Agroforestry

Experts estimate that some 200 million hectares of new trees must be planted during the next ten years if developing countries are to meet their people's needs for tree products. The government, even with international support, cannot finance all, or even most, of the necessary work. Thus, much of the work must be done by the rural people themselves.

More than 1.5 billion smallholders throughout the world depend on forest landscapes to produce food, fuel, timber and non-wood forest products to meet their subsistence needs and generate cash income. Despite the large number of smallholders and the large collective scale of their production, policy makers have overlooked smallholders’ role as a powerful economic engine.

The case studies from Brazil, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, the Philippines and Viet Nam highlight how forest landscape restoration (FLR) interventions enhance food security. They illustrate the ‘win-win’ solutions that can enhance land functionality and productivity, develop resilient food systems and explore the long-term potential outputs and enabling conditions for FLR interventions.

This study entailed extensive literature review of linkages between adaptation and mitigation at the global policy level, through analysis of relevant policies and protocols in the context of climate change in general and forest landscape restoration (FLR) in particular. This was followed by literature review regarding the current discourse and understanding of adaptation and mitigation options and the synergies between the two, specifically in the context of FLR.

This publication is the proceedings for a satellite event on Biodiversity and the Ecosystem Approach in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, held on the occasion of the Ninth Regular Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, in FAO, Rome, 12-13 October 2002. An informal presentation of the Satellite Event’s discussions and results was given on 16 October 2002. About 100 participants attended the day and a half event.