The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) vision is a rural transformation in the developing world where smallholder households strategically increase their use of trees in agricultural landscapes to improve their food security, nutrition, income, health, shelter, energy resources and environmental sustainability. Its mission is to generate science-based knowledge about the diverse roles trees play in agricultural landscapes and to use its research to advance policies and practices to benefit the poor and the environment. More…

The World Agroforestry Centre is keenly interested in the potential of rewards for environmental services. Agroforestry offers many options for enhancing farm income and sustaining agricultural productivity that are consistent with ‘ecoagriculture’ – productive agriculture that conserves biodiversity and crucial ecosystem services.

In Africa, ICRAF has been involved in small pilot reward schemes for several years, including carbon sequestration and land restoration projects led by partners in Uganda and Kenya. ICRAF is currently engaged in plans for larger projects of assessment, recognition, negotiation, and reward with partners and donors in at least three locations in Kenya and one location in Tanzania. One reason for ICRAF’s interest in rewards for environmental services is that agroforestry has potential to generate some environmental services, while contributing to human well-being.

Effects of trees and forests on watershed function

The links between trees, forests and water function are poorly understood, with leading researchers disagreeing about the merits of reforestation as a solution to watershed management problems. In 2006, ICRAF conducted a synthesis of the knowledge of the links between agroforestry and hydrologic function. The synthesis results endorse the use of indigenous deciduous trees for optimizing water use in water-scarce catchments, soil cover techniques for reducing erosion and sedimentation, and mixtures of trees with different root architecture for reducing landslide risk. Fast-growing evergreen species and potentially invasive species should be avoided in water-scarce or biodiversity-rich areas.

The PRESA team at ICRAF

Scientific Advisors: Dr. Brent Swallow, Dr Meine van Noordwijk and Dr Fergus Sinclair
Advisor on forest carbon: Dr. Peter Akong Minang
Research Coordinator: Thomas Yatich
Spatial Analyst: Miika Makela
Communications and Project Officer: Vanessa Meadu
Project Administrator: Joyce Kasyoki
Administrative Assistant: Catherine Kimengu
Communications Assistant: Godfrey Kimega Mwaloma