Agroforestry World
Cathy Watson
Cathy Watson is chief of programme development at the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi. Before joining ICRAF in November 2012, she founded and ran two NGOs in Uganda -- Straight Talk Foundation and Mvule Trust. She was made a senior Ashoka fellow for social entrepreneurship in 2006. She has also been a foreign correspondent, working for The Guardian and the BBC, among others. A graduate in biology and Latin American Studies from Princeton, she has over 30 years of work experience in Africa with a focus on trees, youth, HIV, families, and communication for social change. She holds a graduate certificate in agroforestry from the University of Missouri.
Success in rejuvenating land through forest-based enterprises has had dramatic outcomes for farmers. In the late afternoon in the highlands of Malawi, the air is chilly as the sun descends. But the welcome is warm. A group of...
The endorsement of the Guidelines by the region’s ministers of agriculture and forestry paves the way for implementation to restore degraded landscapes, improve food security and livelihoods, enhance farmers’ resilience and meet nationally determined contributions to...
A woman sells charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya. Flickr/Laura Rantanen By Mary Njenga, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) The Kenyan government has clamped down on the production of charcoal, which it blames for environmental damage. A three-month ban on trading...
Government agencies, the private sector, NGOs and universities want a new direction for increasing trees on farms to grow a green economy and strengthen the vulnerable archipelago It will take 206 years to restore to productivity...
Better management of Indonesia’s vast peatlands, some of the biggest and most efficient carbon stores on the planet, which have been extensively degraded, means working with the people who make their living from them.
A practical, appropriate and effective solution to Africa’s food and nutritional insecurity has alluded everyone for over 100 years1. Since colonial days, conventional thinking has been based on the misconception that what works in temperate latitudes must work...
Rubengera, Rwanda — Farmer Cecile Mukabutera , 32, looks approvingly at her small tree, one of ten she received from One Acre Fund. Its branches will eventually give her up to 30 poles per year. These 2-3 meter...
A new publication offers researchers guidelines on how best to engage with marginalized, ethnic-minority farming communities in the Greater Mekong region, so that research innovations reach and benefit their lives and livelihoods. Titled “Guidelines to engage with marginalized...
Dryland tropical agroforestry is a little-researched area that is likely to be increasingly in demand as climate patterns change. Researchers on the island of Sumba in Indonesia are working hard and fast to meet the challenges. Sumba’s...
In growing numbers, smallholders in Gorontalo, Indonesia manage tree nurseries as an alternative income source. The World Agroforestry Centre through the AgFor Sulawesi project is sharing new knowledge and experience for the benefit of farmers. Tree nurseries are...
Bioenergy can play a role in Indonesia in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. And several other Goals. But some conditions need to be met. ‘Bioenergy is...
If Indonesia is to achieve its target of 23% renewable energy, of which 10% should come from bioenergy, by 2025, the nation must simultaneously improve policies, embrace smallholders to improve their livelihoods and maintain the services provided by...
Understanding how to manage timber and non-timber forest products is particularly important for poorer households in Indonesia. Action research to improve farmers’ understanding is underway. Combining tree planting with management of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has been...
Experience from Uganda shows that when villages and districts create regulations to manage forests and restoration, benefits flow. Through collective awareness of land-management challenges at the grassroots level, governments and others are effectively coerced to make policy...