The more trees the better
Evidence from around the globe is continuing to confirm that integrating trees directly into farming systems builds greater resilience into the landscape
Paul Stapleton
Paul Stapleton is the Head of Communications at the World Agroforestry Centre.
New report says forests and trees could be major factor in efforts to end global hunger
A billion people worldwide depend on forests and trees for balanced diets and sustainable incomes. About one in nine people globally still suffer from hunger, with the majority of the hungry living in Africa and Asia. Forests and...
Avoiding hunger gaps with fruit tree portfolios in Kenya
Growing just six fruit tree species on farms in Machakos, Kenya could supply vitamin-rich fruits to farming families for the whole year. Many farming households in Eastern Kenya suffer from ‘hunger periods’, when food is very scarce, and...
Characterizing baobab, the nutritious African ‘Tree of Life’
Descriptor list of Baobab will help to increase the domestication, cultivation and use of the products of the African baobab for improving nutrition and enhancing livelihoods A new publication, ‘Descriptors for Baobab,’ opens the way for accelerated and...
Drylands forests and agroforestry systems
Agroforestry, and sustainable forest management and restoration, promise hope for world’s threatened drylands. “We treat dryland trees as if they were inferior to rainforest trees,” claimed Lars Laestadius of the World Resources Institute, at a packed event taking...
WCA2014 will be carbon neutral
The World Congress on Agroforestry will be carbon neutral, even though it is attracting over 800 participants from all over the world. Most participants will be flying to Delhi. Experts in the headquarters of the World Agroforestry Centre...
Ignorance kills
by Patrick Worms Every single day, millions of land users around the world take decisions that will eventually threaten them, their children, their neighbours and millions of strangers around the world with poverty, destitution and death by starvation,...
Benefits from tree planting in Malawi
Malawi is one of the poorest African countries and faces high levels of poverty, food insecurity and deforestation. High population pressures have increased farming intensity and agricultural expansion, and this has contributed to declining levels of soil fertility...
What do we really mean by land degradation?
“Land has been perceived as a resource that can be freely degraded,” said Luc Gnacadja, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) . “We need to move towards an understanding of land as natural...
Invest in climate-resilient futures says ICRAF DG Tony Simons
This blog post was written by Jan de Leeuw As has already been noted in this blog, trees and agroforestry significantly support dryland livelihoods. There is only scattered knowledge and limited insight into the role that forests and...
Trees to increase resilience in East African drylands
Interest in drylands development has been increasing in recent years, driven by the recognition that there is a need to increase people’s resilience and reduce their dependency on aid. The reawakened interest in drylands development has translated into...
Why Grimm’s Fairy Tale No. 103 is essential reading for the CGIAR’s development outcomes
This blog was contributed by Dr Ravi Prabhu, Deputy Director General – Research, World Agroforestry Centre. There was a poor but pious little girl who lived alone with her mother, and they no longer had anything to eat....
Global Symposium discusses the integration of REDD+ into Green Economy
Linking REDD+ with green economy efforts is delivering benefits beyond climate change mitigation. See, for example, the blog ‘Can REDD make Africa greener?‘ The role of forests and land use is becoming increasingly important in the discussions regarding...
Going soft on sustainability
Tony Simons (far right) speaking at the SusCon in Bonn in November 2013 Sustainability: “conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources” If businesses compete so aggressively in the commercial arena, why do they go soft...