis and trait means were compared in bivariate (correlation) and multivariate analysis (principal component analysis).

Tree species perceived by farmers as good shade providers are also those which are seen to have a positive impact on soil fertility and  micro-climate, but do not coincide with species impacts on soil erosion. The correspondence of farmers’ perceptions to functional traits varied per function x trait combination. In general soil fertility and micro-climate were related to leaf resistance to rupture, and soil erosion was related to tree height. SLA was poorly related to farmers’ rankings.

Combination of LEK and functional ecology can be used to try to define a set of quantitative easily measurable indicators to facilitate comparative analysis and to develop tools that facilitate and give a functional basis to the selection of tree species for agroforestry purposes across different regions.

Agribusinesses that depend on tree-based products, particularly coffee, cocoa, and increasingly oil palm, are experiencing water, climate, and community risks that are urgent, and well-suited to landscape approaches to mitigate risks while addressing long-term profitability.  The agri-business sector is experiencing a shift to marginal and unconventional production, in the face of scarcity and conflicts over natural resources, leading to lower productive potentials and susceptibility to sourcing disruptions.[1]  Agri-businesses dependant on tree-based agricultural systems are increasingly piloting landscape approaches in business models, which can provide important insights for other production systems, such as annual crops, to mitigate sourcing and supply risks.[2]

Olam, Starbucks, Mars, Natura, and Guyakí Yerba Mate are piloting landscape approaches for cocoa, coffee, oil palm and tea in agroforestry systems.  Commonly identified modes that agribusinesses use to apply landscape approaches, often motivated by certification, include a) producer support programs implemented at a regional scale that often combine certification or management objectives with livelihood improvements while simultaneously combating sourcing risks (examples: cocoa in Ghana and tea/charcoal in Kenya), and b) value-chain interventions with landscape approach elements added on, in order to secure inputs, yields, supply quality, and long-term sourcing security (examples: coffee in Indonesia and Mexico).  In Mexico, interventions at one project site have already resulted in 5,042 tons of CO2 sold at an average price of $9/tCO2e. This investigation explores the motivations, risks and opportunities that companies identify in these agroforestry landscape approaches in order to address climate, water and community risks.

[1] Lee, B., F. Preston, J. Kooroshy, R. Bailey, G. Lahn., 2012. Resources Futures.  Chatham House, London, UK.

[2] Kissinger, G., A. Brasser, and L. Gross, 2013. Synthesis Report. Reducing Risk: Landscape Approaches to Sustainable Sourcing. Washington, DC. Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative.

Sustainability of the world cocoa production is more and more discussed in the humid tropics. Cocoa cropping is still characterized by an increase of production areas to the detriment of forest areas. At the same time, a part of the world cocoa production comes from agroforestry systems as observed in Cameroon where most of the cacao orchards are based on old cocoa agroforestry systems (up to 50 years old) still managed by small farmers. Paradoxically, improving cocoa production remains associated to intensification of agricultural practices: selected varieties, very light shade, mineral fertilizers, phytosanitary treatments. However, generally, this technical package does not match the strategies of cocoa farmers who do not have the financial resources to support such a model in a context of sharp fluctuations in cocoa market. Consequently when the prices fall, they question the very existence of farms depending on this speculation. The authors show that cacao agroforestry systems can be a source of inspiration for ecological intensification of cocoa production. With examples from research works carried out in Cameroon and Costa Rica, the authors show that agroforestry systems are able to produce sustainable cocoa on a very long time, contrarily to what is usually described, without additional mineral fertilization and sometimes at levels that are comparable to those obtained by the conventional intensification model. For smallholders, cocoa agroforestry systems have also other interesting advantages. Firstly, they can allow them to use less chemicals by providing greater flexibility in their use, as they ensure the maintenance of quality soil and offer an alternative way (environmental regulation) to conventional pest control methods based on the use of chemical inputs. Secondly, in addition to cocoa, agroforestry systems also provide farmers with a variety of products (fruits, medicines, timber, etc.). Thirdly, agroforestry systems provide greater resilience to changes in socio-economic context and farmers have more flexibility to manage them. This work confirms that agroforestry can be a credible alternative to the agricultural intensification package usually proposed to cocoa farmers.

Above-ground net primary productivity (NPP) of individual arabica coffee plants (60 coffee resprouts, of various ages (0 to 5 years, after pruning), located below or far from the shade trees) was assessed during two years in the field from repeated biomass estimations (via branch scale allometry) and litter harvest (30 litter traps) (Coffee Flux Observatory, http://www5.montpellier.inra.fr/ecosols/Recherche/Les-projets/CoffeeFlux).

Suprisingly, NPP was not influenced by the distance to the shade trees. MAESTRA, a 3D light interception model was applied to map shade tree transmittance and to calculate yearly light budgets (absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, aPAR) of the coffee plants (Charbonnier et al., 2013). Light use efficiency (LUE) of coffee plants was calculated dividing their annual NPP by plant aPAR.

MAESTRA showed that aPAR decreased severely for coffee plants located under shade tree crowns (down to 70%). However, we obtained a 2-fold increase in LUE for coffee plants located under shade trees, and a spatial gradient of LUE according to the distance to the shade tree. The analysis revealed that the increase in LUE totally compensated the expected reduction of NPP due to the reduction in aPAR.

We will discuss the possible causes of such an increase in LUE and the genericity of this finding. We will also emphasize on the role played by the 3D light interception model in the demonstration of this crucial property for AFS.

Charbonnier, F., le Maire, G., Dreyer, E., Casanoves, F., Christina, M., Dauzat, J., Eitel, J.U.H., Vaast, P., Vierling, L.A., Roupsard, O., 2013. Competition for light in heterogeneous canopies: Application of MAESTRA to a coffee (Coffea arabica L.) agroforestry system. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 181, 152-169.

Recognising the need to realise the value of its resources in sustainable ways the Government of Zimbabwe embarked on an initiative to develop a comprehensive and state-of-the art national system of Natural Resources and Agro-forestry development. Performance of capacity development projects require flexibility, good understanding of local realities, special skills and high levels of participation.

Building the capacity of organisations requires attention including: World view: a coherent frame of reference that the organisation uses to interpret Natural Resources and Agro-forestry issues. Culture: a way of doing things that enables the organisation to achieve its objectives, and that it can be effective and have an impact Structure: a clear definition of roles, functions, lines of communication, and mechanisms for accountability Adaptive strategies: practices and policies that enable an organisation to adapt and respond to changes in its operating environment Skills: knowledge, abilities, and competencies Material resources: technology, finance, and equipment Linkages: an ability to develop and manage relationships with locals and organisations in pursuit of overall goals of Resources and Agro-forest development. The government of Zimbabwe developed the Indigenisation programme and the National Development Plan guide policy within agricultural Colleges and Universities. The key contribution of Colleges and Universities are as follows, research and information, agricultural extension service, research innovation and training Natural resources and Agro-forest needs.

Natural resources contribute to growth, employment and fiscal revenues, but they need to be managed well. Governance of natural resources is especially crucial in the context of:

· Divided societies or where there is ethnic conflict; poor or highly unequal societies

· Failure to govern well renders natural resources a “curse”, so it is vital to examine the status of Natural Resources Management (NRM) and the capacity challenges

State have also adopted polices providing much stronger support for decentralized resources management and resource protection.

Agricultural education  in African tertiary institutions have been found unable to develop skills and capacities for applying and analyzing useful  knowledge adapted to their specific situations and to emerging issues. Experiential learning, known as a teaching process based on concrete experience, observations, generalization and conceptualization is well documented as the best teaching approach to develop skills and competencies for problem solving, decision making, critical thinking , professional and collaborative interactions. However the implementation of this learning practice in African education institutions is still very poorly assessed. A study was undertaken by ANAFE with as objectives to assess the experience of institutional actors, identify constraints and perspectives for expansion, and evaluate the current methods of integrating experiential learning in course contents. The study sampled 33 administrators, 65 lecturers, 52 students from 11 agricultural training institutions in Nigeria. The results showed that all institutions surveyed were practicing experiential learning for at least 10 years with 94% of lecturers being familiar with this teaching approach. At least 83% of students agreed that experiential learning had improved their ability to asses community needs and diagnose development challenges among others. Administrators identified 4 institutional benefits in practicing experiential learning, among which were visibility and performance, links with communities and partnerships.  The most interesting experiential activities proposed by the administrators were: remunerated internships (75,75%), collaborative research projects (57,57%), community services  and laboratory practical’s (51,51%) and projects with communities and private sectors (43%). It was also found that the number of courses, the proportion of the lecture tough in experiential form and the intensity of interactions with communities increased   as far as the student progressed in his training programme. The study highlighted some opportunities and constraints and proposed recommendations both to institutions and to ANAFE for the expansion of experiential learning practices in Nigerian agricultural education systems.

There has been a continual observation by African businesses and institutions about the quality and work place readiness of the African agriculture graduates. This may explain in part the low productivity experienced by the sector. This concern about producing sufficient, adequately qualified and relevant graduates to address the challenges of African agriculture is one of the key reasons for the existence since 20 years, of the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE). After having helped over 60 tertiary Agricultural education institutions in reviewing and improving their curricula in Agroforestry, ANAFE is engaged since 2010 in improving training and research in Agribusiness. This is done through the implementation of two main projects namely the Strengthening Africa’s Strategic Agricultural Capacity for Impact on Development (SASACID), a Sida supported programme working through 12 pilot institutions in Eastern, Southern and Western Africa; and the DANIDA funded “Linking Universities and Businesses in Agricultural Innovations” (UniBRAIN) which has supported the establishment and work of 6 Agribusiness incubators in Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Mali and Zambia. The work done through those two programmes, including review of Agribusiness programmes offered in ANAFE member institutions, support to Internship in Agribusiness, tracer study of Agribusiness graduates, stresses the need for ANAFE to support the development of Agribusiness Curriculum at certificate, BSC, MSC and PhD levels. This was strongly supported by the 90 participants who attended the Agribusiness Education Fair organized on 10 – 12 October 2013 by ANAFE in partnership with ICRAF, CTA, FARA, PanAAC and the African Association of Business Schools. Recognizing the contribution of ANAFE in this area of curriculum review, and development, during the FARA Science Week held in Accra, Ghana in July 2013, ANAFE was mandated to provide lead in agriculture curriculum reforms in Africa. ANAFE is now working in harnessing and optimizing available resources for implementation of activities towards strengthening Agribusiness Education and training within its 136 member institutions scattered in 35 African countries. This paper will explain in details what ANAFE has achieved through those two programmes and what are the plans and partnership support needed for strengthening Agribusiness education and training to produce graduates who will be job creators and no longer job seekers.

With a population of 48,000 students, 17 faculties and over 400 regular programs, Université Laval, the oldest centre of education in Canada (4th oldest in North America) is ranked 7th among the top 15 Canadian universities in terms of research funding. The graduate Master’s program in agroforestry at the Université Laval was launched in 1993 and the first batch of M.Sc. students graduated in 1995. This program offering a Master’s degree is unique in Canada and the only one French-language program available in the Americas, also known as the New World. Ex-post analysis of this program was conducted for looking at its efficiency. The analysis took into account different aspects including the curricula, the demographic profile of students and their origins as well as the socio-economic and biophysical research conducted by graduate students and academic staff. Results showed a well-balanced curriculum between theory and practice, the importance of international student population in the program with special emphasis on tropical agroforestry. More recently, however, local students and temperate agroforestry have shown a growing interest. The graduates of this program are recruited by the governmental and non-governmental agencies but also by new opportunities of private sector at the individual and organizational levels for green economy. While socio-economic dimensions have dominated research, there has been growing interest and recognition of biophysical research. This master’s degree program will be available online in 2014, allowing students and professionals from French-speaking countries to be trained from their home countries, with dual dregree arrangements.

Developing and assessing quantifiable engagement of knowledge driven agroforestry farmers, Natural Resource Management (NRM) value chain employees, and value chain actors including the service providers at the national and regional levels is critical for a harmonized knowledge driven agro-forestry perspective. In a region heavily challenged in its adoption of forestation, new approaches of reaching the land-resource owners must be created. A livelihoods model that focuses on natural resources as a vehicle for creating wealth and using the same to promote the formation of natural resource driven collectives; that can engage with the market for smallhoder natural resource produce is not just necessary but is critical.

Engaging the youth to support NRM activities helps develop young talent, which then means that the capacity building model adopted must focus on the dynamics that attract youthful talent. VACID Africa uses a digital model that is driven by a Knowledge Management (KM) framework. When superimposed on a selected natural resource value chain, the opportunities to engage the youth and their family gets clear and lines of engagement and resource management and livelihoods is certain.

The Resources, Aquaculture, Value Addition, Agribusiness and Knowledge (RAVAAK) Centres provide the physical space to create relevant knowledge on the value of the natural resource. The critical aspect of this model is that it links natural resource with other environmental initiatives, thereby creating the potential to make capacity building multifaceted thereby presenting an opportunity to digitally integrate the concept of Nature Wealth and Power (NWP) with agriculture, agroforestry and climate smart initiatives.

VACID Africa’s knowledge driven model is piloting in the CAADP/ATVET Programme so that land and crop based natural resources are used as the basis of early learning within TVET initiatives. RAVAAKs facilitate data mining to form knowledge at the ATVET educational institution.

The first 8-day, Australian Master TreeGrower (MTG) program was run in 1996 as an outreach program of the University of Melbourne. Since then, more than 100 MTG programs have been run across Australia involving over 2000 landholders. The award-winning capacity building program encourages farmers to truly aspire to be ‘master tree growers’ and provides some of the knowledge, skills and support required to launch them on that lifetime journey. Independent evaluation shows that participants enthusiastically support the program, increase the area and management of trees, are more inclined to provide a mix of both public and private good outcomes, and actively encourage others in their community to do the same. The Australian Agroforestry Foundation is now also extending the Peer Group Mentoring (PGM) concept developed by a farmer group in Australia (Otway Agroforestry Network) that trains then pays farmers to support others as they design and develop their own agroforestry projects.

In 2012 the foundation (with Beyond Subsistence) hosted a tour of African professionals to explore the adaptation and application of the MTG and PGM for Africa. This led to the first African MTG course in 2013 and the formation of the Kabale Agroforestry Network in Uganda. The aim was to facilitate the development of agroforestry and native vegetation management on farms in ways that reflect the aspirations and opportunities of local farmers. This contrasts markedly with many other programs that seek to entice farmers, with direct incentives, to adopt forestry models judged by outsiders as being the most viable.

This paper presents the philosophy underpinning the MTG and PGM models and the results of our evaluations to highlight the potential of building farmer capacity and facilitating community leadership in the development of agroforestry practices. We show that, when faced with the design and management of locally appropriate multipurpose agroforestry systems, farmers from Africa and Australia have much in common and that the MTG and PGM models are transferable. More importantly, we demonstrate that agroforestry practices will be more diverse, spontaneous and sustainable when founded on landholder and community needs, a combination of local and conventional knowledge and information networks that engage farmers as equals alongside industry, NGOs and governments.

Over the last few decades, oil palm has been grown commercially throughout the world in monoculture production systems, becoming a main driver of deforestation in the top producing countries, Indonesia and Malaysia. Meanwhile, low carbon and bio-agriculture have emerged as promising solutions for tackling climate change stemming from agriculture, however, very little research has been done on oil palm and agroforestry systems. In order to test the feasibility of adopting such intercropped systems, a partnership between NATURA, a major Brazilian cosmetics company that relies heavily on palm oil, Embrapa, the national agricultural research agency, and CAMTA, a farmer’s cooperative, in 2007 began experiments on demonstration plots in Tomé Açu, Pará State, Brazilian Amazon. Oil palm was planted in double rows between wider rows of agroforestry systems on three 6-hectare plots, using slash and mulch, leguminous species and organic fertilization to build up soil fertility. The goal of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of these management practices and environmental services provided, including nutrient cycling by specific crops, and soil carbon storage. Overall, these systems have shown high yields of oil palm, surpassing conventional monoculture systems at the same age, as well as high cacao yields in the first harvests, and high nutrient cycling by certain key species, most notably Tithonia Diversifolia. The spatial variation of C stocks in young (3-yr-old) oil palm-based agroforestry systems was quantified according to different species diversity (high vs. low) and land preparation techniques (manual vs. mechanized) on one of three plots. According to preliminary findings, soil C storage (71 to 76 Mg C ha-1) was significantly higher than on both an adjacent 13-yr old secondary growth forest (60 Mg C ha-1) and a conventional 9-yr-old agroforestry system (57 Mg C ha-1), thus suggesting the feasibility of these systems as a climate change mitigation strategy.

In this paper, we show case the experience and reveal the key to success of the Twantoh Mixed Farmer Common initiative as a viable Agro forestry Resource Centre, and also as a self-sustaining business in the North West Region of Cameroon. The paper begins by narrating the history of the group as an on-farm tree domestication and vegetative propagation demonstration site for the ‘Cercle Internationale pour la promotion de la Création’ (CIPCRE) and later the World Agro forestry Centre (ICRAF-WCA). The paper discusses the reasons and strategies for its successes amongst which its frustration of not succeeding to gain direct financial benefits from its research partners and other donors. Key success factors include: members’ commitment to take advantage of agro forestry and vegetative propagation knowledge learned from its partners; dedicated leadership; progressive visibility and increased demand for improved planting materials and their integration into existing and new farms both from small scale and elite farmers. We further demonstrate how the group has split into more than 5 satellite branches yet they maintain a strong network which permits them to respond to huge demand for planting materials which may reach twenty thousand plants in some cases worth about twenty five millions FCFA a year. From an agro forestry trial plot in the early nineties, we also exemplify how and why MIFACIG has now diversified its activities into animal rearing, bee keeping, horticulture, organic gardening and agricultural tourism. As farmers we suppose that our model can be replicated by other producers groups around the world.

Food insecurity is prevalent in majority of Eastern African countries. In both Ethiopia and Rwanda, this is attributed to low agricultural productivity resulting mainly from high population density leading to land fragmentation and reduced land holdings; reliance on rain-fed agriculture; and continued intensive cultivation of land with no fallows and soil and water management strategies. The present studies conducted under the ‘Trees for Food Security Project’, aimed to characterize farming systems and elicit local knowledge on the role that trees and associated management play in increasing food security. This study was conducted between March-June, 2013, using AKT5 (Agro-ecological Knowledge Toolkit) software and methodology including semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, transect walks and participatory resource mapping. Through stratified sampling, 94 stakeholders in Ejersa Jorro and Jawee Bofoo villages, East Shewa Zone, Ethiopia and 39 stakeholders from Rushubi, Bahimba and Nkomane villages in Gishwati, Rwanda were interviewed. In both study areas, tree retention on farms was mainly product and income-driven and less due to ecological services; with the overriding factors in East Shewa being dead fence, timber, fuelwood and farm and household tools; while in Gishwati were: fruits, climbing bean support poles, fodder, fuelwood and timber. This has resulted into frequent pruning that prevented tree regeneration and led to loss of trees’ ecological services such as soil erosion control, nutrient cycling and soil moisture regulation. In Gishwati, 30 species were encountered, 15 native and 15 exotic, with an average of 5 species per household; while in East Shewa, 40 species were encountered, with only 4 being exotic. Realizing the full potential of trees in achieving food security would require increasing tree species diversity and density in order to increase farmers’ resilience and benefits all year round. However, common factors limiting tree integration on farms in both study areas were: small land holdings and lack of tree germplasm. Other factors in East Shewa included livestock browsing, drought and farm mechanization; while in Gishwati were the farmers’ low knowledge on tree-crop interactions, utilities and ecological suitability. Therefore, in order to accelerate the adoption of trees, thereby contributing towards improved livelihoods, it is imperative to design interventions that tackle these challenges.

Malawi has attracted global attention following enormous gains in crop yields following the introduction of a fertilizer subsidy in 2005, but the agronomic and political stability of this strategy are increasingly being called into question as Malawi faces repeated weather-related crop losses and a similar program is discontinued in Zambia due to the financial strain on government funds. Agroforestry offers an alternative method to improve crop yields and resilience to climate and weather at a relatively minimal cost, but adoption has been slow, especially in comparison to farmers’ response to fertilizer subsidies.  We consider and reject hypothesis that this is because agroforestry systems do not actually increase yields outside of experimental or researcher-lead settings.  Data were collected during a household survey of 390 farms in Malawi to assess the impact of the tree species Faidherbia albida on maize yield. Regression results indicate an increase of 12% to 14% (169-201 kg) per hectare, much less than in experimental settings but greater than or equivalent to other crop management strategies assessed in the same communities, including fertilizer purchased under the subsidy. We then combine regression results with data collected on the financial and labor demands of fertilizer and agroforestry and farmer preferences to better elucidate how resource constraints affect farmers’ choices between alternative crop management strategies. Agroforestry implementation is expected to increase on-farm labor demand by 11% to 14% at establishment and 1% in maintenance years but financial inputs are minimal, making the system a superior alternative in land or credit constrained areas, but difficult in land constrained communities. A ranking exercise identified system flexibility and compatibility with existing systems as the most important decision criteria in agroforestry adoption. Efforts to expand the use of the system must focus on these two areas rather than the existing focus on economic profitability.

Farmers in dry land areas of Africa are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change.  Environmental degradation, high population growth, diminishing and unreliable rainfall contribute to low crop yields and extreme poverty. While progress has made through Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR), soil amelioration techniques and organic inputs there is a need for improved farming systems to keep pace with rising food demands and rainfall instability.  A new farming system called “The Farmer Managed Agroforestry Farming System (FMAFS)” has been developed in Niger’s 450 mm rainfall zone. The FMAFS incorporates FMNR, improved agro forestry trees, edible multi-purpose Australian acacias and soil amelioration practices to complement annual cropping.  FMAFS intensifies both the forestry and perennial farming systems component while spreading labor and income throughout the year. The main introduction is a suite of edible, fast growing, drought tolerant and multi-purpose Australian acacias (Acacia colei, A. torulosa, and A. tumida) which also pioneer degraded land, fix nitrogen, produce sustainable fuel wood and biomass for mulch and wind protection for crops. In addition to enhancing yields of annual crops, Australian acacias also yield tasty and nutritious seed which is high in protein and can also be stored on-farm for over 8 years and easily mixed into local foods.  An economic assessment of FMAFS vs. control farms (2007-2009) in Niger showed a doubling of farm income and improved resilience to periodic drought.  Since 2005 more than 1000 FMAFS farms have been established across Niger. The FMAFS is a robust, simple and transferable farming system developed over 30 years with potential to increase income, food and biomass production and is ready for widespread adoption by farming communities in dry land areas of Africa.

Ethiopia comprises of millions of farm households who are resource-poor, and food-insecure due to declining crop productivity and vulnerability to climate change. The “Trees for food security” project supports innovative research on the use of agroforestry systems to raise crop yields, enhance livelihoods and improve environmental outcomes. We hypothesized that thorough characterization of target sites and trying out appropriate options in participatory trials is critical in informing agroforestry options for adoption by farmers. A socio-economic baseline was carried out in two contrasting agro-ecological areas of semi-arid East Showa zone and sub humid East Welega / West Showa zones of Oromia regional state in Ethiopia. Respondents from over 300 households for each site, drawn from five and four districts in semi-arid and sub humid areas respectively, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Issues captured were to establish the relationships between food security, tree and crop data, health and nutrition, and income. Two planting niches (farmlands and homesteads) were selected for establishing participatory agroforestry trials within each area. Treatments in the trials included; the effectiveness of different seedling protection mechanisms in improving seedling survival; the effect of soil moisture retention mechanisms in five drier sites and manure application in three moister sites around homesteads. Trees and shrubs planted in the trials include Cordia africana, Croton macrostachyus, Grevillea robusta and Moringa stenopetala on farmlands and homesteads, Faidherbia albida, Sesbania sesban, Leucaena leucocephala and Cajanus cajan on farmlands, Mangifera indica and Persea americana in homesteads. Results show higher tree abundance and diversity in the sub-humid area than the semi-arid area. The five most frequent reasons why farmers planted trees in both sites were mainly for firewood, income, shade, live fence and timber. The preferred niches were home compound, scattered in fields and live fences. Planting trees and shrubs in crop fields in a patterned fashion is a new experience for the farmers in the project sites. Participatory approaches involving farmers, extension agents and researchers in the research process is well embedded in the national program that makes it instrumental to scale up the use of trees within farming systems. Results from baselines and participatory trials will then be used to identify scaling domains for agroforestry options not only in Ethiopia but also in similar agro-ecological areas of Uganda and Burundi.

Agroforestry has been recognized as one of the most important systems to support livelihoods of many rural farmers in the Nepalese hills. However, its conservation value has received little attention. Moreover, there is no solid information that tells us precisely as to how agroforestry system has changed over time, and what are its causes and consequences in terms of biodiversity conservation and livelihood improvement. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the changing impacts of agroforestry systems on improving people’s livelihoods and delivering biodiversity conservation outcomes. This research analyses a case study of a local government area of Mahadevsthan in Kavrepalanchok district of Nepal. Mixed methodological approach (household survey and PRA) was used for data collection. The results indicate that the practice of agroforestry system has changed considerably over time, as a result of which more number of agroforestry species have appeared in private lands. A total of 145 different species were recorded, of which 56 species were medicinal plants followed by fodder trees and grasses, and fruit trees.  Study further revealed that species richness has increased mostly in upland terraces. This resulted in increased livelihood benefits to local people.  The meat production from goat and milk from buffalo have increased considerably. The high income benefit is mainly associated with introduction of various fodder trees and grasses in private farmlands. It is concluded that there is a great need for agroforestry system to integrate conservation benefits with livelihood of rural people. One way to promote this integration is to improve policy and practices with a view to initiate and support farming co-operatives in the commercialization of agroforestry products and market the conservation values in the changing climatic context.

During the past 35 years, research in agroforestry has evolved significantly. However in many countries the dissemination of agroforestry information and innovation is constrained due to a lack of extension agents knowledgeable of agroforestry issues. In countries like Indonesia, where smallholder livelihoods are dependent on agroforestry production systems, the dissemination of relevant agroforestry innovations is essential to reducing poverty and ensuring food security.  Farmer-to-farmer communication is a possible alternative method of disseminating agroforestry innovations when there is a lack of extension agent in the agroforestry sector.  To evaluate the potential of the farmer-to-farmer communication, a study was conducted in November 2012 and April 2013 to identify and understand village-level communication systems.  Semi structured interviews of 146 farmers (40% female) in two districts in South Sulawesi province and two districts in Southeast Sulawesi province were combined with qualitative analysis of agroforestry farmer field school activities. Based on the study, farmer-to-farmer interpersonal communication is crucial to the dissemination of agroforestry innovation, particularly in places where: (a) language becomes a barrier for information dissemination; (b) the level of formal education is low; and (c) under-developed infrastructure (road, electricity, phone signal, etc) limits the free flow of information. Results also specify that lead farmers are the key actors in developing and supporting quality farmer-to-farmer interpersonal communication.  The capacity of lead farmers should be enhanced by: (a) improving their information networking to ensure access to accurate information on agroforestry innovations, and (b) improving their linkage to the local government agencies. Supports from multistakeholders (government, research centres and NGOs) in establishing an information centre or forum where lead farmer can consult their problems and update new information will enhance farmer-to-farmer role in agroforestry innovation dissemination.

Agricultural production in Uzbekistan is threatened by the degradation of irrigated cropland. The conversion of marginal croplands to tree plantations is an option for rehabilitation of impoverished cropland soils, saving of irrigation water, and carbon sequestration. We examined economic benefits of tree planting on marginal croplands, and policies that may facilitate the adoption of agroforestry. The results indicate that due to benefits from non-timber products, afforestation is a more viable land use option on marginal croplands than the cultivation of major crops. The field level analysis, considering variability in land use revenues, indicated the need for a substantial increase in C prices to initiate afforestation on marginal lands. In contrast, when considering uncertainties in land use returns at the whole farm level, afforestation would be feasible without the C incentive. This is because of improved irrigation water use efficiency and thus cropping pattern, as well as reduced revenue risks through the land use diversification.

Next, we explored farmers’ criteria in making potential adoption decisions on afforestation under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The adoption decisions were explored ex ante through the Ethnographic Decision Tree (EDT) modeling approach. Based on findings of reviewing legal documents, semi-structured interviews, focus-group discussion and a survey with farmers, EDT incorporated farmers’ major decision criteria for the adoption of agroforestry. The combined findings indicated the need for a set of policy measures to increase the flexibility in choice of crops, land tenure security, awareness raising and training about agroforestry and CDM benefits, institutional capacity building for coordinating  a collective action of farmers for the CDM project, enforcement of property rights protection and provision of ownership rights over tree plantations, as well as reduction of transaction costs associated with the implementation of CDM afforestation projects.

Agroforestry systems are recognized as important components in the history of human occupation in the Amazon region, and nowadays are growing in importance as sustainable options supported by Brazilian public policies focusing towards local, territorial and regional development. This article will discuss about some important agroforestry systems presently practiced in this region of Brazil, how they may be faced as outstanding components in many agroecological transition processes, and how they are, directly or indirectly, being contemplated by a growing number of public policies, either in national or state level, as is the case of the new Brazilian forest code. This analysis attempts also to understand the real importance of agroforestry systems in relevant current issues, such as local and regional food sovereignty; water, carbon and nutrient cycling; integrated pest management (IPM), and additionally, to point to the need of considering a number of priorities in research, extension, communication, training/education, and policies formulation and implementation. Our article still raises the necessity of increasing the adoption of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches in agroforestry systems research.

For improving the living conditions and income situation for the rural population in Africa the project cooperation between ICRAF and GIZ builds on demand driven agroforestry science for development. The success of the project depends on its underlying political support from officials in various countries of Africa and the high potential for scalability to the large number of beneficiaries, farmers and households in Africa. The research is set up based on assessment of demand for innovation and matching supply within the International Agricultural research for development arena. The results of the project will be evaluated and principles, guidelines will be developed to support policy development as well as local capacities in further scaling. Conflict of interest is smoothened and mediated by integrating ICRAF as an international AF-research center and GIZ as a non-profit development cooperation agency. While these partners do maintain a long lasting cooperation already, there is certainly potential for improvement by including further development partners as well as the regional and local research expertise.

The “Scaling-Up the Science to Create an EverGreen Agriculture in African Countries” is an outstanding project. It intends to provide critical links between facilitators, implementers and researchers of sustainable agricultural development, in order to embed the science of EverGreen Agriculture within development efforts.  The EverGreen Agriculture Partnership draws together stakeholders from various sectors including policy and national government, education, farmer organisations, development organisations, donors and research.  Through this project, these stakeholders will be engaged in a range of activities that will fill strategic gaps to maximize the effectiveness of current scaling up efforts and to identify and develop new opportunities to take EverGreen Agriculture knowledge and experiences out further.  In so doing, the Partnership will continue to enhance cooperation between researchers and development practitioners to scale up EverGreen Agriculture.

At the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, we aim to understand and support local and international efforts to improve human well-being and ecological balance. As both actors in and critics of development, we reflect about the roles of science to tackle development. In this paper the ZEF’s understanding and how-to’s are explained.

In the first section, ZEF’s understanding of development as a multidimensional process in urban and rural settings is detailed. Our strategy encompasses research-based economic, social and ecological arguments, tools and methods to tackle specific developmental issues. Furthermore, through the integration of this knowledge by applying principles of transdisciplinarity, strategic partnership and capacity development, we attempt to transform research on development into research for development.

The second section focuses on research for development in practice through examples of long lasting research projects: wild forest coffee in Ethiopia, land and water use in Uzbekistan, and alternatives to slash and burn in the Brazilian Amazon. These examples targeted a wide range of agroforestry systems taking place in different socio-ecological settings, and looking for diverse goals.

We illustrate that if science in general and agroforestry as a specific case shall contribute to development, the background conditions to be fulfilled are: the research projects themselves have to be set up and implemented in a transdisciplinarity way, specific expertise is needed to transform research knowledge in land-use activities, and surrounding policies have to be supportive.

Climate change has emerged a serious challenge for survival and sustainability of mankind and climate is changing very fast in the last 15-20 years. CDM based markets, only large companies, corporate houses have been access and benefit from it. The small holders who do sequester carbon and also reduce emission do not have capacity to comply with rigid market requirements. Therefore a grid based approach has been developed and validated by ICRAF. In arid to semiarid area of Rajasthan an area of 5000 ha has been selected under Mavli Block in Udaipur District where mitigation options implemented at farm level, house hold level and community level . At the farm level these consist of agroforestry, planting trees for timber, fruits and fodder at private lands, field boundary, and community lands and degraded & wastelands. The field level emission reduction interventions are zero tillage, minimum tillage, spot irrigation, mulches, etc. The energy based interventions include CFL bulbs, smokeless chulhas. At the community level, using solar power charged batteries for street lights, torches, etc. For benefit sharing mechanism a cooperative society of 2000 beneficiaries were made as Gramyajaan Sahakari Paryavaran Samiti which coordinate all activities of interventions by farmers, validation, carbon trading and project sustainability. The important agroforestry interventions made as agri-horticulture, agri-silviculture, industrial wood block plantations and waste land plantations. Energy based household interventions are smokeless stoves, CFLs and solar lanterns. The potential CERs in grid area is more than 25000CERs whereas three years interventions more than 3000CERs were assimilated . Through tree interventions more than 750 ha area was covered under plantatios of Orange, Bael , Pomegranate; Clonal teak, Paraspipal and mix forest sps. tecoma, etc intercrops with maize, Pearl millets, wheat, chickpeas, mustard and barley. Sustainable fund generated up to 2.90 lakhs is the most significant visible indicator for project sustainability. People especially tribal communities were convinced about the climate change, carbon sequestration and emission reduction. From zero to 750 ha area covered under tree interventions and generates CERs which would benefit the farmers if interventions process continued, it would improve the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers without changing their current agricultural practices.

: Carbon has become a tradable commodity due to the Kyoto and Cancun Protocol, whose market value was $176 billion in 2011. The small holders, collectively qualify the minimum tradable carbon amount through carbon sequestration and emission reduction are usually left isolated, mainly for the rigid and expensive CDM protocol. The alternative protocol developed by ICRAF comply the carbon trading rules in the CDM. In this approach, farmers are allowed to continue doing their normal farming practices, but are encouraged to incorporate carbon sequestering and/ or emission reducing practices. The protocol took a grid based approach and it was located between 29̊ 34′ 40″ and 29̊ 37′ 16″ latitude and 79̊ 33′ 33″ and 79̊ 36′ 31″ longitude in Almora district, Uttarakhand, India, which covered 2624 ha area and 13 villages having 1062 householders. Horticulture in private lands and silvi-pasture in common land were implemented for carbon sequestration. Replacement of Edison bulb with CFL, fuel-wood with biogas and solar cooker, and kerosene lamp with solar lantern were implemented as carbon emission reduction interventions. The tree based interventions i.e. 58,768 propagating materials of fruit and 8,700 oak saplings were planted in private and community land, respectively with help of small and marginal farmers during 2010 to 2013, which covered 30 ha area. The energy based interventions i.e. 2032 CFL, 68 solar lantern, 10 solar cooker and 6 biogas plants were installed in the grid area for carbon emission reduction. The standard methods were followed for estimation of carbon sequestration and emission reduction. The potential certified emission reduction (CER, 1 CER = 1 ton CO2) through carbon sequestration from the grid area could be 18865. The carbon emission reduction was about 251 CER year-1. The reduction in electricity bill was estimated as $ 17,000 year-1 by using CFL. Kerosene consumption was reduced by 1224 litre year-1 with the use of solar lantern. The fuel wood consumption was reduced by 32 ton year-1 with the use of solar cooker and biogas plant in the grid area. Thus, the farmers’ socio-economic status will be enhanced through increased livelihood opportunity. Further, the community will be benefitted from carbon trading and will be able to help in mitigating the climate change through the implemented interventions.

Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol has potential to reduce rural poverty through payments to farmers who provide carbon storage through land-use systems such as agroforestry. Agroforestry is recognized as a carbon sequestration strategy because of its applicability in agricultural lands as well as in reforestation programs which will benefit not only the landowners or farmers but the society at large. Globally agroforestry is practiced over one billion ha land area and has relatively high capacities for capturing and storing atmospheric CO2. According to IPCC, agroforestry has mitigation potential of 1.1–2.2 Pg carbon over the next 50 years. Further, 630 million ha of unproductive croplands and grasslands if converted to agroforestry could sequester 0.586 Tg C/yr by 2040. Carbon storage is an additional output that landowners might consider in their management decisions especially now when carbon payments are introduced. Agroforestry though now is receiving increasing attention but the potential of agroforestry as a strategy for carbon sequestration is still not fully recognized. This is due to lack of empirical evidence which could explain the potential of agroforestry systems on reducing atmospheric CO2. This lack of understanding warrants research that would address both biophysical and socioeconomic issues of carbon sequestration by agroforestry. Thus to realize its potential of C sequestration in both subsistence and commercial enterprises, innovative policies based on real field studies needs to be adopted. The paper reviews the carbon storage potential of agroforestry and discuses the ways to exploit it for the benefit of farmers and the society as a whole.

: The land degradation mainly due to heavy soil erosion is a common problem in agricultural fields especially in central highlands of Sri Lanka where farming is the main livelihood of majority of the rural communities in these regions. Climate change is evident in the intense and erratic distribution of seasonal rainfall with frequent droughts and floods and increased ambient temperature across the country, all of which affect livelihood options of rural villagers engaged in agriculture. Adaptation to climate change through different livelihood improvement approaches together with proper soil and moisture conservation measures to reduce land degradation were experimented using 200 farm families in one of the most vulnerable region (Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District) as a community based case study.
Detailed ecological and socio-economic surveys conducted before and after project implementation period of two years revealed that capacity building carried out during the project period resulted a significant improvement on the use of proper land management of both chena land and homegarden (4 fold), residue management and preparation of own compost ( 8 fold), use of organic fertilizer (8 fold), cultivation of the drought resistant crop varieties and development of a seed bank system, improvement of livelihood development activities through homegarden development, micro-enterprise development and revolving a loan fund etc. Establishment of 33 km long Gliricidia based hedgerows along contours across farm lands conserve around 1800-2400 m3 of soil volume after one-year period. Introduction of alternative livelihood options such as dairy farming for this crop based farming community enhanced family income (Rs 8000 per month) and nutrition status. 93% of the families reported that species diversity and productivity of their homegardens improved significantly. This study proved that less capable, affected and vulnerable communities could be converted into capable, resilient and productive through capacity building with proper guidance.

This research confirms that smallholder agroforestry farmers in the selected provinces in the Philippines have already been experiencing climate change in their respective areas as indicated by the change in the rainfall and temperature patterns. Using direct interviews and focus group discussions, the respondent-farmers highlighted that increased incidence of pests and diseases, stunted growth of crops, low crop productivity, delayed planting, delayed fruiting of some crops particularly perennial species, poor quality of produce, increased cost in farm operations, low income and decreased yield of some crops, are among the general impacts of climate change in their agricultural production systems. On the positive aspect, some crops had increased yield as impact of climate change.

The farmers employ their local knowledge and skills in adapting to the impacts of climate change. Among these include changing cropping patterns, integrating more crops in the farm, engaging in other off-farm and non-farm activities as additional source of income, changing the cultivated crops, mulching, and use of organic fertilizers. The research results also highlight the benefits that the respondent-farmers derived from agroforestry, a land use management system that is currently being practiced in the study sites.

The rural Nepal is in a complex transition period involving out-migration, urbanization, commercialization of the local economy and climate change vulnerability assessments show that hills are highly vulnerable. Therefore agriculture practices have is becoming less rewarding as a livelihood option. The multiplier effects of agroecosystem transformations due to climatic and socioeconomic changes are intensifying the associated challenges of lower rate of productivity and return. The study thus tries to assess whether agroforestry can be an Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA) options to adapt to changing climate, socioeconomic and resource paradigm. Agroforestry is a system embedded in agroecosystems, provides multiple benefits and ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural). EbA is a comprehensive adaptation approach for managing ecosystems and its services to increase resilience. Local communities were consulted and the study sites were assessed. Both primary and secondary methods were used to collect information wherein, reconnaissance survey, key informant interviews, and group discussions were conducted for primary and reviews for secondary information. The study indicated that variety of agroecosystems typologies exists in landscapes: cultivated, abandoned land, grassland and agroforest. The changes have distinctly affected physio-morphic behavior of traditional crops, cropping patterns and farming practices. In order to adapt to changing contexts, agroforestry system has potential to inbuilt within its system a larger number of adaptation options At present context agroforestry is found to be an important system to address these impacts and vulnerabilities by providing ecological and economic benefits up to some extent but have higher potential to do so and could be a viable option to become efficient, resilient and sustainable through value addition (additionalities). The value addition option should be cost effective, accessible and different from business as usual, and then agroforestry practices have potential to be an EbA option. Rethinking agroforestry from the perspective of resilience thus is important.

Adaptation to future climates requires that we plan interventions on the basis of reliable models for predicting how existing and potential future agroforestry systems will perform. Because process-based models are currently only available for a limited number of trees, species distribution modelling (SDM) is currently the most sophisticated approach to project climate change impacts for the majority of species. (The climate analogue methodology provides an alternative approach, whereby we will provide some examples how the SDM and climate analogue methods can be complementary.)

SDM is based on statistical inference to determine environmental niches (of species, varieties or seed sources), which then allow distribution maps to be drawn both in environmental and geographic space. The power of SDM has recently increased through the introduction of machine-learning algorithms, the application of ensemble approaches and the availability of high resolution raster data sets. Ensemble approaches are founded on weighted averaging of predictions from a large suite of algorithms, including maximum entropy-, boosted regression tree- and random forest-methods. As the options for modifying weights can result in an infinite number of ensemble models, we developed a statistical method for tuning input weights and a suitability mapping approach based on the number of algorithms that predict presence–absence. These methods have been integrated into the BioversityR package, including outputs that can be immediately scrutinized and shared through Google Earth.

We will provide examples to demonstrate our approach from recent studies in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Included are future suitability investigations of timber species in Latin America and food tree species in Burkina Faso, Africa. We will also show how information on potential natural vegetation can be combined with SDM approaches to improve seed sourcing strategies such that they better consider climate change. Results from transect studies of mango variety turnover in Kenya will also demonstrate how production data can be included in ensemble suitability mapping methods.

Our research examines gender relations in the Ecuadorian cacao sector. We study how the changing cultural norms and legal status in Ecuador impact women’s empowerment in rural communities. Cacao provides a particularly relevant case as it is an important cash crop in the region and has been the focus of development efforts by the Ecuadorian government, nongovernmental organizations, international donor agencies, and environmental advocacy groups. Cacao production is often the only source of cash income for many rural Ecuadorian households and traditionally the domain of men, who are often expected to manage household income and determine the economic activities of the household. Furthermore, cacao is traditionally grown in agroforests that are the last bastions of habitat for many endangered plant and animal species in the heavily deforested Ecuadorian coastal region. Thus, women’s involvement in cacao production would be an important indicator of women’s status in rural Ecuador. However, research is lacking that examines women’s roles in the agricultural decisions.
We examined gender roles through 10 focus group meetings and 400 household surveys conducted from February through July 2013. We implemented a choice experiment, which allowed us to determine the differences in women and men’s preference between agroforestry or monoculture cacao production methods. We found distinct differences between men and women in their land use preferences. Women were more likely to prefer agroforestry production methods than men were. They more concerned about food production such as raising plantains, oranges and other fruits than they were about profits. They also were more likely to prefer this production system because of the environmental benefits it provides and the ability to have diversified income sources. The opportunity to obtain bigger yields and larger profits was more important to the male participants than the other environmental and social benefits provided by the agroforestry system.

The rural Nepal is going through the rapid socio-economic and environmental change. The influential driver is the remittance economy associated with out-migration of economically active male labor force from rural areas to urban centers and overseas countries to seek employment. This has led an injustice in sharing of agricultural performance, in which rural women are now forced to take up disproportionate responsibilities of agriculture works. This phenomenon can be described as the feminization of Agriculture. This paper aims to investigate the causes and consequences of feminization of agriculture works, created agricultural injustices and its implications to household food security in the middle hills of Nepal.
This study employs both qualitative as well as quantitative approach to data collection in two mid-hill districts of Nepal, using both household survey and key informant interview.
Findings indicate that in the absence of male counterpart, the female members of the households are taking more responsibilities in carrying out agricultural activities within the male dominant agriculture system. This is not only inappropriate but also is very much unfriendly for women to function. In this situation, women are increasingly taking up the strategy of adapting less intensive farming practices as well as abandoning their agriculture lands. As a result, there is reduction in food production at the local level, hence food insecurity.
In conclusion, the study suggests that there is need for revisiting the agro-ecological practices to explore possibilities of reintroducing the low input and less labour intensive agroforesrty practices, which can substantively reduces the workload of women as well as ensures the food security at local level by optimizing the use of local resources more efficiently. However, it is only possible when the policies, institutions and agro-ecological practices are reoriented considering these vital factors.

A growing number of payments for environmental services (PES) projects are being implemented in developing countries as a cost-efficient way to achieve the twin goals of environmental conservation and poverty alleviation, but concerns about social and gender equity implications of these projects remain. This paper examines gender equity dimensions of five pilot PES projects to market watershed and carbon sequestration services in South East Asia and East Africa. We used a multi-dimensional equity framework to analyze gender equity in terms of distribution of outcomes (distributive equity), inclusion in decision-making (procedural equity) and pre-existing conditions that mediate access to project and its benefits (contextual equity). Our analyses suggest that a neglect of contextual factors such as customary land rights and cultural norms around tree planting in the allocation of PES contracts can undermine gender equity by alienating the resource rights of women. Further, projects that specifically include women and marginal actors in the design of PES contracts tend to produce gender equitable and cost-efficient outcomes than if they were excluded. A gender analysis of roles and responsibilities within a PES project is a good start to gender inclusion; nevertheless, PES projects are limited in their capacity to alter traditionally embedded forms of gender exclusion. Two useful lessons for PES designers can be drawn from the study– firstly, it is important for PES designers and project managers to take into consideration the interrelated dimensions of equity to enable an analysis of deeply-rooted norms and traditions that spur inequity and develop procedures to address them. Secondly, gender equity considerations can be mainstreamed only when equity is articulated as an explicit goal at the start of any PES project.

In Indonesia, the island of Sumatra is one of the largest producers of rubber and oil palm. However, labor remains to be based on family labor where a clear division of labor in agricultural land between women and men is operating since time immemorial. Women are responsible for the rice fields, their backyard and house work while men are responsible for rubber production and marketing. However, globalization heightened the demand for oil palm and rubber and in turn affected the roles and responsibilities between men and women in Sumatra. In this paper, we present the result of the in-depth interviews of ten households heavily involved in rubber agroforestry and oil palm production. We describe their new roles and responsibilities using two types of agricultural models namely, 1) rubber agroforestry and 2) oil palm plantation. In our analysis, women have now significant roles in the rubber agroforestry model where firewood, medicinal plants and wild fruits are also produced for household consumption while men are very much involved in oil palm production.

Gender relations have been at the heart of a project about the integration of agroforestry and sheep feed in Mali. The aim of this project is to improve human food security through a better production of sheep feeded with woody fodder. In the commune of Zan Coulibaly, situated at some 50 km from Bamako, in Mali, both academics and general population assume that there is a clear-cut sexual division of labour in almost all areas of activities in this rural zone. For example, trees would be a masculine domain and sheep raising a feminine one. One of the challenges of this project has been to deconstruct these kinds of assumptions while engaging the population of the Zan Coulibaly commune in a participatory process. To meet this challenge, and taking into account a methodological engagement towards gender mainstreaming, we made sure to achieve an adequate representation of women both in the research team and in the samples used in the preliminary inquiries and the experimentation itself. We will present the methodology used to build the samples, how it was negotiated with the population, and how it was applied. Also, we will present the outcome of this inquiry in relation to deconstructing common knowledge about the gender and even generational division of labour in the areas of agroforestry and sheep raising.

This paper explores the gender dimension of agroforestry in semi-arid (with degraded land) tribal districts of western India. It examines men and women’s participation in agroforestry activities in eight tribal villages that are devoid of basic infrastructure such as electricity, and piped drinking water supply. The agroforestry programme was introduced by local non-governmental organization parallel to promote community forest management. The qualitative method includes key in-depth interviews and focus-group discussion to collect data related to who owns land, how men and women participate in decision-making of agroforestry activities, and who (and why) controls the collection and marketing of the resources. The findings indicate that agroforestry in dry and degraded land has high value at household level. The majority of land is owned (or claimed) by men. The access rights to the land differ between men and women – women tend to have more access to resources. In the study villages, tribal men make decisions regarding the marketing while the decisions related to planting and fodder productions are done by women. Men tend to ‘participate’ more in the meetings, but women are in-charge regarding improving the soil quality, and adaptive to agroforestry related innovations to tackle droughts in the region. Further the focus groups discussion indicated that in terms of establishing networks within the villages compared to men it is women who are actively involved in communication and exchanging ideas.  The gendered difference in access to land and trees and other products of agro-forestry largely impacts on benefit-sharing within households.  Overall, the findings of this ethnographic research highlights that semi-arid and degraded lands makes it important for both men and women to play an active role in implementing agroforestry activities.

: Market and value chain interventions for agroforestry products are promoted as strategies to alleviate poverty and foster gender equitable market opportunities. The increase in demand for certified organic products from tropical Africa has led to the rapid growth of smallholder organic contracting schemes in the region. The potential of these schemes to meet development objectives depends on whether they improve market access for commonly marginalized groups, including poorer households and women. The objective of this study is to investigate the extent to which smallholder organic contracting is socially inclusive in the East Usambaras, a world renowned biodiversity hotspot in Tanzania. A value chain analysis was used to compare production and marketing of cardamom and black pepper in certified and informal value chains. Next, 163 household surveys were administered to ascertain whether wealth and gender relations differ by chain. An asset based approach was used to develop a local measure of wealth and was then analyzed using principle components analysis. Logistic regression model results showed that higher education and wealth were significant and positively correlated with participation in the certified contract scheme. Descriptive data results revealed that gender relations in the areas of production, labor, and marketing opportunities did not differ significantly between chains. Generally, women demonstrate lower rates of participation in decision making and marketing, while men report allocating more labor than women for farm activities. These findings suggest that the organic smallholder contracting scheme is not socially inclusive based on the measures used here. Local, context specific factors and institutional dynamics mediate and shape producer opportunities and constraints to participation. Consideration of these factors is critical to enhancing the potential of value chain interventions to foster inclusive, broad based growth.

Participatory approaches in agroforestry combine land, labor, and knowledge, by blending local experience with external expert support for sloping land restoration. We describe and analyze over a decade of bottom-up agroforestry development processes that today are influencing national policies. In the 1990s, after economic upheaval following the collapse of trade with the USSR (Soviet Union) rapid conversion of sloping lands to agriculture, in association with heavy rainfall events, caused widespread
erosion and landslides. In response, pilot scale ‘user groups’ obtained rights-to-use, rights-to-harvest and rights-to-plan or access to sloping lands for tree products and food. All three rights were novel in the DPR Korea and jointly contributed to success,
together with active research support. Innovations in double-cropping annual food crops together with noncompetitive
contour strips of valuable fruits (aronia berry: Aronia melanocarpa) and/or high-value timber (larch: Larix leptolepis) emerged as preferred local agroforestry systems. Broad support for agroforestry practices has now emerged within the Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection as well as a number of universities and research centres. Further development will require increased engagement with agricultural and horticultural agencies, while the social dimensions of participatory agroforestry continue
to provide rich learning.

Tropical forests have great potential for mitigating global warming due to atmospheric CO₂ emissions. However, this potential is impaired by deforestation and forest degradation, which contributes about one fifth of total anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. Avoiding deforestation, afforesting degraded lands and proper management of forest resources are necessary to tackle problems of climate change and global warming. This requires adopting land use changes to those that are ‘forest friendly’ or stop further disturbance of forest resources. However, developing countries have little economic or policy incentives to adopt land uses that counter emissions. Against this background, a recent meeting at Kyoto devised a mechanism of compensating developing regions for the amount of carbon they sequester. To implement this, knowledge of the extent of carbon pool is necessary. This requires cutting large number of trees and measuring biomass to get quantitative data on carbon storage and establish baseline information for future reference. However, measuring biomass is difficult in the tropics where diverse vegetation species exist. Accessibility and availability of resources also prohibit undertaking extensive survey and measure biomass. As a result, allometric equations are interesting alternatives to estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) on wider geographical scale. We used dataset collected by the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) project to estimate aboveground carbon stock of trees. Key tree attribute data such as diameter at breast height and tree height were measured for over 29000 trees in 15 randomly selected sites of Southern Africa. Ten generalized multispecies and species-specific allometric equations were used to estimate AGB of miombo woodlands. The results show that miombo woodlands have an average 35 kg C tree^-1. Statistical analyses of AGB vis-à-vis different environmental attributes reveal key determinants of AGB in the region to be cultivation, prevalence of erosion, and slope.

About 40% of the global population still depends from  a traditional use of biomass for energy. Wood fuel is the major source of energy in Africa. So it is in North Kivu. But, besides the agricultural practice of “Slash and burn” is extraction of wood fuel one of the main causes of degradation and encroachment of forested area. In the case of North Kivu war and wood fuel for charcoal (Makala) leads to the degradation of the Virunga World Heritage Site, about 80% of the charcoal in Goma was cut from the Park.  However, charcoal is critical for the lives of the poor, not only as a source of energy but also as a potential source of income.

Thus, in order to reduce the degradation of the forests WWF adopted various strategies in North Kivu: introduction of more efficient cook stoves,  and through reforestation and afforestation in the so-called pilote project Eco-Makala.

Reforesting with the small scale farmers  in the surroundings of the parc has the objective to minimize the illegal harvest and restore a more balanced ecosytem.

The total estimated amount of needed reforestation is about 23.000 ha, seen the growing city of Goma (1 million of inhabitants). In the past years 5.000 ha forest are planted and 1.000 ha in agroforestry (cacao). The small scale farmers harvest already the ECOMAKALA  they can use or sell. An evaluation is made and lessons to be learned. The moment is come to  publish the methodology used.  The farmers associations play a key role in the reforestation.  WWF detected and evaluated them, put together the objectives and proposed a contract.

The associations  cured the nurseries and gave the follow up to the farmers. A monitoring system was built up and a system to mesure production and carbon storage.

Agroforestry research in India was initiated more than hundred years ago with trials on tree-crop interactions in the tea estates, studies on silvopastoralism, intercropping experiments in plantation crops and successional studies in the ravines. Diagnostic survey and appraisal, initiated in early eighties under the AICRP on Agroforestry, revealed that agroforestry practices abound in the country. There exists considerable variability in the nature and arrangement of the components and the ecological and socio-economic conditions under which such systems are practiced. Major practices include multifunctional improved fallows, home gardens, plantation crop-based mixed species production systems, alley cropping, woodlots, orchards, windbreaks, live fences, shifting cultivation and taungya. A preliminary estimate indicated area under agroforestry in India as 25.32 million ha. Germplasm of 184 tree species has been collected and evaluated and improved accessions of poplars, eucalypts, Dalbergia, neem, Acacia, Leucaena, Ailanthus, Pongamia, Casuarina and Mangium hybrids have been identified. Other research themes include development of volume tables and growth equations for estimating tree productivity, development of location-specific agroforestry practices for different agro-climates and wastelands and economic analysis of these systems. Agroforestry has now emerged as a promising land use activity and it has the potential to enhance above- and below-ground carbon stocks to mitigate climate change. Carbon sequestration potential of smallholder agroforestry systems ranges from 1.5 to 3.5 Mg C ha-1yr-1. Agroforestry initiatives also resulted in significant amount of wood production from outside the forestlands and promoted rural industrialization in certain localities which benefitted the small landholders and marginal farmers. Indeed, agroforestry is providing bulk of the country’s domestically produced timber. Sericulture and apiculture along with value addition provide additional opportunities for augmenting economic returns of the agroforesters. However, there exists certain constraints that limit adoption of agroforestry and efforts are on to develop a national Agroforestry Policy to overcome the constraints.

Green Economy agenda of Rio+20 for the ‘The Future We Want” should evolve to recognize the contribution of agro-forestry to agriculture habitat and food security, nutrient recycling, renewable energy, wasteland restoration, soil stabilization and water phytoremediation. Policy level leadership, strategic planning and stakeholder stewardship should motivate farm-foresters and their private-public partners to support green economy through productive propagation and sustainable harvesting of agro-forests, backstopped by valorization and certification of their products, REDD related remuneration, and payment of ecosystems services.

The paper highlights green economy policy paradigms pertinent to agroforestry and trees outside forests for inclusive and equitable economic growth, green jobs, business and industry, cultural, economic, environmental and social dimensions. For their integration into policy planning and decision making, it draws upon data, case studies and model examples globally. It demonstrates and introspects upon policies and institutions required to ensure holistic agro-forests for optimal landscape management and sustainable farming systems, so that the revisited green economy addresses the global rush for land, water, energy, food, forests and related renewable resources.

Agroforestry offers opportunities for harnessing the demographic dividend in the South and provides a resilient integrated landscape approach for biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction and for combating climate change, land degradation, deforestation, food insecurity and malnutrition. With futuristic policy perspectives, global green economy can prosper in harmony with humanity and the environment, inter-alia, through multi-functional agro-forests planted and propagated by the people, for the people, privately and publicly.

Keywords: Agro-forests, Certification, Climate Change, Ecosystems Services, Food Security, Integrated Landscape, Livelihoods, Soil & Water, Sustainable Development Goals

Dr. Maharaj K Muthoo, President, AGRFOR & Roman Forum, Via Teosebio 44, 00124 Rome, Italy  muthoo@rforum.org; mmuthoo@hotmail.com

Agroforestry adoption and forest conservation is being increasingly promoted through the use of incentive-based policy. One such policy is payments for ecosystem services (PES), which provide direct incentives to landholders to undertake agroforestry or forestry activities which produce environmental benefits. The use of PES has been questioned, however, due to the possibility for motivational crowding out: the detrimental interaction between a new monetary incentive and the pre-existing incentive structure that governs farmers’ behavior. Motivational crowding out can cause a policy to under-achieve the expected benefit, or lead to a net negative effect. Of particular concern for policy designers is the tendency for motivational crowding effects to linger longer than the policy itself. In this study we used an experimental economics technique – a modified dictator game – to test farmers’ responses to four stylized policy types: an individual payments type PES, where farmers were compensated for any contribution they made to a public good (representing forest or agroforest), a collective type PES where a group of farmers were compensated as a whole for their contributions, and low and high level regulations, where farmers were told they must contribute to the public good. The study site is the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania, a global biological hotspot where agroforestry is a prominent land use. The stylized PES did not show evidence of motivational crowding out beyond the life of the policy, and the regulation treatments showed some evidence of the opposite: a positive effect beyond the life of the policy. The collective PES treatment was ineffective at eliciting contributions to the public good. Results were varied within the sample, with farmers with larger landholdings, women, and farmers not born in the village exhibiting crowding out behavior due to PES. Our results provide experimental evidence that overall motivational crowding may not be a large cause for concern regarding the use of PES policies for agroforestry and forest conservation.

Nasta Babirye¹, Sara Namirembe² and Byamukama Biryahwaho³

¹Nyabyeya Forestry College

²World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF

³Nature Harness Initiatives

The viability of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes to steer sustainable forest practices depends upon provision of sufficient compensation to forest owners for opportunity costs of foregone landuse alternatives. A project “Developing an Experimental Methodology for Testing the Effectiveness of PES to Enhance Conservation in Productive Landscapes in Uganda” was implemented in Hoima and Kibaale districts within the Albertine Rift to reverse the trend of removal of forest patches from privately owned agricultural lands. The project led by the National Environment Management Authority, was implemented by various partners including Nature Harness Initiatives. It paid 840 private forest owners (PFOs)Ush 70,000(US$33)ha^-1yr^-1for contractual forest management interventions. However PFOs found this compensation insufficient. To probe this, a survey was conducted to establish netpresent value (NPV) at 12% social discount rate of net benefits from forest management by 102 PFOs with intact forests (IF) and degraded forests (DF)before and under PES. Estimates considered the short (3 years- project period) and long (30 years – regeneration period for secondary forests)terms.

For the short term, NPVha^-1yr^-1under PES was lower for IF and DF (US$77.4and 61.4respectively) than before PES (US$137.6).  The same was true for the long term, where compared to NPVha^-1yr^-1 before PES (US$ 25.4), IF and DF were only US$20.5 and 15.1 under a 3-year PES compensation; and US$26 and 20.6 under a 30-year PES compensation. Therefore, even if theproject payment rate sustained for 30 years, it can compensate present landuse alternatives only for IF, but not for DF. Although this analysis did not take into consideration other benefits from not cutting down forests, the potential for payments alone to drive such a decision is quite low and may need to be supplemented by rules or norms.

The emergence of the concept of sustainable development induced a generalization of the consideration of environmental dimension in most planning policies during the 1990’s. Threats on biodiversity became a subject of concerns not only for the scientists, but also for the public authorities and the citizens. In 2004 France has launched a national strategy to stop the biodiversity loss. It was followed by the Grenelle Environment Forum, in October 2007, to determine policy guidelines for sustainable development.

The environmental legal measures were completed by the Green and Blue Ways (GBW) laws.  This conservation and land planning policy tool is a response to landscape fragmentation and loss of biodiversity 1/ by participating in the preservation, management and rehabilitation of the ecological networks, and 2/ by taking into account human activities – including agriculture – in rural areas. This became a grid of reading for the environmental policy of the State and territorial collectivities.

This paper focuses on the role that agroforestry systems can play as structuring elements of the landscape for the implementation of the GBW, and how it is revealing multiple territorial challenges related to biodiversity. It is based on the result of the INTERFACE research project conducted in South of France. Agroforestry trees can be all at the same time a marker of the landscapes and an essential component of the ecological corridors. Agroforestry systems thus occupy a paramount place within the framework of the implementation of the GBW, which intend to provide eco-systemic services and to be part of a virtuous circle which aims at decreasing the risks and the vulnerabilities of any type. Could GBW be seen as a way to promote agroforestry by the capacity of such systems to value the environmental services of trees in the landscapes?

This study provides the first complete framework for the valuation of several ecosystem services of agroforestry and uses a tree-based intercropping (TBI) system in southern Québec, Canada, as a case study to evaluate and monetize ecosystem services. Ten ecosystem services were estimated, all of which were of interest and directly applicable to most agricultural systems worldwide: nutrient mineralization, water quality, soil quality, pollination, biological control, air quality, windbreak, timber provisioning, agriculture provisioning, and climate regulation. A mix of mathematical models for the quantification and economic valuation of various ecosystem services were used. The results of the marginal analysis of all TBI ecosystem services revealed a total annual margin of 2 645 CAN$ ha^-1y^-1 (averaged over 40 years). The economic value of combined non-market services was 1 634 CAN$ ha^-1y^-1, which was higher than the value of marketable products (i.e. timber and agricultural products). An analysis of the present value of ecosystem services for a rotation of 40 years suggested that the provision of agricultural products ranked highest among the ecosystem services taken singly, followed by water quality, air quality, climate regulation, and soil quality. Total economic value of all ecosystem services for the rotation period was 54 782 CAN$ ha^-1, only one third of which was contributed by agricultural products. However, although the benefits of the ecosystem services provided by TBI were higher, farmers only benefited from agricultural products and timber. Thus, government incentives are needed to interest and compensate farmers in adopting practices that benefit society as a whole.

There has been a recent surge of interest in multifunctional landscapes within an agroforestry context but little formal assessment of the roles that trees play across the spectrum of ecosystem service provision now considered important in sub-Saharan Africa. We reviewed functions of trees in fields, on farms and in agricultural landscapes across contrasting landscapes in SSA to assess the scientific evidence base about their impact on ecosystem service provision. Data was gathered primarily from peer reviewed journal articles dating from 1995 to 2013, selected using a combination of electronic and manual literature searches. This resulted in 324 articles relevant to arid (3%), semi-arid (50%), sub-humid (25%) and humid (22%) agro-ecological zones. The articles referred to 184 sites across SSA. The majority of studies were from West and Central Africa (42%), followed by eastern (37%) and southern Africa (21%); of which 25, 66 and 45% of the regions’ studies were conducted in Nigeria, Kenya and Malawi, respectively. The functions of trees were grouped into four major ecosystem service classes from the millennium ecosystem assessment: (1), provisioning, (2) supporting (3) regulating and (4) cultural. The review shows that trees influence provision of food, fodder, fuel,  timber and non-timber  products; they support biological nitrogen fixation, nutrient cycling, primary production, soil fertility and water cycling; and regulate agro-biodiversity, carbon sequestration, genetic resources, microclimate, pests and diseases, soil erosion, weeds and wind speed either positively or negatively and to varying extent depending upon tree species, site and management. Food production, nutrient cycling, primary productivity and soil fertility are the foremost functions explored, contributing over 60% of the studies. Trade-offs and synergies amongst ecosystem functions of trees are evident across scales and it is clear that they often play a vital role in sustaining productivity gains from agricultural improvement, through tightening nutrient, water and carbon cycles.

The word “value” can be used in financial terms but also in the broader meaning of respect and willingness to act in support of. Trees inside and outside forests provide goods and services that are important to the livelihoods, welfare and wellbeing of people inside and outside of the landscape. However, decisions to cut, plant or otherwise manage trees tend to be dominated by the direct benefits that the ‘owner’ or claimant of the resource expects. Most of the environmental services provided by trees, such as regulation of micro- and mesoclimate, and roles in soil, water and biodiversity conservation, remain externalities to the decision maker. Various approaches exist to internalize such externalities and ensure that ‘commons’ are respected. Some of these approaches rely on valuation in economic terms, to allow direct equivalence to traded goods that can be extracted from the landscape, with or without forest and/or trees. Expressions of the economic value can be aggregated to inform estimates of changes in natural capital at national scale in assessments of green growth. Other studies have been designed to derive the opportunity costs to land owners of not removing trees and forests as basis for compensation, and/or for design of co-investment programs that support enhancement of environmental services. We will review what it takes to get agroforestry recognized in current green accounting systems

: Rising global demand for food, feed, fibre and fuel is driving commercial investment in primary agricultural production around the world. A significant share of this capital is being lured into developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America by apparent reserves of uncultivated land, favorable agro-climatic conditions, and low-cost labor pools in these regions. Traditionally, agricultural production in these countries has been dominated by subsistence farming families cultivating small land areas (i.e., smallholders), relying on few inputs and typically achieving low or moderate productivity. Driven by their desire to boost productivity and maximize financial returns, the new wave of commercial investors into these markets are introducing broad-scale monoculture farming systems that have delivered significant productivity gains in more developed countries.  Where smallholder farmers are engaged in such ventures, they are typically encouraged to adopt similar high-input monoculture farming systems on their own land to produce output for sale exclusively to the ventures. While such arrangements can provide a vital new cash income stream for smallholders, they can also create increased vulnerability to market and climate shocks and reduce subsistence food crop production. Alternative approaches for boosting smallholder productivity, like Agroforestry Systems, have rarely been incorporated into these commercial ventures. This paper reviews the opportunities and challenges of commercial investing in primary agricultural production using smallholder-based Agroforestry Systems.  Two practical business cases in Mozambique and India are presented and evaluated for financial returns, and associated socio-economic and lifecycle environmental impacts. The potential is demonstrated for smallholder-based Agroforestry Systems to increase return on investment and reduce risk for commercial investors in agribusiness ventures, while boosting long-term food security and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, enhancing local ecosystems, and mitigating climate change impacts.

Cocoa is one main exported agricultural commodity in Cameroon, with a production estimated at 225,000 t/year. The sector is dominated by smallholders with an average of 1 ha/farmer. Traditionally cultivated under forest trees shade in complex agroforestry systems, full-sun cocoa plantations can now be observed in some regions. What is the influence of the agro-industries and exporting enterprises in the change of agricultural practices? Based on individual interviews of stakeholders all along the market chain: from the plantations to the exportation, this paper analysis the strategies and impacts of the industrial actors on the cropping practices of cocoa smallholders. The study involved interviews in Douala and Yaoundé of the downstream actors of the value chain, and focus group and individual interviews of farmers in the region Centre. It appears that industries mainly influence agricultural practices through certification.  Since 2000, the demand for certified cocoa has been growing. Industries developed certification programs to answer this demand; these programs usually involve smallholders cooperatives which are helped by a certification organism and an industrial partner to organize farming schools and teach the recommended practices to farmers. Smallholders are much demanded of this program, and queue to engage into a partnership with an industry. This type of partnership is perceived by smallholders as a mean to access technical advices, inputs, and to secure the quick sale of their production. Certification favors agroforestry practices and recommends maintaining a rich diversity of trees in cocoa plantations. Through this program, industries favour the continuity of agroforestry practices and promote sustainable use of inputs.

This presentation explores the politics of partnering with private actors in pursuing environmental sustainability in coffee production. Drawing on empirical research carried out in the Western Ghats, India, this paper shows that certification schemes and other forms of voluntary regulatory regimes for sustainable coffee present complex outcomes for biodiversity conservation and farmer livelihoods. In particular, competing interests, institutional design and governance structure of such public-private partnerships allow the regulatory process to be captured by powerful private actors. In the context of sustainable coffee,evidence shows that shade-grown certification schemes are modified and diluted such that they are made buyer-driven rather than producer or sustainability drivem. This presentation argues that mutural co-operation and successful partnerships are more likely to emerge and be sustained when both partners have sufficient resources, power and willingness to implement the regulatory regime in synergy with the overall purpose of sustainable agro-forestry.

Given increasing global pressures on productive land, there is a clear need for promoting integrated responsible land management projects with multiple revenue streams, such as agroforestry. Due to these businesses’ inherent diversity, they tend to fall between sectoral cracks. Consequentially, sizeable catalytic funding required for agroforestry development has been lacking. As public funding is limited a blend of public and private sources will be required.

The focus on one-dimensional agriculture or forestry projects by investors is unfortunate, as there is a clear opportunity for investing in multi-dimensional land management (agroforestry) approaches. With the right expertise, projects can be pooled into a Fund, which can meet return and risk criteria of mainstream investors and yield long-term sustainable development benefits.

To demonstrate the investment case for this approach, the authors developed an investment blueprint for the Global Sustainable Agroforestry Fund. The Fund targets an IRR of 10%, with an initial pilot size of USD 200m to commence in 2014 and the prospect to scale to 500m. The portfolio consists of a mix of agriculture and forestry projects, which as a pool will provide diversified and stable returns while screening and proactively managing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) impacts. The Fund forms a commercially, environmentally and socially attractive portfolio to drive investment at scale in multi-dimensional, sustainable, land management projects. To draw in the necessary cross-sectoral expertise and capacity, the Fund is developed by a coalition of finance experts, civil society groups, business people, scientists and government officials. The governing structure reflects this multistakeholder interest.

The Fund is incubated by the Green Growth Action Alliance – a public-private coalition assembled by the World Economic Forum to scale investment in green growth.

Abstract Content: Objective: To integrate the local afro-Colombian communities with a multinational corporation in order to implement a conservation project of 46,000 hectares of forest, adopting agroforestry practices and providing resilience to climate change.

1. Strengthen local agriculture and foster growth of local economy mainly through the implementation of shade-grown cocoa.

2. Build a business case, which integrates local communities to a multinational value chain while providing both parties with sustainable growth.

3. Provide training  on other agroforestry practices in order to diversify their activities

4. Monitor the changes in crops, while maintaining a reservoir of varieties that will be resilient to climate change

Obtained results:

1. 1.       Support was provided in shifting to sustainable-cocoa from palm oil, which was attacked by a disease due to increase humidity and change in rainfall regimes.

2. 2.       Strengthening of existing cacao practices and logistic optimization by developing a more professional way of harvesting cacao as follows:

–          A nursery of cacao available to the community with the best varieties was built.

–          A centralized facility for cacao collection, drying (industrial oven) and fermenting was constructed so that homogenous and international quality standards could be obtained.

Expected Results:

1. 3.       Strengthening of agroforestry practices as a mean to conservation and adaptation.

–          Continue to strengthen cocoa plantation and others (i.e.acai), so that it can be integrated in an international value chain.

–          Improve hybrids of cocoa so that they thrive under prevailing climatic conditions.

–          Support fair-trade certification in order to access more specialized markets.

–          Broaden the development of sustainable extraction of other non-timber forest products (i.e. coconut, fibers, exotic fruits, etc.)

1. 4.       Conservation and Climate Change adaptation:

Implement conservation strategies, such as biological corridors and restoration of mangroves.

1. 5.       Capacity building

Establishment of capacity building programs on cacao, agroforestry, and climate change, among others.

Abstract Content: Public-Private partnerships on tree domestication for sustainable agroforestry and business innovations: Allanblackia species as a case study

Ofori, D. A.^1*, Asaah, E.², Peprah, T.³, Tsobeng, A.⁴, Tchoundjeu, Z.⁴, Munjuga, M.¹, Rutatina, F.⁵, Mowo, J.G.¹, Jamnadass, R.¹

1. World Agroforestry Centre, United Nations Avenue, Gigiri , Box 30677-00100

Nairobi, Kenya

2. World Agroforestry Centre, 5 Presidential Lodge Rd, Makeni, Northern Province

Sierra Leone

3. CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, University Box 63, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana

4. World Agroforestry Centre, WCA Regional Office, Box 16377, Yaounde,  Cameroon

5. Novel Development Tanzania Ltd, Box 6099, Morogoro, Tanzania

– Corresponding Author: Daniel A. Ofori, Email. d.ofori@cgiar.org

Abstract

Trees play a crucial role in almost all terrestrial ecosystems and provide a range of products and services to rural and urban people. As natural vegetation is cleared for agriculture and other types of development, the benefits that trees provide are best sustained by integrating trees into agriculturally productive landscapes – a practice known as agroforestry. Tree domestication is an indispensable process in agroforestry for provision of the required tree genetic materials to meet the desired objectives and provide high value products. In particular, domestication of new tree crops, often termed as “neglected and underutilised crops” is one of the means for improving food and nutritional security in sub-Saharan Africa. In the last decade, a participatory tree domestication approach involving close collaboration of scientists, government institutions, investors, NGOs and farmers has been developed for the edible oil-producing Allanblackia species of the family Clusiaceae in West, Central and East African regions. The approach, being practiced in mixed agroforestry regimes is enhancing diversification of species, incomes and rural business development. This paper highlights the achievement made in the domestication of Allanblackia species and the need for better engagement of public and private partners in future agricultural innovations.

Women have the greater degree of participation in agricultural value chains including those of horticultural produces. However, most of them concentrate in early positions in value chains spectrum which are less profitable and temporary. This study aimed at identifying socio-economic factors influencing women position in fruits and vegetables value chains in Coast region of Tanzania. Two hundred and fifty households involved in fruits and vegetables enterprises were surveyed in the study area. Surveyed data were analysed using logistic regression model. Results indicated that education level, heading household and membership in farmers’ associations positively correlate to the individual’s position in the fruits and vegetables value chains spectrum. Most of the value chains interviewees (80%) have only attained primary education which is the lowest level standard in the country. This has the implication on the issues related to marketing strategies, accessing market information, negotiation and value addition skills. Participants to the study who were heads of their respective households comprised of 9%. This shows limit for the women to have their decisions and choices favourable to their fruit and vegetable business. Few respondents (7%) were found to be members of the farmers’ associations, signifying low level of their engagement in networking, which consequently lowers their uplift potential in the value chains ladder. It was thus recommended on empowering women in terms of education and skills, networking and gender equity in order to improve their position and significant profit gain  in the fruits and vegetables value chain.This in the long run will enhance reduction of income poverty and improve livelihoods.

Teak is a very valuable timber species of Central India. Due to its high demand in world trade and unsustainable supply from forests large scale teak plantations  have been taken up outside forests. To encourage plantations and their scientific management unique schemes of Lok Vaniki was adopted in Madhya Pradesh to encourage farmers and owners of trees for efficient management and marketing.

Teak has so far been the monopoly of large landholders. Its potential for small landholders as a  tree based livelihood option for the poor has recieved less attention. It can also contribute to poverty reduction and enhance livelihood in rural areas, some models of Teak plantation in the State were analysed. The paper discusses the issues relating to adoption of Teak under agroforestry by different landholders, technology packages suitable for small farmers, market access, information and viability.

The current policies, legal and regulatory framework, innovations and suitable technology are outlined.

Global climate change, expected to result in global warming, is the most serious environmental problem the world faces. The greatest impacts of climate change will be felt first, and most seriously, by the poorest countries of the world. Over the long term, climate change is likely to have a very serious impact on ecosystems and the world’s poorest people, who are the most vulnerable as they depend heavily on natural resources for their food and livelihoods. To anticipate these problems, it is important to promote land management that can improve livelihoods and the environment simultaneously. A recent study carried out in Sulawesi, Indonesia, found that farmers who practised agroforestry received higher benefits than farmers who did not. Agroforestry farmers obtained income as much as USD 2701 per year, which is twice higher than non-agroforestty farmers at USD 1300 per year.  The land productivity of agroforestry was USD 907 per ha per year or 50 percent higher than non land agroforestry. The practice of agroforestry is a livelihoods strategy for farmers with only small pieces of land (average landholding per household of around 1.4 ha) who plant mixed species of trees such as cacao, coffee, clove and fruit. Agroforestry is also a strategy to minimize risk from unstable commodities prices, pests and diseases and also from the negative impact of climate. Agroforestry can also provide environmental services; we assessed the carbon stock for each land-use system to value the environmental services. The time average of carbon stock of agroforestry systems at this site was 28–64 ton. It is higher than the time average carbon stock of rice and maize, which is 0.7–0.9 ton.

When other islands in Indonesia are going through the declining phase in forest transition curve, Java is already in the reforestation phase largely due to existence of smallholder timber systems. These systems have been practiced for generations. However, despite the high price of timber in the market, many farmers are still in poverty. We examined the relationship between socio-economic characteristics and earnings from timber systems for poor and non-poor farmers in Ciamis District, one of the main areas for smallholder timber systems in West Java, Indonesia. The categorization of poor and non-poor farmers were based on the information derived from national census, which was verified during this study. We surveyed 59 farmers on education and age of household head, family size, plot size and distance from home, household income (non-timber) as well as management and utilization of timber systems practiced by farmers. Based on their timber harvest for the past 10 years, the average income of poor farmers was 133 USD and 680 USD for non-poor farmers.  Using a simple correlation analysis we found that land size and non-timber household income are positively correlated with earning from timber. Thus, pointing out that to have good earning from timber systems, natural and financial capitals are important. Small landholdings (natural capital) combined with low non-timber household income (financial capital) caused the poor households’ capability in utilizing their timber systems as assets  do not result in better earnings. Current programs for small-holder timber farmers, largely in form of subsidies (seedlings) or capacity building, rarely differentiate between the two-types of farmers. Hence, has lead to very often ineffective program results. Future programs should consider the typology of farmers.

Businesses in agriculture and forestry are usually built around large-scale suppliers ignoring that most of the world’s farms are managed by small-scale producers. Smallholders are often excluded from modern business channels due to a lack of access to services and information, high transaction costs, and poor infrastructure. For supply chain actors, this may increase the perceived risks and costs associated with purchasing from dispersed producers. While successful examples of smallholder inclusion into modern supply chains can be found, these do not reflect the overall value created and profit distribution are in favour of farmers.  Building farmers’ capacity to become better business partners in supply chains may not be the only necessity. This paper raises the question on whether farmers can actually do business and, therefore, highlights a proposition on how to build livelihoods using a business approach at the smallholder level based on scientific observations of tree products utilization conducted in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The proposition include business plans, village-based service providers who can deliver support, community managed institutions, and a community-led business model to sustain benefits. This paper also observed that the private sector is required to adjust its business practices to smallholders’ needs and conditions to promote sustainable business relationships. Capable farmers and keen buyers, together with an enabling environment, such as consistent government incentives, can establish durable and profitable business relationships.

Fuelwood is an integral part of the Papua New Guinea domestic economy with consumption estimated at 1.8m³/person/year. Fuelwood stress in many districts is evident by high prices and conflict generated by competition for gathered fuelwood.  This paper describes 3 related activities to develop small businesses based on short-rotation coppicing (SRC) agroforestry systems. These activities were: 1] Survey of domestic fuelwood consumers and vendors (n = 4,122) in fuelwood-stressed districts in urban and rural areas of lowlands and highlands; 2] Field trials of 10 candidate SRC species, at 2 spacings, in 2-3 year rotations. Measurements included wood volume after 2 years, coppice vigor, burning characteristics, and market acceptance; 3] Facilitating the establishment of SRC-grown charcoal businesses.

The survey found the fuelwood economy has a very short, direct supply chain in a completely informal environment.  The paper summarises dimensions of the fuelwood economy illustrating the great opportunity to create a fuelwood supply chain that could deliver sustainably harvested and value-added fuelwood to consumers, especially in urban areas and the commercial sector.

The SRC systems appealed to landholders because they could intercrop vegetables in the first year and had the option of carrying over some trees to grow on to poles. The best woodlot species were Eucalyptus grandis for the highlands and E.tereticornis for the lowlands. Calliandra calothrysus is a suitable SRC species for alley systems in highland gardens.  In the highlands SRC firewood and charcoal production yield higher estimated returns to labour (43 and 24 Kina/person/day (20-11 $US)) compared with main alternative crops of sweet potato and coffee (21 and 15 Kina/person/day respectively). As SRC-grown wood appears different to normal wood for sale, there may be resistance in the market. So we facilitated the establishment of charcoal producer groups in Mt Hagen and Lae.

Moringa (Moringa oleifera) is a perennial softwood vegetable tree and widely grown in the tropics of Asia, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. Most parts of the tree are edible. The leaves and flowers are eaten as salad, as cooked vegetables, added to soups and sauces, or used to make tea. The young, tender pods—known as drumsticks—are highly valued as a vegetable in Asia. Moringa is nutrient-dense and rich in essential micronutrients and vitamins as well as antioxidants and bioavailable iron. According to data available at AVRDC’s Nutrition Lab, moringa exceeds the micronutrient content of tomato by a factor of 9 to 38: β-carotene content – 15.28 mg (x 38); vitamin C – 459 mg (x 24); vitamin E – 25.25 mg (x 22); iron – 10.09 mg (x 19); folates – 93 µg (x 19); antioxidant activity – 2858 TE (x 9). Moringa is also rich in protein: 100 g of fresh moringa leaves contain 9.4 g of protein comprising all essential amino acids in nutritionally balanced proportions. Boiling fresh moringa leaves and dried powder in water enhances aqueous antioxidant activity and increases bioavailable iron by a factor of 3. Dried leaf powder is processed into moringa capsules and used as a dietary supplement. Depending on the genotype, leaf fresh weight of the first two harvests ranges from 500 g to 2 kg per plant. Total fresh matter yield at first harvest (leaves and young shoots) depends on plant density and varies from 19.6 to 78 t/ha with a plant density of 95,000 and 1 million plants, respectively. Moringa has great potential to generate income for smallholder farmers and to enhance environmental services by controlling soil and wind erosion, and by providing shade and clean water. Given its multiple uses and wide range of adaptability, moringa is an ideal crop for sustainable food production.

There is growing recognition of the contribution of forests to food security and nutrition.  In rural areas with poor market access, forests may provide an essential source of nutritious food. Micronutrient deficiency is a serious problem in Indonesia. Approximately, 100 million Indonesians suffer from one or more micronutrient deficiencies, particularly in iron, zinc, and vitamin A.  However, the effects of forest cover on food consumption patterns in Indonesia have not yet been studied.

To test the effect of forests on the consumption of nutritious foods, we looked at the relationship between tree cover and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods by children between the ages of one and five years in Indonesia.   We used consumption data from the 2003 Indonesia Demographic Health Survey (DHS) combined with GIS tree cover data for 2003 from the Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF). Our results show that tree cover is positively associated with the frequency of Vitamin A rich fruit and animal source food consumption.  There is no statistically significant relationship between tree cover and the frequency of leafy green vegetable consumption.  Our results suggest that Indonesian children living in areas with high tree cover enjoy diets which are richer in micronutrient-dense foods.

Agroforests and swidden cultivation areas are not empty of wildlife. They are generally inhabited by a suite of adaptable, fast-reproducing species able to withstand human activity, often rodents, small-sized, fast-reproducing and resilient to hunting. These species are not of immediate concern to conservation biologists and do not attract tourists. They however do have an important role in the food security and nutrition of farmers by being both pests, raiding and destroying crops and a source of nutrient rich meat. This “garden hunting” is a very common activity as wild animals enter swiddens and fallows because of the relative abundance of food sources. Research shows that hunting in farmland is indeed disproportionately more frequent relative to field cover in the landscape but also that offtake from farm lands is much lower than from the fallows and remaining forests. In an idealized scenario, crop losses resulting from the presence of these species could be balanced by protein gains from hunting. We will review and present the actual evidence of the importance of this forgotten resource for the food safety, nutrition and livelihoods of local farmers and propose some management recommendations.

The genetic diversity and traditional knowledge of indigenous trees is disappearing rapidly in Kenya. Many of these trees provide essential nutrients through their fruits, leaves, bark, and/or roots, able to prevent human diseases.  To commercialize nutritional foods from indigenous trees, a long term, iterative, participatory and multi-disciplinary innovation strategy has been designed.  The strategy involves the identification and prioritization of indigenous trees for their conservation, propagation, regeneration and commercialization.  It utilizes a systems approach that depends on the fields of ethnobotany, horticultural science, agroforestry, rural sociology, food science, nutrition, law, and business development.  This innovation is called Indigenous Trees Incubators (ITIs).

ITIs will be established in each of the agro-ecological zones in Kenya.  Each ITI will serve as the research base for 1) participatory ethnobotanical surveys, 2) conservation of germplasm, 3) prioritization of cultivars with desirable traits, 4) development of propagation protocols, 5) integration of indigenous food trees into the farming and non-farming landscapes and national policies, 6) development and commercialization of nutritional food products, and 7) benefits sharing.

The force behind ITI’s is a private company in Kenya, concerned with the conservation and commercialization of healthy foods derived from indigenous trees.  This private company serves as the hub, pulling together ethnobotanists, horticultural scientists, food, beverage and nutraceutical companies, food scientists, lawyers and policy makers.  Extensive conversations and, in some cases, draft MoUs, are in place with Kenyan and international gene banks, National Agricultural and Forestry Research Centres, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, County decision makers, community representatives, national and international research universities, national and international food and beverage companies, and research foundations.

This paper describes the 7-point ITI strategy in detail, providing an innovative pathway whereby the public and private sectors can pull their resources together to integrate indigenous trees into national and international applied science programs and economies.

Many fruit tree species in drylands of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) provide edible fruits which are locally of great importance for food security, nutrition and income generation, particularly during droughts and the ‘hunger gap’ periods occurring at the beginning of the cropping season. Women and children are often strongly involved in and benefit from wild fruit collection, processing and trade. Cultivation of exotic and indigenous fruit tree (IFT) species in agroforestry systems diversifies production options for small-scale farmers and can bring significant health, environmental and economic benefits, particularly in the face of climate change. In this study we present case studies from different dryland regions in SSA to showcase the importance of tree fruits for nutrition and food security and for local livelihoods.

In Adjumani district, Uganda, 44% of 68 respondents reported to use the fruit pulp of Balanites aegyptiaca, 84% of the fruits were harvested from the wild, mainly by children and women. In Mwingi district, Eastern Kenya, the 104 respondents consumed fruits of 57 IFT species; 36 species were found on-farm and 21 in the woodlands. During the ‘hunger gap’ periods, at least 12 IFT species have mature fruits. In semi-arid Eastern Kenya, mango farming generated mean annual incomes of 320 USD per household (n=87) from 77 mango trees on average. In the Miombo region of Southern Africa, on-going participatory domestication of Uapaca kirkiana, Strychnos cocculoides and Sclerocarya birrea has developed new tree crops to capture economic opportunities while at the same time reducing the dependence and exploitation of wild tree populations. Similar efforts are under way in the West African Sahel, where Adansonia digitata, Tamarindus indica and Ziziphus mauritiana are currently being domesticated.

More efforts are needed in research and development to fully utilize the potential of fruit trees for improving livelihoods in the drylands of SSA.

Yamunanagar and Panchkula are key districts in Haryana state, which are not only enriched with natural forests along the Shiwaliks, but also full of agro-forestry activities in the plains. The agro-forestry has become popular in these districts due to better returns and easier marketing facilities of farm grown wood. Hence a precise assessment of tree cover and its growing stock, especially in the light of its role in carbon sequestration is essential, as an important climate change mitigation strategy. Indian high resolution remote sensing sensors e.g., Cartosat-1 Panchromatic (Carto PAN) and LISS IV multispectral sensor, offer scope to assess TOF with high precision.
A Study was conducted to prepare spatial database using orthorectified Carto PAN data involving detailed classification of TOF configurations. Spatial structure of TOF was considered under three categories, viz., individual trees (scattered), linear and patch. Patches ≤ 1 ha in size were considered as constituting tree cover. Trees outside forests included tree cover as well as planted areas of ≥ 1ha. Spatial distribution of TOF was prepared at 1:10000 scale, with detailed classification of configuration corresponding to origin or association of the vegetation. Grid based scheme was prepared at 5 km spacing, for each major TOF configuration and geographical coordinates representing strata were chosen for field measurement. GIS tools were used for estimating strata volumes based on spatially explicit plot wise volumes.
Satellite data oriented interpretation showed that Yamunanagar and Panchkula districts showed tree covers of 111 km2 (6.3 %) and 44 km2 (4.8%) for respectively. Based on stratified random sampling approach and stratum wise extrapolation we estimated that Yamunanagar district comprised of 41.9 lakh trees where as Panchkula district had 27.9 lakh trees, with growing stock of 7.6 and 2.7 lakh Cu M respectively.

India has a large diversity of traditional agro-forestry systems, aimed at multiple benefits. The focus of these traditional agro-forestry systems are crop production and trees which are grown in rows along with crops or along boundary or bunds. Biofuel crops can also be incorporated into traditional agro forestry systems, without affecting the production of food crops. In some situations, biofuel crops such as Pongamia pinnata grown on bunds could enhance crop production. Tree borne oil seed based agroforestry system is an alternative model available for the rehabilitation and utilisation of the vast expanse of wastelands and degraded land in the country. Another matter of great concern is meeting the energy needs of the rapidly-growing economy of the country. In this situation Biodiesel has emerged as one of the promising options. Hence production of raw materials for biodiesel such as oilseeds, is now gaining importance. So, the use of wastelands to produce tree-borne oilseeds can realise the twin objectives of rehabilitation of a vital land resource and obtaining an energy substitute. Although there are definite advantages in this approach, achieving the desired outcome is not easy. The major constraint is the lack of accurate information about the cultivation practices of the species, their potential yields and income. Though there are several trees yielding oilseeds, Jatropha curcus, Pongamia pinnata, Madhuca indica and Azadirachta indica are the species of high potential. The systematic approach backed by scientifically validated information is necessary in the promotion of these species. Therefore, in order to use agro-forestry systems for biofuel production and sustainable development in India. The research, policy and cultivation practice will have to focus on improving the traditional and modern agro-forestry systems, enhancing the size and diversity of agro-forestry systems by selectively growing trees by designing context specific multipurpose agro forestry systems for biofuel production.

Future increased demand for energy worldwide must be based on renewable sources of energy to avoid catastrophic increases in atmospheric CO2 and to replace non-renewable sources of energy that have already passed their peak production. Trees can provide renewable biomass in the form of fuelwood, charcoal, pyrolysis-driven electricity production and biofuels. People’s access to energy is often referred to as “the missing Millennium Development Goal”, but energy is important for development and it is certain that energy access will be included in the post-2015 development agenda within a new set of Sustainable Development Goals. Unfortunately, current global policy initiatives to ensure universal access to sustainable energy essentially ignore the potential of tree-based bioenergy. This is because of partially-correct perceptions that wood fuels are associated with poverty and are polluting and dangerous, and to generally false assumptions about links between woodfuel use and environmental degradation. Problems associated with the use of tree biomass could be overcome relatively easily. There have been valid concerns that growing crops for bioenergy might compete for resources for food production. However, bioenergy provides farmers and land-users with new and important sources of income and fit well into integrated food-energy systems. Trees provide multiple benefits to agriculture, including soil fertility, water management, fruit production, fodder production, fuelwood and timber. Tree growing is eminently scaleable, suitable for large-scale production in woodlots and small-scale production on farms under agroforestry systems. Even where large scale processing of products is needed, such as the processing of biofuels or biomass production for community electricity generation, small-scale landowners can provide products for collection and bulking up, as currently happens in a number of agricultural value chains. An unprecedented global partnership is needed to ensure that renewable tree-based bioenergy plays its proper role in future global energy mixes.

Mangrove plantations have traditionally been done as part of restoration of degraded natural mangrove forests and rarely for agroforestry. Mangrove species have the unique characteristic of being able to survive on seawater without requiring freshwater which most other tree species require for their growth. From the perspective of cultivation for providing feedstock for biofuels production, this is the best way to overcome the food versus fuel issues which most other biofuel feedstocks have with respect to land use and requirement of water. We describe a novel model for achieving mangrove cultivation in non-native coastal areas that are not existing or degraded mangrove forests, through a technique called Riley Encased Methodology® developed by mangrove.org®. This will help in creating livelihoods for the local population through the sale of sustainably harvested mangrove biomass to commercial biofuel producers and since the mangrove ecosystem is known to improve growth of aquatic species, this will also provide improved opportunities for sustainable aquaculture.

The Riley Encased Methodology® (REM) has been developed for the purpose of establishing mangroves along high-energy shorelines, revetments, and bulkheads where natural recruitment does not occur and where conventional planting methods are ineffective. The principles of REM include the processes of individual seedling isolation within tubular encasements and adaptation of the juvenile plant to the external environment of the plantation site. The success of REM results from specifications for encasement preparation, propagule or seedling selection, and positioning of both encasements and seedlings according to elevation and tidal regimes.

In addition to providing livelihood opportunities through biofuel feedstock and aquaculture, employing REM in non-native areas would provide protection from coastal erosion and other benefits that natural mangrove forests provide.

Nandan Cleantec is conducting R&D for producing second generation biofuels from biomass and mangrove biomass would be a sustainable feedstock for commercialization of this technology.

The push to combat climate change and greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependency on non-renewable energy sources has never been more topical. One aspect of this is the need to decrease human pressure on natural forests, which poses questions as to how timber, food, and bioenergy production on agricultural land can best be obtained. Agroforestry and Short Rotation Coppice (SRC) are recognised as separate economically viable and sustainable cropping systems. But little is known about the agricultural and ecological interactions if the two are combined. This mixed approach, which we call alley coppice, has potential advantages, including: (i) regular income guaranteed from the SRC component; (ii) improved stem formation of timber trees and reduced pruning intensity in mixed systems, because of competition for light between species; (iii) planting of timber trees at final density, avoiding expensive thinning costs; (iv) reduced wind and storm damage to timber trees during the initial years of tree growth, due to the protection provided by the SRC component, and; (v) improved ecological impacts, such as increased biodiversity, reduced spread of diseases, reduced soil erosion, and reduced soil nutrient depletion.

This approach is being assessed within the European AGROCOP project (Woodwisdom-Eranet EUPF7; http://www.agrocop.com/) and involves seven research institutes from five countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the United Kingdom. One of our research objectives is to evaluate the yield of alley coppice system in comparison to monocultural systems, using the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER). We also focus on water, nutrient and light competition.

Results presented were obtained in a seven-year old experimental field, located in Northern Italy. This has Pyrus and Sorbus as timber trees, and poplar SRC grown in a two-year rotation cycle.  We analysed the yield and survival rate of SRC poplars, and the leaf phenology and stem form of timber trees.

Replacing less efficient traditional cookstoves with improved models of stoves has the potential to create a number of social and environmental benefits. Increased burning efficiency leads to reduced fuel demand, while emissions reductions of particulate matter and climate forcing species lead to both improved health and climate change mitigation. In India the majority of the population still lacks access to clean cooking stoves or facilities. With 90% of the rural population and 31% of the urban population still primarily depending on solid fuels for cooking, the switch to using improved stoves has the potential to greatly reduce the demand on biomass fuel resources while also improving livelihoods and addressing climate change. On this basis, there have been a number of cookstove dissemination initiatives in India, home to a past national cookstove program, many NGO efforts and a slew of commercial initiatives. Still overall none of the disseminations efforts have been successful at achieving both significant distribution scale and sustainability. Carbon finance provides an opportunity to address some barriers in dissemination, providing additional financing which can be used to subsidize stove costs making them affordable to lower income consumers, while allowing for the scaling up of dissemination efforts at the same time. Despite these potentials, actual impacts of carbon finance on cookstoves projects are not yet well known. Therefore to examine the potential of carbon financing as a tool for promoting cookstove dissemination this research looks at the impacts of carbon finance on organizational activities and business models using India as a case study. Results based on 19 semi-structured interviews provide an overview of different organizational approaches employed, perceptions around carbon financing from both those choosing to and not to apply for carbon certification, and identification of the opportunities, challenges and unknowns surrounding the use of carbon finance for cookstove dissemination.

Cocoa is one of the most important export commodities for many developing countries and provides income for millions of smallholders. The expansion of cocoa production has resulted in habitat destruction, biodiversity loss, and soil degradation. The prevalent cocoa production systems worldwide are conventional monoculture full sun systems. Agroforestry systems are argued to be a viable strategy for sustainable cocoa production. However, data-based information on advantages and limitations of different cocoa production systems is limited. Pairwise comparisons on the long-term performance of cocoa monocultures and agroforestry systems under conventional and organic management are inexistent.

FiBL is pioneering to fill this knowledge gap with a unique long-term field trial in tropical Bolivia established in 2008. The trial consists of six treatments: two monocultures (MONO CONV/ORG) and two agroforestry system (AF CONV/ORG) under conventional and organic management, one organic successional agroforestry system (SAFS) with dynamic shade management, and a fallow of the same age serving as a reference for biodiversity and soil fertility studies. The treatments are representative for current cocoa production systems of smallholders. Parameters regularly assessed include canopy openness, cocoa stem diameter and bean yield, pests and diseases, soil fertility, carbon stocks, economic data and biodiversity.

Five years after planting, results showed significantly shorter tree circumference (18% and 33%) in AF systems and SAFS, respectively, compared to MONO systems. Tree circumference correlated strongly with cocoa bean yield, and highest bean yields were recorded in MONO CONV as expected. Additional products like banana/plantain, cassava, pineapple, etc. were harvested in AF systems and SAFS, which may compensate for lower cocoa yield in the first years.  First results indicate that disease incidences were higher in MONO systems compared to AF and SAFS.

Indonesia is the third largest producer of cacao in the world after Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Cacao production began in Sulawesi in the 1980s. It is now a major crop on the island, covering over 950 thousand ha, equaling 59% of Indonesia’s cacao growing area. By 2010 Sulawesi accounted for 67% of Indonesia cacao production.  As in other countries, smallholder production is the norm in Indonesia.  Approximately 2.2 million smallholder farmers cultivate 1.5 million ha of cacao, supplying 92% of the national production.  A study was conducted in Sulawesi to understand smallholder cacao systems and the importance of cacao to smallholder livelihoods.  The study identified the range of productivity, agro-biodiversity and economic profitability associated with smallholder systems.  A typology of four smallholder cacao systems was identified: monocultures, cacao integrated with shade trees, cacao integrated with fruit and timber trees, and homegardens.  Cacao is the dominant species in all systems, except homegardens where it is a minor component.  In South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi farmers earn IDR 5.0 million (14% of total household income) and IDR 14.5 million (52% of total household income), respectively.  The productivity and profitability of smallholder cacao systems has been decreasing over the last 10 years. Yields have plummeted from 1000-1500 kg/ha to 500-700 kg/ha.  Discouraged, many farmers want to switch to other commodities, which could have devastating effect on the cacao industry. Key problems with smallholder production are the high incidence of pests and disease, limited access to quality planting material, and the low level farm management.   The paper provides analysis and recommendations based on the results of a scoping survey, garden inventory, and group discussion with farmers regarding how to improve the productivity and profitability of smallholder cacao livelihood systems, while maintaining sustainable environmental management.

Improved understanding of the main drivers that influence productivity patterns in smallholder coffee farming systems can help better target agricultural innovation. The purpose of this study was to investigate if smallholders with decreasing or increasing coffee production around Mount Kenya invest in enterprise intensification and diversification strategies such as with maize, banana, livestock and agroforestry trees. Using functional typologies of smallholder coffee farms determined a priori, coffee yield data from 180 farms was used to identify and analyse productivity on farms with increasing, decreasing and constant coffee production trends. Simple descriptive statistics such as means, range, counts, enterprise scoring, diversity analysis, pair-wise correlations and general linear regression analysis were used to compare farm typologies.

Results show similarities in smallholder farm diversification strategies; coffee production is nonetheless declining in smaller farm sizes compared to farm sizes where it’s increasing. Data suggest that on decreasing coffee, farmers with smaller land size diversify into crops such as banana and maize probably in a strategy to secure household food security. Results showed that smallholders expanding coffee production are also associated with productive milk enterprises. Analysis was consistent that, land size, coffee production (number of bushes, cherry yields/Ha), livestock units, trees, banana, maize value, nutrient inputs (manure and fertilizer) and labour costs influence coffee farms productivity and are useful indicators to distinguish farm typologies. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of increased awareness by policy makers on coffee production trends and the need to promote enterprises that are of interest to farmers.

NABARD in collaboration with WIMCO- a wood based industry, promoted P.deltoides clones based Agroforestry irrigated plantations in Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during 1984 to 1995, which became highly successful. The spacing followed was 5 m x 4 m accommodating 500 trees per hectare. Generally cost of cultivation was around Rs. 0.1 million ( US$ =INR 60 ) and the income was around 0.8 million, with agriculture income being10%. Due to overproduction, the poplar wood price started falling in 2002 and reached the lowest price of Rs. 800 per tonne in 2004, hence the farmers stopped growing poplar. In the year 2000, the Hon’ble Supreme court banned tree felling and poplar resurfaced again with much vigour. To ascertain the position, the author undertook a study in Chahal village, Nawasar district of Punjab along with WIMCO officials and held discussions with the farmers and plywood manufacturers and then  met two  progressive farmers, who had 20 hectare irrigated land and planted poplar in such a way that every year they could harvest 2 ha plantations. They followed a 6 year rotation cycle, when trees reached an average height of 18m and girth of 90cm, which yielded 180 ton wood per ha, and clocked income of INR 0.72 million at a sale price of Rs. 4000 per tonne. The projects were both technically feasible and financially viable with more than 50% IRR. Sugarcane and wheat were intercropped only for 2-3 years. Marketing of wood was no problem, because in Yamunanagar there were more than 1000 wood based industries. It was concluded that poplar based clonal agroforestry worked wonders and both the farmers and wood industries used it sustainably. Besides, it assisted in environmental amelioration, conserving genetic resources and mitigated climate change.

World-over the common practice for growing pulpwood plantation is to plant with a single species in a block on a forest area which was acquired, clear felled and planted.  However, the ITC’s initiative on agro-forestry plantations started in on private lands in the year 1992 to meet its wood demand for production of paper and paperboard. The clonal plantations under agro-forestry gave a productivity of 25 t/ha/yr as against 6 t/ha/yr from seed origin plantation.

By now the company has successfully promoted 158,000 ha plantations plantations.  In the first phase, block plantations are raised with a spacing of 3 x 1.5 m with 2222 trees / ha.  The intercrop is taken in between the lines in the first year only as the canopy closes in the second year onwards.  A new concept was evolved after a series of experimental trials with different planting geometry wherein, pulpwood trees are planted apart either in a single or double row (Alley cropping) leaving a wide gap of 8 m to allow maximum sunlight for growing food crops in-between the lines. The model accommodate 2000 trees / ha and the land allocation is 25% for tree crops and 75% for agricultural crops. Every year the farmer can take food crops regularly and harvest the trees after 4 years interval. In case of crop losses due to draught, flood, pest and diseases, the income from tree hedge the risk. The novelty of the agro-forestry model is to improve the farm productivity and profitability while conserving the environment and bringing diversification on farm lands.  By now, ITC has put up “Agro-forestry for wood and food security” demo plots in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh over an area of 4000 ha.

The agro-forestry plantations of 158,000 ha over one cycle of 4 years, create an estimated wood asset value of INR 5530 cr (yield of 100 t/ha and average price of Rs.3500/t), off-set 28.9 million tons CO₂ and create employment for 71 million persons days from various activities thus greening the triple bottom line (Environmental, Societal and Economic) and creating enduring value to the nation.

The study was carried out in Traditional Agroforestry systems in different parts of Garhwal Himalaya, India during 2012-13 with varying altitudinal ranges (1000 to 1500m, 1500 to 2000m and 2000 to 2500m asl) comprising northern and southern aspects to assess the change in various tree crop combination and their utilization for the rural development and need of local people.

The major traditional agroforestry systems viz. agrisilviculture (AS), agrisilvihorticulture (ASH) and agrihorticulture (AH) systems were studied with reference to change in elevation and aspects. The tree-crop combinations adopted on the different study sites were dependent on the climatic and geographical situations and accordingly these combinations are used by the local people for their livelihood. During the study the very common and important agroforestry trees as Grewia optiva, Celtis australis and Melia azedarach usually present with agricultural crops as Triticum aestivum, Zea mays, Eleusine coracana, Echinochloa frumentacea, Amaranthus caudatus, Phaseolus vulgaris etc in the elevation ranging 1000 to 1500m. In the middle Himalayan region (1500-2000m) the common tree species as Quercus leucotrichophora, Grewia optiva, Celtis australis, , Prunus armeniaca (fruit tree) present with agricultural crops like Triticum aestivum, Eleusine coracana, Amaranthus caudatus, Phaseolus vulgaris, Solanum tuberosum etc. In the elevation 2000 to 2500m the agroforestry tree species like Quercus leucotrichophora, Quercus floribunda, Quercus semicarpifolia, Juglans regia, Malus domestica (fruit tree) forms the basic combination with agricultural crops as Solanum tuberosum, Pisum sativum, Amaramthus caudatus, Phaseolus vulgaris.

The farmers of the study area showed close relationship between the traditional agroforestry systems and their daily domestic requirements for fuel, fodder, fibre and fruits, however, the change in altitude and aspects play major role in availability of these multifarious benefits from existing agroforestry systems.

A field study was carried out in Mizoram University campus to assess the growth behavior of three multipurpose trees (MPTs) viz. Gmelina arborea, Melia azadirach and Aluns nepalensis and their effect on three agricultural crops (ginger, turmeric and maize) over a 3-years period. The tree height and collar diameter were always higher in the intercropped plots than that of the sole crops. The canopy cover, litter fall and green biomass productivity were maximum in Gmelina arborea intercroped, followed by Aluns nepalensis and Melia azadirach. The soil pH and organic carbon show a significant (P<0.05) variation between the treatments with comparatively higher values in plots having species mixture than those of control treatment. The NPK level in general was maximum under tree-crop interaction than in sole crop (control). The yield of crops differed significantly (P<0.05) between the treatments and was influenced by tree association. Ginger (6.22 t.ha^-1), turmeric (5.64 t.ha^-1) and maize (7.07 t.ha^-1) registered maximum yields under Alnus nepalensis. The distribution of above ground biomass (g/plant) on dry weight basis was much variable among the tree species and the biomass production was more pronounced in Gmelina arborea (16.03 g/plant) followed by Melia azadirach (16.00 g/plant) and minimum in Alnus nepalensis (15.06 g/plant). Above ground biomass of crops was always higher in tree-crop association. Maize registered higher density (47,295.85 plants.ha^-1) under Alnus nepalensis, followed by ginger (45,850.53 plants.ha^-1) and turmeric (42,523.05 plants.ha^-1). Better finger size and yield were recorded in ginger and turmeric from intercropped plots than sole crops while yield of maize was higher under sole cropping. Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) was found maximum in Alnus nepalensis (2.54) intercrop plot, followed by Melia azidarach (2.50) and Gmelina arborea (2.13).

There is a gap between the fodder availability and supply in TamilNadu and hence the livestock growers are facing the fodder shortage during lean season. In this juncture, the experiments were conducted to develop suitable silvipasture models for the drylands of TamilNadu. The silvipasture experiments were conducted with Acacia leucophloea, Ailanthus excelsa, Gmelina arborea,Tectona grandis and Pongamia pinnata. Among eight fodder crops tried viz., 3 grass fodder viz.,Cenchrus ciliaris, Cenchrus setigerus, Cenchrus glaucus ; 2  cereal  fodder viz., Fodder Sorghum (COFS 27), Fodder Sorghum (COFS 29) and 3 legume fodder viz.,Lucerne, Desmanthus and Stylosanthus  tried under Acacia leucophloea, Cenchrus spp  was found to the suitable fodder crops for Acacia leucophloea based silvipasture system. The results showed that among the four fodder crops viz., fodder cowpea, fodder sorghum, stylosanthus and desmanthus tried under Ailanthus excelsa, fodder cowpea was found to be the suitable fodder crop for Ailanthus based silvipasture system. The following six fodder crops viz.,fodder sorghum, (COFS-27), fodder sorghum (COFS-29), fodder maize, fodder cumbu , fodder cowpea and desmanthus raised as intercrops under teak , fodder cowpea was found to be a suitable fodder crop for teak based silvipasture system. Among the five fodder crops viz., Blue buffel, Para grass, Cumbu Napier hybrid, Guinea grass and Desmathus raised under Gmelina arborea, guinea grass was found to be the suitable fodder crop for Gmelina based silvipasture system. The following fodder crops viz.,fodder sorghum, cenchrus, guinea grass , desmanthus,  stylosanthus  and  lucerne were raised as intercrops under Pongamia pinnata. The results showed that cenchrus, guinea grass and desmanthus were found to be the suitable fodder crops for Pongamia pinnata based silvipasture system. It is concluded that the adoption of suitable silvipasture models in the drylands of TamilNadu would not only meet the fodder requirements but also enhance the productivity of drylands of TamilNadu.

Agroforestry models for fodder production viz., silvipasture, hortipasture, horti silvipasture and agrisilvi system were established in degraded cultivable wastelands. The wastelands could be effectively utilized for fodder production vis-à-vis livestock production through agroforestry system, which is also an environmentally safe system of land use. Silviculture, silvipasture and hortipasture systems are viable technologies to rehabilitate degraded wastelands. By effective utilization of wastelands for fodder production, the agroforestry system serves as a sustainable land use technology for livestock production.

Silvipastoral system increased the dry fodder biomass yield from 1.25 – 4.50 tons (natural pasture) to 4.50 – 8.70 tons per hectare per year and could hold 8-15 sheep per hectare. The average dry fodder production potential of the hortipasture, hortisilvipasture and hortisilvi system were 3.855, 4.410 and 1.282 tons per hectare per year respectively under rain fed condition. Agrisilvi system of fodder production (Napier-Bajra hybrid grass + Sesbania grandiflora) yielded more dry fodder biomass and protein under irrigated condition.

Among the agroforestry models, Napier-Bajra hybrid grass + Leucena leucocephala / Sesbania grandiflora as agrisilvi system of fodder production was more successful for irrigated lands. Silvipasture with Leucena leucocephala + Gliricidia sepium + Albizia lebbeck  as tree components and Cenchrus ciliaris + Stylosanthes scabra as pasture components was recommended for greening of wastelands in rain fed condition. Lambs (10-12 kg) when integrated in silvipasture (Leucena leucocephala + Gliricidia sepium + Cenchrus ciliaris + Stylosanthes scabra) at the rate of 30 numbers / ha., the body weight gain per day was increased by 68% and the animal holding capacity was increased by 50% as compared to natural grazing land during rain fed season. Goats (12-13 kg) when integrated (8 goats / ha.) on mixed silvi pasture gained 62.98% more body weight (50.02 Vs 30.69 g per day) compared to goats raised in natural grazing lands. When lambs (12-15 kg) were integrated in legume hortipasture (48-50 lambs / ha.) by giving one hour additional complementary grazing, gained 20% and 26% more body weight in lush and lean season respectively, compared to lambs grazed in natural grazing land.

Tree leaves of eleven species (Celtis australis, Ficus nemoloris, Ficus palmate, Ficus roxburghii, Grewia oppositifolia, Quercus floribunda, Quercus semicarpifolia, Quercus glauca and Quercus leucotricophora, Alnus nepalensis, Bauhinia variegata) available in temperate sub Himalayas of India were evaluated for their chemical composition, in vitro organic matter digestibility, mineral profile and tannin content. A wide variation in the chemical composition and mineral profile was recorded among different tree leaves. The contents (% DM basis) of organic matter, crude protein, ether extract, neutral and acid detergent fibre (OM, CP, EE, NDF and ADF) ranged between 85.4 to 95.9, 9.5 to 21.1, 3.9 to 5.8, 38.4 to 69.4, 40.1 to 70.5, respectively. The macro mineral (Ca, P, Mg) level (%) ranged between 1.1-3.0, 0.2-1.5, 0.08-0.18, respectively, whereas, the micro mineral (Zn, Mo, Cu, Fe, Mn and I) level (ppm) ranged between 31.6-83.0, 3.8-7.9, 5.2-8.0, 121-177, 42-402 and 0.06-0.09, respectively. In vitro organic matter digestibility (%) ranged between 52.6 -77.2. The condensed tannin level was found to be low to moderate (1.5- 4.2%) in temperate hills. The crude protein level of G. oppositifolia, F. nemoloris, F. palmate, F. roxburghii,  Bauhinia variegata and Celtis australis was found to be higher (P<0.05) than other species and the fibre fractions were negatively correlated with the protein content and in vitro organic matter digestibility. The macro mineral (Ca, Mg) and  micromineral (Zn, Mo, Fe, Mn, Co and Se) content of tree leaves were higher than the normal range of requirement. However, the level of P, Cu and I was below critical level in most of the tree leaves. It may be concluded that the mineral contents were adequate in most of the foliage except P, Cu and I. Grewia oppositifolia, Ficus nemoloris, Ficus palmata and Ficus roxburghii can serve as good proteinaceous source with higher digestibility in animal’s diet.

The fodder cultivation and management in hills has been always neglected, though livestock rearing is an important occupation of farmers in the area. It is imperative to conserve and utilize wasteland resources most efficiently so as to meet the growing needs of food, fibre and fuel-wood for human and fodder for livestock consumption. Hybrid Napier was found to be the best on the sloping and degraded lands and under pine and deodar trees and produced 400- 800 q/ha. Grewia optiva, Morus alba, Robinia pseudoacacia and Quercus leucotrichophora can be grown through improved pits on degraded steep slopes (30-40% slope) and shallow lands. Erect growing grasses like Setaria kazungula, Setaria nandi, Panicum coloratum, and Pennisetum purpureum can be grown on the field terrace risers. Kudzu vine (Pureria thumbergiana), was found extremely suitable for protecting unstable, sensitive and highly degraded sites. In silvipastoral system Digetaria decumbense with Bauhinia purpurea, Quercus leucotrichophora, Grewia optiva and Cenchrus ciliaris with Celtis australis produced 1800 to 2450 g/m²/year green biomass.  In silvi horti system green forage yield varied from 5.7 kg/tree by Quercus leucotrichophora to 7.7 kg/tree by Bauhinia vareigata. In case of grassland management two years of effective closure increase forage production up to four folds (38.3 q/ha vs. 9.7 q/ha) in control. In hills during winter months Lolium parene, Festuca arundinacea, and Grassland manawa gave encouraging yields ranging from 210 to 350 q/ha. Among legumes white and red clover were found promising. Dual purpose varieties of wheat (VL Gehun 829 and 616) are capable of providing substantial quantity of green forage (70-80q/ha). Thus, the production of fodder from the waste lands will be able to reduce the gap between demand and availability and well fed livestock will ensure higher productivity and income to hill farmers in addition to environmental security of the hills.

India has a rich diversity in bamboo with   23 genera and 130 species. In recent times there has been an emphasis on bamboo cultivation in private lands by National Bamboo Mission, Govt. of India. Farmers in peninsular India are generally reluctant to adopt bamboo in  agroforestry practices unlike in North-East India.  Though several bamboo species are found in Peninsular India, these   are mostly difficult to manage due to excessive branching pattern, distorted shape or thorny habit. Therefore, we initiated a quest for an appropriate species and narrowed down to Dendroclamus stocksii (Munro).The reasons behind the choice of the species and the likelihood of its acceptance in tropical homegardens in peninsular India is discussed.

D. stocksii is naturally distributed in Central Western Ghats, in Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and Maharashtra.  It is a strong, solid and thornless bamboo that can attain a height of 10 m, diameter of 2.5 – 6.0 cm and  internodal length of 15-29 cm.  Presently, it remains confined to the coastal tracts where it is cultivated in homesteads, and in farm and community lands as live fences and/or block plantations.  Multi-location trials have shown that this species performs well in humid, sub-humid and semi-arid zones, which expands the scope for its cultivation across  peninsular India.  On-farm trials have shown success in intercropping with Ipomea batatas, Eleusine coracana and Curcuma longa.  Larger culms (>4 cm diameter) has demand in furniture and construction sectors while smaller culms (<4 cm diameter) find use in agricultural implements, handicrafts, fencing material, etc.  In a few villages in Maharashtra, cultivation of this species is a major source of income and livelihood.The species also has an ideal ideotype for agroforestry. However, large-scale adoption is hampered by non-availability of planting stock.  Lack of viable seeds and scalability issues in macropropagation techniques have led to the nascent steps in micropropagation protocol development.  There is also an immense potential for improving species through selection and breeding programs.

Homegardens in Sri Lanka has been described as the oldest land use activity, next only to shifting cultivation. It is one of the major forms of land use in the island that has been evolved through generations within the available resource frontiers to suit the socio-economic, cultural and ecological needs. Though, this land use system existed in Sri Lanka for centuries, and claimed to account for 13.1% of the total land area of the country, it started receiving the national recognition only recently.  During the past two decades, numerous studies have been conducted on homegarden systems by researchers from various disciplines.  Having realized the importance of homegardens, the national development plan has now included strategies to expand and improve food and timber productions in such landscapes of Sri Lanka.  Development of homegardens in Sri Lanka has been the priority of many development programmes implemented over the past few years; among them strengthening of 1.5 million homegardens was the target of “Divi Neguma” (Livelihood Development) programme in order to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables and to reduce vegetable prices.  Hence, Sri Lanka is a country to declare a national program for improvement of homegarden agroforestry.  Parallel to such development, this paper shows how homegarden land use system plays a critical role in agricultural, ecological and environmental sustainability of the country and how beneficial homegardens are to socio-economic development of the human well-being.  Strategies to achieve such goals of the country and the critical gaps exist and mechanisms to overcome such gaps are discussed in detail.

Vietnam has a long history of incentivizing stakeholders for forest protection and development through reforestation and conservation efforts, most recently a national programme on payment for forest environmental services (PFES). A benefit distribution system of PFES was formulated and identified as a prototype for REDD+’s benefit distribution and sharing (BDS). The questions remain on how the PFES-based REDD+’s BDS is designed to be compliant with international standards but yet locally appropriate, and how to ensure that the local communities have the share from the scheme while the legal framework for REDD+, particularly on carbon and land rights, is unclear and overlapping.

This paper examines the process of formulating a sub-national REDD+ BDS in Bac Kan province, northwest of Vietnam, with a view to minimize negative impacts from uneven forest/land resources accessing opportunities and maximize the share of local communities’ benefits through an innovative approach – reducing emissions from all land uses (REALU), e.g. incentivizing “carbon rich land uses” outside of forest, including agroforestry.  We found that the BDS under REDD+/REALU in Bac Kan would likely work on the principles of PFES whereby land managers receive incentives for their conservation investments, with specific re-arrangements on land and forest tenure required. Local stakeholders’ preferences over land use right benefits clearly indicate the importance of formalized resource access rights in benefit sharing. We also found that incentivizing local communities to shift from current unsustainable land use practices to collective forest management and agrorforstry development activities will help to avoid land tenure gaps and create more motivations for participation than “only forestry” approaches. In sum, a REDD+ incentive system is possible within prevailing systems, with adjustments only at the level of local implementation provided local communities, authorities, and their myriad partners unilaterally agree to adapt, reflect, learn, and improve the system as deemed necessary.

Throughout SE Asia palms constitute an important component in agroforestry systems and home gardens. Most species are used for multiple purposes based on their structural or nutritional properties. Except for a few commodities of worldwide importance such as palm oil, coconut and rattan, many palm products are almost invisible in national statistics because either, i) they do not enter the market, ii) they are traded at the microeconomic level or, iii) they are merged with other products in the trade statistics, which makes it difficult to assess their importance. Here we focus specifically on these “invisible” products and provide an overview of both their sustainability and economic importance throughout SE Asia. We will rank the most important palms according to their versatility, which is an extremely important property especially for smallholders who depend on subsistence agriculture. Finally, we provide a number recommendations on future research directions based on experiences from a recently completed EU 7^th Framework project.

The diversity of trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers and birds in traditional agroforestry homegarden system contributes to provision of ecosystem services. Homegarden systems involve deliberate management of multipurpose tree species in intimate association with agricultural crops and invariably livestock. This study characterizes the floral and avifaunal diversity and composition in the homegardens of Jaitapur in Konkan coast of Maharashtra. For the investigation 40 homegarden were selected randomly over a 460 km² area for floral diversity analysis and among them 11 homegarden sites selected for seasonal bird diversity analysis. Quadrate sampling technique and point transect survey method based on distance sampling was used for phyto-sociological and bird diversity analysis, respectively. In total, 206 plant and 76 bird species were recorded in the study area. The homegarden vegetation consists of 88 tree, 48 shrub, 44 herb and 26 climber species. The highest number of plant species belongs to Fabaceae family followed by the Apocynaceae and Cucurbitiaceae. The bird density in homegardens was 39 individual’s ha^-1. The study indicates that homegardens contributes to the provision of ecosystem services, such as food, fodder, timber, firewood, vegetables, medicinal values, fertilize soil, carbon sequestration, control pollution and protect environment. The research findings suggest that homegardens of the region are ecologically and ethno-botanically rich. The wide variety of floral and avian species indicates the high species richness and diversity. This study provides a basis for developing measures for the conservation and management of natural resources. The homegardens and surrounding region is prone to drastic anthropogenic land-use changes. The present study conclude that land clearing, land breaking and nuclear power project installation will affect the biodiversity and carbon balance. Therefore, the study suggests that it should not be started at Jaitapur for future environmental health, safety, public health, security and to avoid future hazards of loss of biodiversity.

Homegardens are a long-established and important land use in Kerala, India. These highly diverse agroforests are found in concurrence with rural smallholdings, and are estimated to constitute roughly 25% of the state’s total land cover, and 50% of agricultural land. While these systems have received a disproportionately small amount of scientific attention, they are widely considered to be model ecosystems that meet human needs while preserving ecosystem integrity. However, recent accounts have suggested that homegardens are being threatened by more economically enticing land uses (e.g. cash-crop plantations). The purpose of this study was to verify the aforementioned hypothesis by determining whether or not smallholding agriculture is losing importance in Kerala, and identifying the drivers of these changes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between June and November 2013 with land owners at 115 randomly selected rural homesteads in 8 of Kerala’s 14 districts. The objective was to gain a broad understanding of recent land use changes by: (i) setting the demographic context; (ii) determining the relative importance of major land uses over the last 10 years; (iii) understanding farmers’ land use preferences and the reasons for any changes that may have occurred. Overall, our study found that landholders are becoming less dependent on their homegardens for both subsistence and commercial agriculture. Over the past 10 years there have been declines in the production of food crops, cash crops, spices, timber and livestock. Farmers identified increasing labour costs as the primary driver behind decisions to reduce reliance on agriculture. However, other commonly cited causes included unreliable climate, low returns on investment, and increased prevalence of pests and disease. Thus, while homegardens are declining in importance, it is not due to preference for cash-crops, but rather a cocktail of environmental, socioeconomic and political circumstances that have combined to make farming less appealing to smallholders.

Tropical homegardens hold a large potential for climate change mitigation and adaptation due to their multi-functional role in providing income and ecosystem services while decreasing pressure on natural forests. However, there is still lack of quantitative data on homegardens and their landscape potential for carbon sequestration services. In this study, tree diversity and above-ground biomass carbon of woody species was estimated on dry-zone homegardens in the dry south-eastern part of Sri Lanka. A total of 45 homegardens were sampled on size, floristic composition of trees, diameter at breast height (GBH) and height of trees. In total, 4278 trees were sampled and 82 different tree species were recorded. The Shannon Wiener index used to evaluate biodiversity ranged from 0.76–3.01 with a mean value of 2.05. Using allometric models, we find a mean above-ground biomass stock of 13 Mg carbon (C) ha^-1 with a large range among homegardens (1–56 Mg C ha^-1, n=45) due to a variation of tree diversity, species and composition between individual homegardens. Per unit area basis, mean above ground carbon stock was higher in small homegardens (<0.2 ha, 26 Mg C ha^-1, n=11) than medium (0.4–0.8 ha, 9 Mg C ha^-1 n=27) and large (>1 ha, 8 Mg C ha^-1, n=7) homegardens due to a higher tree density. The results show a vast heterogeneity in terms of carbon and biological diversity within the dry zone homegardens; results that will contribute to closing the knowledge gap of the less studied dry-zone homegarden systems and their functions in storing carbon and providing multi-functional benefits to its users. The results are also useful for whether homegardens should directly or indirectly be considered to be included as an activity within Sri Lanka’s newly commenced UN-REDD National Programme.

Global warming and climate change are important environmental issues affecting human lives and systems of planet earth. There is a need to reduce the GHG intensity without compromising the productivity in order to achieve low carbon development. A whole landscape approach to reduce emissions and increase carbon stocks can help to achieve reasonable quantity of emission reductions by aggregating smallholders’ carbon assets and makes possible to take up multiple mitigation activities by involving the same communities. A study was conducted quantify the extent of emission reductions and carbon sequestration in a contiguous area of 5000 ha (a grid) involving about 2000 households in three villages in southern India. The extent of emission reductions and the potential involved in sequestering carbon by agroforestry was studied. The activities considered were as per the guidelines for the preparation for the national GHG inventories. The extent of GHG emissions are 18114 t CO₂/ year. The maximum contribution to emissions is from the use of fuelwood for cooking and heating, followed by livestock and paddy cultivation. Low cost alternatives such as efficient lighting and energy efficient stoves can minimise the emissions to the extent of 30%. Integrating high values trees such as teak (Tectona grandis) on the farm boundaries at a distance of 1.2 m can alone reduce the emissions to the extent 60% if taken up in the entire rainfed area of the grid. Linking such agroforestry activities with that of the developmental programs operational in India can fetch substantial returns (up to Rs. 20 million) to the communities excluding the benefits from trees. Activities such as agroforestry (integration of trees in landscapes), introduction energy efficient systems though individually are compatible with that of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) but an umbrella methodology integrating these interventions at a landscape level is lacking. Such an approach will not only help to realize the benefits from trees but also makes possible returns from carbon finance mechanisms by integrating small holders in future.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) degradation is very common in northeast India due to shifting cultivation on hill slopes coupled with unscientific management practices and high rainfall in this region. Agroforestry has a potentially important role to play in climate change mitigation through increased carbon storage in the above ground biomass and below ground soil. A 25 years old agroforestry plantation consisting of four multipurpose tree species (MPTs) (Michelia oblonga, Parkia roxburghii, Alnus nepalensis and Pinus kesiya) maintained at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam were compared with a control plot (without tree plantation) for soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and fractions. Soil samples were collected from 0-15, 15-30, 30-45, 45-60 and 60-75 cm and analyzed for SOC stocks and fractions. MPTs showed significant influence on SOC stocks with the mean values ranged from 47.8 to 60.2 Mg ha^-1 and followed the order: A. nepalensis>M. oblonga>P. kesiya>P. roxburghii>Control. Land conversion from fallow to agroforestry plantation significantly enhanced the total organic carbon (TOC), particulate organic carbon (POC), KMnO₄ oxidizable C (labile C) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) fractions in soil. The increase in these fractions was greater with A. nepalensis compared to other MPTs including control. Overall, on average, MPTs increased the TOC, POC, labile C and MBC by 26.3, 54.9, 27.1 and 34%, respectively in relative to control plot. Similarly, approximately 17% increase in SOC stocks was observed under MPTs compared to control. All these C fractions including SOC stocks decreased significantly with soil depths. The increased values of lability index and carbon management index under MPTs revealed that land conversion from fallow to agroforestry plantation have more sensitivity to the changes in SOC and other C fractions in soil. The labile soil carbon fractions were significantly (P<0.05) correlated with TOC indicating that the changes in TOC content of soils is mainly influenced by the labile C pools. The correlation between the TOC and MBC (r=0.493**) was higher than that between POC and MBC (r=0.487**). The data support the conclusion that, conversion of fallow lands to agroforestry plantation is important to mitigate the climate change through increased carbon sequestration in soils besides their vital role in improving soil quality.

The Litsea – Cassava agroforestry model has been popularly practiced in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, producing a stable volume and contributing significantly to household income. This model overcomes the shortcomings of mono-cultivation of cassava on land under shifting cultivation; in addition, according to many cycles, the model helps store carbon; therefore, it is significant in reducing the greenhouse effect, which has become a global concern in recent years. In order to estimate the environment value of stored carbon of this model, the experimental method for involves: sample plot, destructive sampling, conducting chemical laboratory tests to determine the stored carbon in the components of the tree; and then using multi-variables to estimate the biomass and stored carbon in the agroforestry models. This procedure forms the basis of predicting the CO₂ concentration in woody trees in the agroforestry model according to the age period, the cycle, and different combinations.  The cycle of Litsea business varied over the 5-10 year period, while absorbed CO₂ in the agroforestry model varied from 25 to 84 tons per hectare. Within cycle of 2 and 3 of this model, maintaining 2-3 shoots/stump of Litsea will have the greatest effect not only on productivity, but also on absorbed CO₂ .

Hedgerow intercropping system using Eucalyptus deglupta is an essential option for smallholder agroforestry farms for the reason that they amalgamate timber and food production.  Matching tree species to appropriate site conditions and stand management is vital for sound agroforestry timber production.  In this study, the multiple linear regression analysis was used to develop an appropriate prediction models for estimating yield, biomass expansion factor and future climate impact from soil chemical properties, physiographic characteristics, stand attributes, rainfall, temperature, biomass inventoried volume of bagras planted in hedgerow intercropping agroforestry system.  Results showed strong association of independent variables with the dependent variable based on the output of multiple regression analysis in all site index, yield prediction and biomass expansion factor models.  It was found that about 96.20% proportion of variance of yield can be predicted from site index, age, basal area and rainfall.  Comparison of yield and aboveground biomass accumulated by bagras from alley cropping and other agroforestry systems was in order woodlot > boundary planting > alley cropping.  Rainfall in this model also posed considerable influence in volume (2.8 % per 100 mm increase). The yield of bagras was negatively affected by the changes in future climate.  Yield will decrease linearly with seasonal mean rainfall and in 2050 volume will be reduced to an approximate amount of 0.0190 m3 (8 bd ft) per tree.

Climate change has become a serious environmental, social and economic threat particularly to natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and livelihood of agricultural and forest fringe communities. Climate change is becoming a key driver in agriculture and forest management, but its complexity and magnitude threaten the sustainability. Agriculture along with forestry can play an important role in climate change adaptation, through diversified land-use practices, livelihoods and sources of income. Sustainable agroforestry has a tremendous potential to serve as a tool in adapting climate change, protecting ecosystems and livelihoods, and creating a foundation for economic and social development. There are a range of adaptation options available to agroforestry with behavioral, institutional, technological and policy adjustments. This paper reviews the literature and discusses the adverse impacts of climate change on forest and agriculture; adaptation of agroforestry strategies to the climate changes; and policy implications required to promote the agroforestry adaptation in Sri Lanka. The adverse impacts of climate change on forest and agriculture are identified as: endangering the natural assets; prevalence of pests and diseases; crop failures and livestock deaths; high levels of food insecurity; and risk of migration into forest areas. Adaptations of agroforestry strategies are revealed in terms of: increase the tree cover outside forests; enhance of carbon stocks; conserve biodiversity; reduce risk and intensity of damage; maintain health and vitality; and scale up ‘multiple benefit’. Changes in legislation; awareness creation and capacity building; planning for climate-smart farm forest landscapes; uncertainty and risk management; ‘no-regret’ options; research and appropriate technology development; climate change adjustment programs; and building alliances are explained as the important policy implications. It could be concluded that the agroforestry have an important role in climate change adaptation enhancing resilience against climate impacts in farming systems with favorable policy environment.

Tree root biomass production and turnover play key role in improving soil productivity in land use systems involving woody perennials.  Also, tree roots provide substantial contribution to the soil carbon pool which however varies with tree species and management regimes. A field study was conducted at Vellanikkara, Kerala, India in a 21-year-old Grevillea robusta stand (460 trees ha^-1) to quantify the extent of belowground biomass production and carbon sequestration along with soil carbon stocks. A total of 18 trees were excavated using destructive sampling. The study also explored the distribution of C in the various root size fractions and at various soil depths up to one meter. Mean tree root biomass production based on diameter class ranged from 12.94 to 59.81 kg tree^-1 with a mean annual increment (MAI) varying from 0.62 to 2.85 kg tree^-1 yr^-1 while root biomass production at the stand level was 18.45 Mg ha^-1 with a MAI of 0.88 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1. Based on the diameter class elemental carbon storage in the belowground root biomass of a mean tree varied from 5.58 to 23.58 kg tree^-1. Grevillea robusta stand sequestered 8.04 Mg C ha^-1 and 77.45 Mg C ha^-1 in the root system and soil respectively. On the whole, the net belowground carbon sequestration (soil + roots) was 80.28 Mg C ha^-1. The high root biomass and C sequestration suggest the potential to enrich the soil nutrient status of polyculture systems involving Grevillea robusta. Tree tap roots by virtue of their higher biomass and longer soil residence time may greatly contribute to belowground C sequestration.

Relatively little is known about the long-term impacts of agroforestry extension projects. Assessment of technology adoption (particularly agroforestry given the gestation time of trees and woody perennials) is difficult in the immediate aftermath of an intervention. Projects – due to their time-bound and resource-constrained nature – rarely possess the capacity to monitor and evaluate outcomes occurring after operations cease. Where ex-post studies have been conducted, low adoption rates and post-project abandonment of introduced technologies are frequently observed outcomes. Another issue relates to the implementation and management of introduced practices. Figures purporting to quantify the scale of adoption and diffusion may be misleading since they can give the impression that N farmers have adopted X technology in a uniform and standardised manner. Evidence suggests, however, that technologies are frequently adapted and modified by farmers to achieve a best fit within their own household circumstances and land management objectives.

For these reasons, there is a strong case to be made for revisiting agroforestry project sites years after interventions have ended. This paper reports upon a follow-up case study conducted in 2010/11 in one south Indian village, where a DFID-funded agroforestry project was implemented between 2002 and 2004. Using a combination of geospatial mapping, plot surveys and farmer interviews, the fate of an introduced agroforestry technology was analysed in a temporally and spatially explicit manner. In this case, 97% of adopting households (n=34) were found to have retained the technology – albeit in differing forms and under varying management regimes – and 21% had subsequently expanded the practice on to additional areas of their landholding. Limited diffusion to non-project households was also found to have occurred. At village-landscape scale, fruit-based agroforestry now covers around 15% of suitable agricultural land (excluding low-lying areas of rice cultivation) representing a patchwork effect rather than a wholesale transformation. Reasons for success will be discussed along with constraints to more widespread adoption.

Bamboos are most important non-timber forest products, providing food, raw materials, and shelters for a good part of the world’s population. It grows quickly, sequester more CO₂, more profitable and can be harvested annually as compared to other tree species. The economic viability of bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) based agroforestry system was studied during 2007-2010 in semi-arid region of central India. The growth and quality of D. strictus, planted at 10×10 m and 12×10 m spacing, did not vary significantly either grown as sole or with intercrops. However, total culms were higher in sole bamboo and growth of bamboo was better in 10×10 m spacing. Reduction in grain yield of sesame was 9.24, 20.16, 19.88% and in chickpea was 4.53, 6.92, 8.15% over that of sole crop after one, two and three years of plantation, respectively. Maximum reduction in intercrop yield was recorded nearby (0.5m distance) of bamboo clumps, while there was no reduction in crop yield at ≥3 m distance from bamboo clump. The economics of the bamboo based system indicated that during initial three years, benefit-cost ratio (B:C ratio) of chickpea intercrop varied from 2.05-2.86 as compared to B:C ratio (2.13-3.60) of sole crop. The B:C ratios of sesame intercrop varied from 1.14-1.95 as compared to B:C ratio 1.43-2.43 of sole crop. Bamboo will compensate the monetary losses of intercrop, through the harvesting of culms. Thus, total returns will be much higher than sole cropping. Soil pH, organic carbon and available phosphorous increased, while EC decreased in sole bamboo and intercropped area. Maximum improvement in soil quality was under sole bamboo. Large row spacing (≥10 m) and low spacing between plants within lines is recommended for cultivation of intercrops for longer period. Planting of bamboo lines in east-west direction will reduce shade effect. Both will increase economic returns. Bamboo based agroforestry will act as buffer for the farmers of drought prone areas, conserve and enrich soil and improve environment.

Shifts in global land use have led to loss of biodiversity, land degradation and declines in ecosystem services. In many geographical areas the deterioration is currently at a near catastrophic scale and the impact is huge, both in terms of food production and deforestation. If managed correctly ecological restoration can offer a chance to reverse environmental degradation as well as help mitigating climate change.

This study identifies such opportunities by analysing how an expansion of agroforestry management onto degraded land may restore productivity and ecosystem services. Using reforestation as a restoration alternative has been widely recognized, however, the provision of ecosystem services may be limited. In contrast, agroforestry offers the possibility to generate a wide variety of both environmental and socioeconomic benefits, and through that also a higher potential of success. With a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches the project captures a broad spectrum of drivers of degradation as well as possibilities to overcome obstacles that hinders restoration. The study includes a comprehensive assessment of opportunities and risks associated with ecological restoration of degraded land. More specifically, the aim of the study is to propose practical solutions for restoration of degraded land with a focus on multiple ecosystem services. The results and recommendations will be based on comparative field research from Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Semi arid regions in India are distributed in an area of 111 m ha ( about 37% area), are primarily characterized by low and erratic rainfall with high variability, shallow soils with low inherent fertility status, unabated land degradation and poor economic status of farmers. Trees provide a range of products such as fruits, fodder, fuelwood, commercial/ pulpwood and environmental services such as conserving soil and water, carbon sequestration, etc. A number of agroforestry systems were developed and some of them have been adopted by farmers in semi arid regions of the country. Some of them are fruit tree based systems viz. mango (Mangifera indica), guava (Psidium guava) and aonla (Emblica officinalis), timber / pulpwood based systems (viz. Eucalyptus sps. Leucaena leucocephala, Casuarina equisetifolia, Anogeissus and Gmelina arborea and teak (Tectona grandis) which are distributed in an area of 13 m ha.  Fruit tree based systems are reported to generate net returns up to Rs. 32,000/ha/year in mango, Rs. 24408/ ha/ year in aonla, Rs. 3916/ ha/ year in guava. Net returns in wood based systems are to the tune of Rs. 21875/ha/year in eucalyptus and Rs. 19695/ ha/year in leucaena which are about three times more that of the annual crops. The benefit cost of these systems can be up to 5.5 and provides reasonable returns during the years of low rainfall. Management practices, viz. introduction of animal component and high value intercrops, high density planting, canopy management, organic production practices in case of fruit trees can improve returns. The impact of these systems can be further enhanced by integrating them in developmental programs aimed at arresting land degradation and employment generation. The paper discusses the potentiality of agroforestry systems in enhancing returns to communities and opportunities for enhancing their impact further in semi arid regions.

Livestock rearing is the major component in hot arid regions of India. Although there are relatively large areas as ccommon grazing resources, fodder scarcity is becoming an increasing concern for households. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK- CAZRI), Jodhpur identified silvi-pasture system as a major thrust area for the district, and demonstrated its benefits to the farmers.  The intervention was on a total of 56 ha common land in four gram panchayat (16 ha in village Ketukallan and 13 ha in Bhalu Ratangarh of Balesar Panchyat Simiti, 10 ha in Begaria and 17 ha in Govindpura of Osian panchayat samiti) during 2009-10 in collaboration with Gramin Vikas Vigyan Samithi (GRAVIS).

Technical backstopping and improved seed of range grasses were provided by the KVK, CAZRI and field implementation was facilitated by the GRAVIS through  village committees in the respective villages. Improved cultivars of Cenchrus ciliaris (C.C. 358), Cenchrus setigerus and Lasiurus sindicus were sown in the interspaces of the trees planted at 10 m x 10 m. Tree components in the system were Acacia senegal, Acacia tortilis, Azadirachta indica and Prosopis cineraria. Among tree species, higher survival was observed in A. tortilis, followed by A. senegal and lowest in A. indica. After three years of establishment, productivity of common lands improved significantly (2.7 t/ha dry fodder from Ketu Kallan, 2.4 t/ha from Bhalu Ratangarh, 2.3 t/ha from Begaria and 1.5 t/ha from Govindpura) compared to natural pasture (< 0.5 t/ha). Farmers collected 6500 kg grass seed of Cenchrus ciliaris, Cenchrus setigerus and Lasiurus sindicus from developed slivipasture pasture in 2011-12, and provided to another NGOs for community pasture development. Harvested biomass was stored after chopping at the respective sites as ‘fodder bank’ and made available to the weaker section of the society during stress period. The feed back from farmers in those areas revealed that the productivity of animals increased due to availability of quality fodder during dry months. Thus the preference for rearing milking animals of better quality become evident against the prevailing practices of keeping large number of animals of less productivity.

Climate change, the greatest global challenge, is already a reality for the farmers of arid regions of India. It is increasing the pressure on already scarce resources and if proper measures are not taken, migration towards the cities will soon reach new heights. Given the fragility of the resource base in arid regions, agriculture is a high risk activity. Climate change poses formidable challenges to the animal husbandry sector as well. Agroforestry with livestock integration is a practice in these regions and offers a great scope in combating ill effects of climate change.

Tree growing in hot arid region is basically concerned with the management of trees for conservation and for limited production objectives like wood for fuel; poles and fencing material; leaves for livestock fodder; and pod/seeds for many types of use in human diet. Agroforestry with suitable tree species in different arid land forms thus assumes much significance for desertification control and ecosystem services.

Agroforestry systems combining tree/shrub, crop, grass and livestock have great scope and role in optimizing land productivity and environmental protection, more so from the angle of climate change. More adoption of agroforestry in the region is recommended for maintenance of productivity and sustainability in this region.  The characteristics of trees which are generally considered to be environmentally beneficial are on account of their ability to utilize incoming solar radiation throughout the year; to enrich micro sites by depositing litter in the topsoil for its subsequent utilization by crops/grasses; to modify the microclimate, which can bring about favorable effect on the soil and associated plant species. The appropriate combination and management of tree/shrub (both forest and fruit), crops, grasses and livestock units (in mixed herds) will make agriculture a profitable and risk free proposal in light of emerging climate change challenges in the region.

Population growth with increasing urbanization and industrialization is encroaching upon the share of agricultural water and is leading to production of quantities of wastewaters, which are beyond the capacity of natural systems to assimilate. Soils are considered to be the ultimate and probably the most logical sink for these wastewaters. Irrigation of forest species grown for the non-edible products like fuel and timber with wastewater is another approach, which can help in overcoming health hazards associated with sewage farming. Developing the green belts around the cities with forest trees under wastewater irrigation also helps revive the ecological balance and improves environmental. These systems of agro-forestry have come to be known as HRTS (high transpiration rate systems) those promote the treatment of wastewater through renovating capability of living soil filter enabling recycling and reuse of wastewater.   Although very tall claims have been made for sewage disposal through plantations but the real estimates on the loading rates of such plantations without the contamination of ground water, show that the annual ET rates increased from 53-140 cm (increment of about 14cm/y) between 2 to 6 years and stabilized thereafter indicating little advantages of trees over crops (rice/maize/cotton-wheat) will occur only after about 5 years of plantations. The values improved considerably with density plantation (96-160 cm/y) but for these to be effective, land requirements would be very high.  Thus, there are not much differences in quantities by land disposal and that through forestry plantations but the latter would still result in economic returns in terms of fuelwood production and environmental services. Additional advantage of tree plantations would be harvest of large amount of toxic metals as tree are known to sequester, tolerate and accumulate higher levels of these toxic metals.  Adoption of agro-forestry systems further reduce the farmer’s direct contact with and exposure to sewage and carbon sequestration has an additional bonus.

The prime requirements for rehabilitating salinity afflicted land are that of reverting the flux of water for leaching salts beyond active root zone. Though engineering approaches like surface and subsurface drainage have been standardized for rehabilitating the saline waterlogged soils, their adoption on large scale is hindered by high capital investment, associated operational and maintenance problems in addition to suitable alternatives for drainage water disposal. As an alternative, use of plantations (bio-drainage) is being advocated as ‘eco-friendly’ option without any long term experimentation and verification.  The main force behind such a notion is high water use and deeper rooting systems of tree. In fact plantations, especially Eucalyptus have been shown to draw down water-table, of course their spatial extent being governed by tree transpiration rates and hydraulic characters of soils. We determined the sap flow values for a whole life cycle (10 years) of irrigated Eucalyptus plantations at various densities. The annual values increased from 53-140 cm (increment of about 14cm/y) between 2 to 6 years and stabilized thereafter indicating little advantages of trees over crops (rice/maize/cotton-wheat) will occur only after about 5 years of plantations. The values improved considerably with density plantation (96-160 cm/y) but for these to be effective, land requirements would be very high. The other issue related to plantations is salt accumulation, once the deeper rooted trees skim out the water.  All these factors indicate towards the myths being created for bio-drainage without presenting the real data from long term experimentation and validation. The alternatives proposed to overcome salt problems are ‘walking plantations’, boundary plantations and even integrating sub-surface drainage and tree plantations. The utilization of recent tools in GIS and RS for prognosis of hot spot areas to be covered under plantations, further information on high density plantations of tolerance tree species, hydraulic parameters of soils and models to predict salinity with plantations should help in afforestation designs and highlight management options and priorities

To address the problem of waterlogging in deltaic Odisha and with  an objective to increase its productivity by improving drainage situations through biological drainage an attempt was made to  use Eucalyptus plantation in inland waterlogged area. The performance of yield of different intercrops grown over four years under bio-drainage plantations was also assessed.

Inside Eucalyptus plantation, as intercrop the yield of paddy was 3.5 t ha^-1 in 2005, 3.37 t ha^-1 t ha^-1 in 2006, 2.25 t ha^-1 in 2007 and it was 2.12 t ha^-1  in 2008. The yield of paddy outside plantation which served as control in corresponding years was 2.6, 2.65, 2.20 and 2.02 t ha^-1 respectively. Eventhough at initial two years, when influence of vegetation on intercrop was conceivably minimum, inside plantation, paddy yield was significantly more. However at later two years growth of plantation did not influence yield of kharif paddy significantly in comparison to control field without vegetation. In rabi season, in first two years ground nut was cultivated as a intercrop inside Eucalyptus plantation. In 2005-06 one year after establishment of plantation (2004-05) ground nut yield was comparable to that field without Eucalyptus vegetation. However in year 2005-06 in rabi season, yield of ground nut was significantly higher in biodrained field than in control field without vegetation. Nevertheless there was marginal decrease in yield of ground nut under Eucalyptus vegetation from 1.4t/ha in 2005-06 to 1.2 t/ha in 2006-07 with growth of vegetation. In next two years due to better market price of pulses, farmer switched over to green gram in 2007-08 and to black gram in 2008-09. In both the years eventhough there was marginal increase in yield of pulses in biodrained area in comparison to area without plantation, there was significant drawdown in water level underneath biodrainage vegetation.

Irrigated agriculture covering about 17% of the total cropped area of the world contributes 40% of the total food production. In India also, about one-third area under irrigation produces two-third of the food grains. During last 50 years, the net irrigation potential has increased from 95 million hectare (Mha) to 260 Mha in the world and from 22.5 Mha to 62 Mha in India. Expansion of irrigation in the past provided large dividends in terms of increased food production and nutritional security. However, introduction of canal irrigation in arid and semi arid regions without provision of adequate drainage causes rise in water-table leading to waterlogging and secondary salinisation. To combat such situation, biodraiage offers practical solution in such agro-ecologies. Presently, about one-third of the world’s irrigated area faces the threat of waterlogging, about 60 Mha is already waterlogged and 20Mha is salt affected. In the predominantly agricultural state of Haryana, nearly 50% area faces rising water-table and salinity problems and about 10% area (0.44 Mha) has already become waterlogged resulting in reduced crop yields, low profits and abandonment of agriculture lands. Many scientific studies have been conducted in different districts on Haryana under abandoned waterlogged degardaed land indicated that trees like Eucalyptus hybrid, Eucalyptus tereticornis C-10, Eucalyptus tereticornis C-130 and Prosopis juliflora can be categorized as fast biodrainers. Eucalyptus tereticornis C-3, Callistemon lanceolatus and Melia azedarach fall in the category of medium biodrainers whereas Terminalia arjuna and Pongamia pinnata are slow biodrainers. Strip plantation of trees on such models of agroforestry system raised on farmer’s field bunds lowers saline water table and such depression was found to the maximum magnitude beneath strips of Eucalyptus species (80-97 mm), Prosopis juliflora (82 mm) and Tamarix aphylla (79 mm). Decline in water table was observed on such pilot projects thus making it arable. The socio-economical and environmental benefits of some pilot plants have been described in the paper.

Sodic soils are widely distributed in north India occupying about 1.6 Mha in Uttar Pradesh, which is 10% of the total cultivated area of the state. In this study, rehabilitation status of sodic land was compared through agroforestry system (Populus deltoides with medicinal plants) and monoculture plantations of Prosopis juliflora (leguminous) and Terminalia arjuna (non-leguminous). Tree density, basal area and standing biomass of P. deltoides was higher than monoculture plantations. Physicochemical [water holding capacity, bulk density, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrogen, phosphorus], biological [microbial biomass, soil respiration, microbial quotient (C_mic: C_org), metabolic quotient (qCO₂)] and biochemical [dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, alkaline phosphatase, acidic phosphatase and protease] properties of soil were compared with unplanted sodic land. Soil bulk density, pH, EC, ESP and alkaline phosphatase decreased significantly, while other soil properties increased in rehabilitated systems irrespective of land use propositions. However, SOC was significantly higher (7.45 g kg^-1) in agroforestry ecosystems than monoculture plantations i.e. 4.79 g kg^-1 and 3.12 g kg^-1 in T. arjuna and P. juliflora, respectively. The activities of soil enzymes, except alkaline phosphatase, were significantly higher in agroforestry system than monoculture plantations. Thus, agroforestry system with multiple cropping of medicinal plants showed maximum increase in soil fertility than monoculture plantations of either leguminous or non-leguminous species. The relationships of soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities were established with soil sodicity parameters (pH, EC, ESP and SAR) which indicate negative correlations, except alkaline phosphatase. The study concludes that agroforestry system is more efficient for rehabilitation of degraded sodic lands in comparison to monoculture plantations.

Introduction of canal irrigation in arid and semi-arid regions without provision of adequate drainage causes rise in ground water table leading to waterlogging due to seepage and secondary salinisation. About one-third of the world’s irrigated area faces the threat of water logging. In India, the total degraded land due to waterlogging is 6.41 M ha. As sub-surface drainage is costly and disposal of effluents has inherited environmental problems, a viable alternative is biodrainage, which is ‘pumping of excess soil water by deep-rooted plants using bioenergy’. The impact of block plantations of Eucalyptus tereticornis was tested and found effective in Indira Gandhi Nahar Paryojana area, where ground water under the block plantation was reported to fall by 15.7 m over a period of six years.  In another experiment it was observed that the ground water table underneath the strip plantations was 0.85m during a period of 3 years and it reached below 2m after 5 years. The average above ground oven dry biomass of 5 ½ years old strip plantation was 99.9 kg tree^-1 resulting in 24.0 t ha^-1 above ground biomass of 240 surviving trees. The average below ground oven dry biomass of roots was 8.9t ha^-1 and the total oven dry biomass was 32.6t ha^-1. The carbon in the oven dry biomass was 15.5t ha^-1.  The average transpiration rate (measured by sap flow)  of ground water by these plantations ranged from (litres day^-1 tree^-1) 44.5 – 56.3 in May to 14.8 – 16.2 in January. The annual transpiration rate was equal to 268 mm per annum. The wheat grains yield was 2.15t ha^-1 as compared to 0.64 t ha^-1 in the nearby un-treated fields without plantation. The farmers earned INR 72000 ha^-1 at a rotation of 5 years and 4 months resulting in a benefit-cost ratio of 3.5:1 at 12% discount rate of interest.

In India, Haryana state with deficient forest resources, is a leader not only in agriculture but also in commercial agro-forestry. The state has the biggest farm-grown wood market (annual turnover of about Rs 10 billion) of the country at Yamunanagar. In this market, one third of farm grown-wood comes from Haryana state while two third arrives from the adjoining states of Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. This town is a hub of the wood-based industries (WBIs) as 84% of the plywood/veneer (PV) units of the state are located here. Yamunanagar is known as plywood capital of the country as the units in this town itself produce about 50% of the plywood of the country. PV units provide employment opportunities to about 0.15 million workers and contribute nearly Rs 220 million each towards the sales tax and excise duty annually to the state exchequer. This model has resulted into increased income of the farmers and created immense employment & business opportunities for different stakeholders like contractors, commission agents, labourers, factory owners, etc. This model has saved the natural forests of the country and has contributed towards environmental conservation through carbon sequestration by adopting the agro-forestry cropping pattern. This model is the living example of win-win situation for both the farmers and WBIs in India.

An effort has been made in this paper to analyse the reasons which have led to the development of this model and to quantify the benefits of employment generation and increased income to the different stakeholders. This paper recommends the strategy for further consolidation of this model in consultation with the different stakeholders and measures required for its replication in other states of the India and different countries of the world.

Agoforestry has been an importance alternative in land management system to improve rural livelihoods. Timber and Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs) have been the most important components in agroforestry system, and to rural villagers’ household income portfolio, including in Java and Eastern Indonesia. However, the marketing strategy for these two components at the household level has been quite disintegrated and resulted in low benefit margins along the value chain continuum. Eventually, the low benefit margins are perceived by rural households as unattractive incentives to improve their integrated management practices at farming level, and households tend to cultivate more on products that are highly demanded by the market. This could lead to less diversified agroforestry system. Realising this critical problem, a value chain analysis of timber and NTFPs is needed to ensure integrated marketing of timber and NTFPs which in turn will improve the rural livelihoods. Through a better understanding of different products value chains, locally tailored interventions could be promoted to ensure more cost-effective and strategic value chains in improving households’ profit margins of various products under integrated agroforestry system. Preliminary analysis has indicated there is a limited involvement of local households in value-added activities of different products due to a lack of understanding of products demanded by the market. With regard to timber, lack of understanding on relevant policy and regulations has been the main constraint. Intervention should be directed to improve local villagers’ knowledge and capacity to understand the market characteristics of both timber and NTFPs and on how to optimize the seasonal calendar of the different products with a fluctuated market demand for sustainable income along the year.

The Forest Department of Bangladesh initiated agroforestry program for the poor people in order to alleviate poverty. This study explored to what extent the agroforestry program had reduced the poverty and which constraints might be responsible for poverty alleviation among the participants. The research made use of Head Count Index (HCI) to determine to what extent poverty was decreased. To understand the main constraints of agroforestry program, this study focused on macro-meso-micro level analysis technique. Data were collected through semi- structured questionnaires for face-to-face interviews within the study area i.e., Ghatail upazila (sub-district) of Tangail District, Bangladesh. Total fifty agroforestry participants were randomly selected form the study for this research study. The results showed that this program had alleviated poverty at a significant level (64% of the respondents) which improved their livelihood situation considerably. The income of the settlers in a similar participatory forestry program varied due to their socio-economic factors such as months of food sufficiency, family size, distance to market and institutional loan. These were the main reasons for the income differences among the settlers. As regards the constraints as perceived by the three level analysis frames, bureaucracy, monopoly of the market system, poor road infrastructure and the lack of loan facilities were considered to be the main problems to reduce poverty with this program. Considering the overall results of the study it can be concluded that the Participatory Agroforestry Program (PAP) was quite successful for increasing income as well as alleviating poverty. If we can overcome these constraints then there are better possibilities of agroforestry to contribute better to alleviate poverty situation of this study area as well as Bangladesh.

In the state of Tripura under recognition of forest rights act, the forest land was allotted to the local tribes. These tribes were practicing Jhuming (shifting cultivation) on these lands. Due to pressure on the forest land, continuous jhuming was practiced in a particular land for more number of years than usual which lead to depletion of soil fertility and reduction in jhum crop yield. To address this problem and increase the income of the tribal people, nine agroforestry models Viz.

(1) Bamboo+Jackfruit+Maize+Pineapple,

(2) Ghamhar+Lemon+Ginger+Pegion pea,

(3) Bamboo+Arecanut+Dalbergia+maize+BlackPepper,

(4) Acacia+Litchi+Lemon+Maize+Turmeric,

(5) Teak+Jack+Maize+Ginger,

(6) Bamboo+Mango+Maize+Pineapple,

(7) Agar+Arecanut+Turmiric+Black pepper,

(8) Banana+Acacia+Turmiric

(9) Orange+Acacia+Papaya+Turmiric

Were implemented under the project sponsorship of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) in seven districts and thirty-two ranges during 2012-2013. Among all these, Bamboo+Arecanut+Dalbergia+maize+BlackPepper in south districts of Tripura, Acacia+Litchi+Lemon+Maize+Turmeric and Bamboo+Mango+Maize+Pineapple in north districts of Tripura became more popular and was highest implemented.

Fiji located between 176^o53’E to 178^o12’W and 15^o42’to 20^oS comprises of three hundred and thirty islands of which only 110 are inhabited. Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are the two major islands that cover more than 87 % of the total land area. Eighty three percent of the total land in Fiji is owned by mataqalian itaukei, a term representing the land owing unit. Forest has always been an integral part of the people in Fiji. In the beginning of the nineteen century, Vanua Levu was famous amongst the navigators, adventurers and treasure hunters as Sandalwood Island. Mass exploitation of Santalum yasi Seem. (Fiji sandalwood or yasi) during that time for its valuable and prized aromatic oil contained in the mature heartwood made the species rare in this country. Due to non existence of a substitute for sandalwood oil, yasi is still in very much demand around the world. Therefore the present study was conducted with an attempt to understand the scope of promoting yasi as a vital agroforestry tree species for rural employment and livelihoods development in Fiji. Random farm visit were conducted during 2012, 2013 in the two major islands, namely Viti Levu and Vanua Levu to observe the scope of yasi. It revealed existence of strong preference among farmers’ in Fiji for agroforestry. Farmers usually allow naturally regenerated tree and fruit species to grow and also transplant them in their farms. One hundred and seventeen species (including four introduced tree species) were recorded in the farms. These species are directly or indirectly utilized by farmers and can be comfortably regarded as agroforestry species. Interestingly six species observed in all the farms are considered as suitable host for yasi. The study recommends promotion of yasi as a vital agroforestry species for rural employment & livelihoods development in Fiji.

Non edible tree borne oil seed crops are known to be multipurpose trees in agriculture system. Adoption of multispecies consortia of   non edible oil seed trees in agroforestry systems supports productivity in food crops. The recent trend of using vegetable oil for biofuel production and use them locally is of great relevance. The fact is that, these resources are recycled locally without detrimental to the carbon sinks. Among the consortia of species Pongamia pinnata, Azadirachta indica and Simarouba glauca, Calophyllum inophyllum, Mesua ferrea, Aphanamyxis polystachya, Jatropha curcas have found to be a good combination of trees in agro forestry systems with wider adaptation to dry land to semi wet crop fields. The consortia support the sustainable yield of food crops, improve soil fertility and help in pest management in the crops. Besides, these species also provide for production of energy  from seed oil on par with petro diesel. Involvement of community in harnessing this energy locally through biofuel value chain is the model developed. Participation of community in growing selected trees in agro forestry system as a component and processing of   seeds  for oil extraction and using it locally for agriculture machineries as energy source, for production of electrical energy for local needs, use of by products like oil cake as a source of manure, biogas production and animal feed is interesting. A successful model developed and implemented in the state of Karnataka, India with participation of farming community organised on the lines of the milk union existing in the state is presented.

Trees outside forests area an important source of timber, providing up to two thirds of the domestic supply. Historically, trees on private lands in India have been broadly classified into regulated and exempt, broadly depending on their value, and their importance in the forest lands of the state.  In recent decades there has been a process of partial deregulation in the agroforestry sector driven largely by the impulse to reduce the regulatory burden and dis-incentives for farmer, subject to not increasing the risk of illegal felling in state forests.  More recently, export market demands stemming from legislation like the Lacey Act (USA), and the EU Timber Regulations require that wood products can be shown to be coming from legal sources.  In addition, local agroforestry systems also provide valuable subsistence and ecosystem service benefits. This paper will review the regulatory system in select states, analyse the official regulations as well as how they are implemented in practice, assess the costs and benefits for both the regulator and the regulated, and identify options for sustainability, sustaining local ecosystem services, and income, for both domestic supply and exports.

China is one of the richest countries in agroforestry systems, especially in tropical areas.  Most natural forest is found in that area, besides the primary forests in southern Yunnan and Hainan Island, are very precious resources. A clear and specified classification, applied to the tropical zone in China can be useful for the sustainable management of naturel resources and species conversation. Based on this classification, it will be possible to differentiate the management measures for systems.

We have collected information of agroforestry systems in worldwide and in China. Classifications from different authors were reviewed and evaluated. We studied representative cases in tropical China,  and have designed this proposed classification. In purpose of distinguishing the management strategy to form natural forest and artificial forest This classification was made according to the woodland, which is dominant in the system. First it distinguishes if the agroforestry system developed based on a naturalized environment or an artificial plantation, their ecological function is the protection or restoration.Depending on where it is established, the first level of classification could be divided in two categories: natural forest and artificial forest.

The second level of classification distinguishes the forest type. They were classified by characteristics and the use of woodland. For natural forest, they are divided in primary forests and secondary forests, depending on the status and characteristics. The artificial plantations could divide into four parts by the use of trees: wood, non-timber products, shelterbelts and homegardens. At the third level we classified their components, here are four basic components: forest, trees, crops (including medicinal plants and Lianas) and animals.Furthermore, considering their main components and structures they were classified into more detailed. To illustrate that, we have chosen some representative cases of each type, introduce the history, the integration between species, the advantages and disadvantages, etc.

Kodagu district in South India is the largest coffee producing region in India contributing to 35% of the production under shade grown systems.  These diverse coffee plantations which cover 30% of the landscape in the region not only provide valuable revenues to the rural community, but also provide vital ecosystem services to Southern India. This is particularly the case for water since the origin of Cauvery, the most important river of the region, is in Kodagu with coffee plantations covering a large area of this watershed. The opening of India to the international coffee market and related intensification of coffee production have resulted in reduction in density and diversity of shade trees and associated biodiversity.

To improve the livelihoods of coffee farming communities while conserving natural resources in three major coffee regions located in the world hotspots for biodiversity, the project CAFNET was funded by European Union from 2007 to 2011 in 7 countries. Kodagu district was the reference CAFNET site in India where a multidisciplinary team of researchers undertook studies in 38 villages in the Cauvery Watershed: 1) to document local traditional ecological knowledge, biodiversity of trees, epiphytes, mammals and birds, economics and  coffee quality on 150  farms on small, medium and large farmers, 2) to disseminate information on the ecosystem services, such as water yield and carbon sequestration, provided by coffee based agroforestry systems to local and national stakeholders, 3) to formulate guidelines for sustainable coffee cultivation including agroforestry practices and 4) to help farmers in adding value to their coffee through better access to markets and eco-certification schemes with 7 farmer groups being certified by Rain Forest Alliance and/or UTZ Certified. This effort is to make coffee cultivation more attractive for future generations through sustainable agricultural management principles while sustaining the environment.

Central India is covered with dry-deciduous and moist-evergreen forests and is inhabited by numerous tribal groups. In the recent years many of these tribal men and women or families have received forest land and use rights; either under a joint title or an individual title (in case of a single women or men); additionally, a number of village assemblies are also applying for Community Forest Resources (CFRe) titles under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The effects of the act are now receiving attention from researchers and development groups. This research aims to bring out the gender-based developments arising out of the implementation of the act with references to ground level practices and developments in Odisha. One of the key focus is regarding the issue of existing and emerging landuse in these newly allotted forestland parcels and if this is influenced by the gender of the owner? Literature review shows that there exist gaps in discussions concerning gender inclusion within the FRA provisions. Studies on suitability of agroforestry-based developments in forest fringes and in the regions of overlapping forest-farm interactions have found encouraging results from cases elsewhere. The research will also bring out information on existing agroforestry practices on these forest land parcels and will explore if agroforestry practices could further be promoted as a development strategy in these regions. The unique geographical and social settings of these small sized individual and community forest land parcels in the forest ecosystems thus provides interesting cases for research and inquiry.

Agroforestry has since been changing as part of an overall tree cover transition in Vietnam. Through a mixed-method approach, we analyzed the spatial and temporal pattern and drivers of change in agroforestry in Bac Kan and Ha Tinh provinces, in the northeast and north-central regions of Vietnam. The results indicate that successive government reforestation projects since early 1990s have been the major driver of Vietnam’s overall forest cover change, impacting agroforestry in opposite ways. Reduction of agroforestry area due to conversion into plantation forest, shifting cultivation and paddy rice was observed in Bac Kan province while an overall increase in agroforestry area within natural forests was found in Ha Tinh province. Reforestation has led to decreasing agroforestry area as financial support for tree planting was provided to farmers and markets for Melia timber became available in Bac Kan. In contrast, agroforestry expansion within allocated forestlands in Ha Tinh was attributed to farmers’ acquired knowledge on tree planting from reforestation projects and the availability of market for pulp and timber from acacia sp. It is observed that intensive implementation of government reforestation programs may lead to a reduction of agroforestry areas where species used for forest plantation are different from the ones under agroforestry and vice versa. The data also revealed that agroforestry area is significantly associated with household income in Bac Kan, but not in Ha Tinh. In addition, households who have more income from livestock tend to invest more on agroforestry.  Finally, our analysis suggests that agroforestry development in Vietnam is largely based on reinforcing factors such as government support, market creation for agroforestry products, local capacity development, and availability of, or access to financial capital.

Agroforestry has been widely practiced by Indonesian community since centuries ago. Nevertheless intensive research in agroforestry was only started in the last three decades. It can be understood if agroforestry has not yet been adopted in mainstreaming forestry and agriculture development in Indonesia. This paper aims to report the National Strategy on Agroforestry Research in Indonesia for the next two decades. The strategy was prepared by the team of authors following several phases, which include: a) review of research status of agroforestry, b) focus group discussions to involve team of experts and related stakeholders in formulating research topic priorities and implementation strategies; c) dissemination of the strategy concept to wider stakeholders to obtain feedbacks, and d) launching of the national strategy in front of wide stakeholders that include representatives from research institutes, universities, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other related parties. The National Strategy of Agroforestry Research is proposing four priority research topics that will be the major research agenda in the field of agroforestry in Indonesia over the next two decades. These four priority topics are: 1) Smallholder production systems and markets of agroforestry practices; 2) Community based forest management on state forest areas; 3) Harmonization of agroforestry practices with global climate change, and 4) Enhancing agroforestry practices for environmental services. In addition to these priority research topics, the national strategy also describes the implementation strategy of the mentioned priority research topics.