ICRAF 2012-13 Annual Report-8

7/27/2019 ICRAF 2012-13 Annual Report-8

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2012-2013Transforming lives and landscapes with trees


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Our visionOur vision is a rural transformation in the developing world as smallholder households increase their use of trees inagricultural landscapes to improve food security, nutrition, income, health, shelter, social cohesion, energy resources and

environmental sustainability.

Our missionThe Centres mission is to generate science-based knowledge about the diverse roles that trees play in agricultural

landscapes, and to use its research to advance policies and practices, and their implementation that benet the poor and

the environment.

Our core values Professionalism

Mutual respect

Creativity

Inclusiveness

Our strategic goals Building livelihoods by generating knowledge, choice and opportunities

Improving landscapes and their sustainability by better managing their complexity

Transforming agroforestry impacts to large-scale through policy, innovation and partnerships

Our partnersThe World Agroforestry Centre has always implemented much of its work in partnership with a range of public,

private and international bodies. Our partnerships are based on a clear recognition of the value that is added through

working jointly with partners and sharing strengths to achieve specic outcomes. We partner with universities, advanced

research institutions, national agricultural research organizations, private sector organizations, and government and non-

government agencies in the elds of agriculture, forestry, environment, conservation and climate change.

World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi, Kenya, 2013

ISSN 1995-6851

World Agroforestry Centre. 2013. Annual Report 2012-2013: Transforming Lives and Landscapes with Trees. Nairobi: World Agroforestry

Centre

Articles appearing in this publication may be quoted or reproduced without charge, provided the source is acknowledged. No use of this publication may be

made for resale or other commercial purposes. The geographic designation employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the

expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Agroforestry Centre concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its

authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. All images remain the sole property of their source and may not be used for any

purpose without written permission of the source.


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01 Message from the ChairMessage from the Director General

ICRAF Strategy 2013-2022

The right trees for the right place

Trees and the changing climate

Biodiversity, health and food security

The living earth

Market matters

How we work

Annexes

pg 02

pg 04

pg 06

pg 08

pg 12

pg 24

pg 30

pg 36

pg 44

pg 54

Contents


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Message fromthe ChairThe year 2012 saw the nal phases of the reform process launched by the

Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). All the

CGIAR Research Programmes (CRPs) became fully operational during the year

and I believe our scientists are now condent about the direction in which they

are moving.

I welcome the fact that we have established closer collaboration with the

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and our other partners

within the framework of CRP 6, which focuses on forests, trees and agroforestry.

Although the bulk of our future research will take place under this programme,

we will also be making important contributions to several other CRPs, including

those related to water, land and ecosystems; climate change; health and nutrition;

institutions and markets; and, more generally, agriculture and food security.

During the course of the year, the Board of Trustees approved a refreshed

strategy developed by staff and our partners. This was a major event. The Board

also gave its approval to the establishment of a new biofuels facility with theInternational Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). This will lead to new

types of research and public-private partnerships on tree-based biofuels. We also

launched a new GeoScience Lab, which will enable our scientists to signicantly

improve their storage, management and analysis of spatial data.

Our West and Central Africa ofce in Yaound, Cameroon, celebrated its 25 th

anniversary in 2012, and the November Board meeting was held there. Zac

Tchoundjeu, the regional coordinator, received the 2012 Buffett Award for

Leadership in African Conservation from the National Geographic Society for

his work on tree domestication. We are all proud about that.

The staff satisfaction survey held during Science Week in 2012 conrmed what I

have always intuitively believed. The World Agroforestry Centre is a great place

to work! Over 90 per cent of staff participated in the survey, and their feedback

was largely positive.


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Transforming lives and landscapes with trees

From a nancial perspective, this was another successful year, and we managed to close without a decit. This

is my last message as chair, as I am leaving the Board in 2013. I personally feel rather sad as it has been such

a challenge, but at the same time I have a feeling of fullment and accomplishment, not only for myself, butfor the Board, the Board secretariat, the senior leadership team, and for the whole institution and its many

partners. So much has been achieved since I joined the Board in 2006. Many challenges remain, but the Centre

has never been in better shape to meet these challenges than it is now.

Eric Tollens

Chair of the Board of Trustees

The World Agroforestry Centreis a great place to work!



Transforming lives andlandscapes with trees:the Strategy of the World AgroforestryCentre 2013-2022

A refreshed corporate strategy was developed during

2012 and received nal approval from the Board

of Trustees early in 2013. The vision of the World

Agroforestry Centre is a rural transformation in the

developing world as smallholder households increase

their use of trees in agricultural landscapes to improve

food security, nutrition, income, health, shelter, social

cohesion, energy resources and environmental

sustainability.

The new direction in the Strategy includes ve

operational goals: enhancing science quality; increasing

operational efciency; building and maintaining strong

partnerships, accelerating the use and impact of our

research; and greater cohesion, interdependence and

alignment.

The Strategy also lays out roles for the Centre, which

are:

Generating and validating knowledge as

International Public Goods (IPGs)

Building robust evidence for higher level decisionson policies and investments

Working with partners at multiple scales to

translate IPGs into actionable knowledge

Developing and mobilizing capacity at institutional

and individual levels

Demonstrating proof of application of knowledge to

accelerate impact and advance the science of scaling up

Convening, advocacy and interfacing amongst a

wide range of partners to be co-responsible for

development outcomes and better engaged with

realities faced by development agencies.

The roles and operational goals derive from the

mission of the World Agroforestry Centre, which is

to harness the best science, people and partnerships

within a framework of research for development to

fully exploit and extend the positive effects of trees and

agroforestry in landscapes across the developing world.

Considering the trends and challenges in the global

environment, the emerging research needs and

opportunities, as well as the comparative advantages of

the Centre led to the development of three innovative

new strategic goals in a programme of research for

development impact. These are:

Build livelihoods by generating knowledge, choice

and opportunities

Improve landscapes and their sustainability by better

managing their complexity

Transform agroforestry impacts to large-scale

through policies, innovation and partnerships.Each strategic goal is accompanied by a series of broad-

scale objectives that form the core of our business.

1. Build livelihoods by generating knowledge, choice

and opportunities:

Generate knowledge and viable agroforestry

technologies to support livelihoods with trees,

particularly for the poor and women

Provide information relevant for all land users,

managers and planners

Explore different ways and implementation

mechanisms of how to turn knowledge andmaterials into livelihood benets

Identify livelihood options and choices

Generate options for enhancing greater self-

determination

Enhance the contribution of trees to human diets

and income

Enable tomorrows smallholders to adapt and

prosper through tree-based options

Provide smallholders with locally relevant options to

increase the productivity and protability of farming

systems through sustainable intensication withtrees

Strengthen tree product value chains enabling the

poor and women to have greater access to lucrative

markets.

2. Improve landscapes and their sustainability by better

managing their complexity:

Integrate trees into landscapes for sustainable

intensication of agriculture


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Reduce deforestation and forest degradation in

mixed agriculture-forest landscapes

Increase the multi-functionality of agriculturallandscapes, and understanding of trade-offs and

synergies

Prevent and reverse landscape degradation with

better soil structure and water holding capacity

Enhance or maintain biodiversity in agricultural and

associated landscapes

Avoid eutrophication of water bodies, siltation of

reservoirs and disruption of hydrological cycles

Develop natural asset accounting and valuation/

pricing of externalities

Model and monitor the land use and land cover

changes in tree-based landscapes

Raise awareness on ecosystem services and map,

monitor and value these and devise policies that

create the incentives to preserve this natural capital.

3. Transform agroforestry impacts to large-scale

through policies, innovation and partnerships:

Highlight and mainstream agroforestry into

international, regional, national and local policies

Participate in, convene and communicate about

pilot development initiatives that use agroforestry

innovations to go beyond proof of concept to proof

of application

Support development initiatives concerning

agroforestry with tools and information

Make information and evidence context specic

Conceive and test innovative extension approaches

Develop frameworks for and build knowledge on

the science of scaling up

Better target resources and technologies for

specied agroforestry systems and technologies

Help catalyse provision of inputs and materials (e.g.

germplasm) for successful testing and adoption of

agroforestry practices at scale

Determine how to scale up the benets of value

chain development interventions so as to benet

large numbers of smallholders and other poor value

chain actors

Take responsibility for delivery of information in

ways that diverse audiences can assess, understand

and use.

To implement this programme, six new Science

Domains (SDs) were established. These are:

SD1-AgroforestrySystemsseeks to understand how agroforestry systems can

function better, be more productive, more attractive

for investments and be more ecologically sustainable

in the long term

SD2-TreeProductsandMarkets

encompasses the science behind understanding

and developing value chains for agroforestry tree

products as well as the institutions that support and

participate in tree product markets

SD3-TreeDiversity,Domesticationand

Delivery

involves identifying, delivering and conserving quality

tree germplasm as well as supporting the optimal

use of the right tree in the right place for the right

purpose

SD4-LandHealth

concerned with understanding land degradation

and how it can be prevented, reversed and its

signicance better communicated and recognized

SD5-EnvironmentalServices

focused on understanding and promoting the

benets and sustenance of key environmental

services associated with tree-based landscapesincluding water, soil stabilization, carbon and

biodiversity

SD6-ClimateChange

concerned with the vulnerability of smallholders

and developing countries to the negative effects of

climate change.

These SDs are based in the headquarters in Nairobi,

but the bulk of the implementation will be done in the

Centres ve Regional Programmes:

East and Southern Africa

West and Central Africa

Southeast and East Asia

South Asia

Latin America.

The budget of the Centre is estimated to grow

consistently year by year from US$59 million in 2013 to

US$100 million by 2022. This ambitious growth target

will allow us to make signicant progress in achieving

large-scale impact in the developing countries.



Choosing the right treesErosion in the hills surrounding Lake Tanganyika is not

only depriving farmers of fertile topsoil, it is leadingto sedimentation and nutrient enrichment, which

threatens sh stocks and the livelihoods of communities

along the shoreline. To tackle these problems, the

Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded a 4-year

programme to identify the hotspots of degradation and

promote practices to control erosion and improve local

livelihoods. By the time it came to an end in 2012, much

had been achieved.

In Tanzania and Zambia, the project was managed by

government departments. In DRC, in contrast, the lack

of any coherent government meant that the task of

managing the project was awarded to the World Wide

Fund for Nature (WWF) East Africa, which beneted

from technical advice from the World Agroforestry

Centre. The Centre was also involved in the project in

Tanzania and Zambia.

Remote sensing revealed that about 40 per cent of

the lake basin had lost some of its vegetation over

the past 30 years, and 5 per cent had suffered serious

degradation. In DRC, research focused on the remote

mountains of Kivu District. Emilie Smith Dumont, ascientist from the World Agroforestry Centre, identied

the hotspots of degradation, which had been largely

caused by poor agricultural practices and charcoal

burning. Besides leading to serious erosion, the loss oftrees had deprived the local population of a signicant

source of food, fodder and fuelwood.

Once we had identied the worst affected areas,

we began to think about the sort of agroforestry

interventions which could help to reduce erosion, says

Smith Dumont. She and her colleagues interviewed

farmers to nd out what they knew about local tree

species, and what sort of products and services they

wanted the trees to provide. It was the knowledge

gathered during this process that shaped the villagers

tree-planting strategies.

Makingthemostoflocalknowledge

Combining scientic knowledge with the information

gathered from farmers, the scientists developed an

electronic tool which enables extension workers and

farmers to assess which species work best in different

locations. The Useful Trees for the Lake Tanganyika Basin

Toolkit was published in 2012, with a user guide and

eld manuals for DRC, Tanzania and Zambia. Lets say

a farmer wants to grow trees which provide timber,

but is also keen on getting honey, says Smith Dumont.

Using the toolkit, he or she can identify which species

produce timber and good forage for bees.

ICRAF/EmilieSmithDumon

t


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When Smith Dumont revisited Kivu area in early 2013,

she was encouraged to nd that local communities hadestablished nurseries with a wide range of trees, mostly

native, tailored to suit their needs.

An independent evaluation of the project was carried

out by Saskia Marijnissen at the end of 2012. The

approach used by this project demonstrates that

techniques do not have to be rudimentary to be useful

at the local level, she wrote. While most extension

manuals recommend a few priority tree species,

the tree selection tool was more sophisticated and

far more effective because farmers receive more

customized and therefore locally relevant advice.

The tree selection tool puts farmers at the centre

of decision-making when it comes to tackling

environmental degradation and adopting measures

to improve soil fertility. However, Fergus Sinclair, who

leads the World Agroforestry Centres research on

agroforestry systems, stresses that the tool alone is not

enough. You also need people like Emilie with the

right mix of knowledge, enthusiasm and skills to work

with local communities, he says.

Trees with your cocoa?When Philippe Vaast returned to western Cte

dIvoire in 2012, having last been there in the 1980s,

he was astonished by the changes which had taken

place. When I was last there, the Bas-Sassandra

region was covered with dense forest, he recalls.

Now, its nearly all been replaced by perennial tree

crops.

From 1980 onwards, there was a massive wave of

migration from the other regions of the country, as

well as Burkina Faso and Mali, towards the west, with

the newcomers clearing the forest to make way for

cocoa, coffee, oil-palm and rubber. The conventional

wisdom was that cocoa was most productive when

grown in full sun. Initially, farmers got decent yields,

but since many could not afford to buy fertilizers

the soils became progressively poorer and yields

declined, explains Vaast, who leads the WorldAgroforestry Centres research on multi-strata tree

crop systems.

The Vision for Change project a public-private

partnership launched by the World Agroforestry

Centre and Mars Inc, and described on page 11 is

helping farmers to increase their yields and incomes

by rehabilitating old cocoa gardens. This is to be

welcomed, says Vaast. However, he also believes there

is scope for the project to encourage farmers to

plant native species in their cocoa gardens. There

is evidence to suggest that cocoa can still produce

high yields under what Vaast describes as managed

shade.

But are farmers interested? Preliminary surveys

conducted by Vaasts colleague Emilie Smith Dumont,

in collaboration with her local colleagues, suggest

they are. In October 2012, they interviewed 355

farmers in Bas-Sassandra region. Despite the massive

levels of deforestation, they identied 139 species

growing on their land. Around 95 per cent of farmers

were enthusiastic about the idea of planting native

species in their cocoa gardens. These, they believe,

could provide them with a range of products,

including fruit and timber. They also mentioned thatthese could help to improve soil fertility and reduce

heat stress, a threat to the cocoa bushes.

This is work in progress. In 2013, the scientists

will establish demonstration plots to gain a better

understanding of how different trees can be matched

to different needs and farm conditions.

ICRAF/EmilieS

mithDumont


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Improving livelihoods andlandscapes in SulawesiBetween April and September 2012, some 7000 men

and women in Sulawesi received training on a wide

range of topics, following the launch of the Agroforestry

and Forestry in Sulawesi (AgFor Sulawesi) project.

Over the next few years, the initiative aims to improve

rural livelihoods by encouraging better governance

and better environmental management and by raising

on-farm productivity, says project leader James

Roshetko, a tree and market specialist with the World

Agroforestry Centre and Winrock International.

Funded by the Canadian International Development

Agency (CIDA), AgFor Sulawesi is being led by theWorld Agroforestry Centre, with assistance from the

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR),

Winrock International, the National Planning and

Development Agency of Indonesia and several local

partners. The initial focus has been on South and South-

east Sulawesi. These provinces were selected on the

grounds that they suffer relatively high levels of poverty,

have a range of population densities and possess

signicant tracts of natural forest.

Communities here face a number of challenges. There

is a high dependence on exotic crops, such as cocoa,

rubber and coffee. This implies a relatively high degree

of risk: a fall in commodity prices or the emergence

of new pests and diseases could have a catastrophic

impact on incomes. Possible changes in the climate and

the variability in weather conditions could also pose a

challenge to farmers in the future.

So far, weve done a lot of capacity building, working

with farmers to improve their technical knowledge

and on-farm management, says Roshetko. The project

is promoting a diverse mix of species in agroforestry

systems. Between April and September 2012, 38

nurseries of excellence produced almost 200,000

high-quality seedlings. Training exercises have also

encouraged farmers to think more carefully about

producing crops for which there is an existing market.

Encouragingbettergovernance

A second component of the programme, managed

by CIFOR, is raising awareness about the importance

of good governance. The project is encouraging local

authorities to adopt a participatory approach to

decision-making and involve local communities in land-

use planning. The third component of AgFor Sulawesi,

managed by the World Agroforestry Centre, focuses

on improving environmental management across

a range of ecosystems and habitats, from intenselymanaged farmland to natural forest. This component is

developing a participatory vulnerability tool to enable

farmers to assess threats to their agroforestry systems.

ICRAF


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In many parts of Indonesia, womens rights are not

given adequate attention. Getting women involved

is a priority for all AgFor partners, says Roshetko,and I think weve done well in achieving our targets

for female participation. A third or more of those

involved in project activities have been women. As it can

be difcult for women to leave their elds and farms

during busy times of the agricultural calendar, Roshetko

and his colleagues have done their best to rearrange

activities to suit the women. Weve also found that

women are more focused on growing annual crops than

men, so weve designed training sessions to meet theirspecic interests and time constraints, says Roshetko.

It is too early to say whether the project has had any

signicant impact on incomes and livelihoods. However,

Roshetko is condent that after another year or so,

households will begin to see tangible benets from

activities promoted by the project.

A public-private partnership involving the World

Agroforestry Centre, Mars Inc. and a range ofnational institutions is helping to transform cocoaproduction in Cte dIvoire. Launched in 2010, the

Vision for Change (V4C) project aims to increaseyields and improve incomes. By grafting improved

scions of high-yielding, disease- and pest-resistantcultivars onto old trees, and adopting goodagricultural practices, farmers will dramatically

increase their yields.

Cte dIvoire is the worlds leading producer ofcocoa. However, farmers in Bas-Sassandra region, the

main focus for the V4C project, face many challenges.

Their cocoa farms are old and productivity is low.The majority of farmers lack the funds needed tobuy fertilizer; as a result the soils have become

progressively poorer. Pests and diseases have alsodepressed yields. Currently, the average farmerharvests around 400 kg per hectare. Interventions by

the V4C project should push yields up to 1000 kg perhectare.

In 2012, the project made considerable progress.

By the end of the year, 13 new Centres deDveloppement du Cacao (CDCs) were providing

technical advice to some 10,000 smallholder

farmers. V4C is also supporting various communitydevelopment projects, such as the renovationof a school in Kragui. However, the highlight ofthe year was the opening of the Cocoa Somatic

Embryogenesis Laboratory at the headquarters ofthe Centre National de Recherche Agronomique

(CNRA) in Adiopodoum on 20 November 2012.

Funded by the V4C project, the laboratory will

conduct research on the mass propagation of elitecocoa clones using modern tissue culture techniques.

Somatic embryogenesis provides an alternative

approach to the clonal propagation of cocoa. Plantsderived from somatic embryos are geneticallyidentical to their parental donor cells, and have a

taproot system and growth pattern similar to that ofseed-derived plants.

Among those present at the opening ceremony

were the Ivorian Minister of Higher Education andScientic Research, the Vice President of Mars Inc.,

and the director generals of CNRA and the WorldAgroforestry Centre.

This ceremony crowns the scientic and technical

partnership of this highly credible national institution,CNRA, with a committed private sector partner on

one hand and ourselves as an international researchinstitution on the other, said Tony Simons, the WorldAgroforestry Centres Director General. He pointed

out that although somatic embryos for cocoa wererst reported in 1977, they remained a scientic

curiosity. This laboratory will help to increase theproduction of high-quality planting materials. Simply

put, from single cells come multiple plants comeabundant produce, he said.

Brave new world for cocoa growers


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Agroforestry reducesvulnerability to climate changeClimate models predict rises in temperature, greater

variability in rainfall and an increase in extreme weather

events that could reduce agricultural productivity in

developing countries by 1020 per cent over the next

40 years. Small-scale farmers in tropical regions are

particularly vulnerable to climate change and variability.

It is often claimed that agroforestry can help farmers

adapt to climate change, but there has been little

quantitative evidence to back this assertion. However,

a study by Tannis Thorlakson, a former student at

Harvard University, and Henry Neufeldt of the World

Agroforestry Centre has provided clear evidence that

agroforestry can reduce the vulnerability of farmers to

climate change. 1

Their research focused on Kenyas Nyando Valley,

an area which suffered severe drought in 2009 and

ooding in 2010. These had a serious impact on many

households. During these periods, 72 per cent of the

farmers in Lower Nyando were forced to consume

seeds which should have been reserved for planting, 85

per cent reduced the quantity and quality of the food

they ate, and 72 per cent were forced to sell some

of their assets, including livestock. Such short-term

strategies to cope with climatic variability can have

serious long-term repercussions. Once farming families

fall into the poverty trap they may nd it difcult to

recover lost ground.

Farmers in the Nyando Valley believe the best way to

adapt to climate-related shocks is through improving

their income. To evaluate agroforestrys potential to

help, the researchers made a comparison between

farmers who had been involved for two to four years in

an agroforestry project and a control group which had

not.

ICRAF

1Thorlakson T, Neufeldt H. 2012. Reducing subsistence farmers vulnerability to climate change: evaluating the potential contributions of

agroforestry in Western Kenya. Agriculture & Food Security, 2012.


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Food security and innovationWhy is it that small-scale farmers frequently fail to

adopt new practices and technologies such as

agroforestry when there is so much evidence to

suggest that these practices could raise their yields and

incomes? A survey in four East Africa countries, whose

ndings have been published in the journal Food Security2,

may have provided an answer.

The evidence suggests that there is a direct correlation

between food insecurity and a lack of innovation, says

Henry Neufeldt, head of climate change research at the

World Agroforestry Centre. This is a very important

nding, and has signicant implications for the way we

go about development.

The research, which was led by the Climate Change,

Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Program,

explored the relationship between food security and

changes in farming practices made by 700 households.

The study found that many households were adapting

to changing circumstances, such as climatic variability

and demographic pressures, although these changes

tended to be marginal, rather than transformational.

There is nothing surprising about this: farmers are

always adapting to change. However, the nding that

the least food secure households those most likely

to experience food shortages and malnutrition are

the least likely to introduce changes to their farming

practices is of major importance.

We cant say for sure that a lack of food security is

leading to a lack of innovation, rather than vice versa,

says Neufeldt, but my feeling is that that is what is

happening. Poor households are so preoccupied with

the business of day-to-day survival that they have

neither the time nor the funds to invest in farming

practices which, paradoxically, could lift them out of

poverty and ensure they have a better supply of food.3

CCAFS scientist Patti Kristjanson points out that

more research is needed before we can have a full

understanding of the relationship between food

insecurity and innovation. It is critical that we learn

more about both the factors that enable and facilitate

innovation, and how to lower the often hidden costs

and barriers associated with changing agricultural

practices, she says.

The ndings suggest that development agencies and

governments, as well as organizations like the WorldAgroforestry Centre, need to tailor their activities to

meet the needs of different groups. If they want to

reach the poorest households, they will need to think

about improving their access to food before they can

begin promoting new farming practices.

2 Kristjanson P et al. 2012. Are food insecure smallholder households making changes in their farming practices? Evidence from East Africa. FoodSecurity, Vol 4

3 See also: Thorlakson T, Neufeldt H. 2012. Reducing subsistence farmers vulnerabil ity to climate change: evaluating the potential contributions ofagroforestry in western Kenya,Agriculture & Food Security, 2012 1:15.

The results were revealing. Households involved in

agroforestry had signicantly improved their well-

being through improvements in farm productivity

and increases in income, for example from the sale

of seedlings, timber, fuelwood and fruit. Agroforestry

projects also reduced the amount of time women spent

collecting fuelwood.

Households practising agroforestry also experienced

less hunger when there were droughts, oods or other

signicant climatic events. We found that the level of

food insecurity during those periods the amount of

time during the year when people were hungry was

reduced by approximately one month for households

practising agroforestry, says Neufeldt. He adds that

by combining agroforestry with index-based insurance,

farmers could protect themselves against risk and invest

in higher-yielding but less hardy crop varieties.


14/6814 Annual Report 2012-2013

Tackling Indonesiasgreenhouse gas emissionsIndonesia is one of the worlds largest emitters of

greenhouse gas emissions. In 2005, these amounted to

2.05 Gt of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), some 80

per cent of which came from deforestation and other

forms of land-use change. This compared with 5.95 Gt

for the US and 5.06 Gt for China, making Indonesia the

third largest emitter of greenhouse gases at the time.

In 2009, a Presidential Decree pledged to reduce

Indonesias greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent,

relative to a business-as-usual trajectory, by 2020;

and by 41 per cent if international nance was made

available. Indonesia is the only developing country tomake a clear and measured commitment to reduce its

greenhouse gas emissions, says Sonya Dewi, a scientist

with the World Agroforestry Centre.

The Centre has been working with the government

to make the commitment a reality, rather than just

an aspiration. This has involved establishing baseline

datasets for greenhouse gas emissions and providing

training and technical assistance to the national and

provincial governments on a range of subjects, such as

the establishment of baseline and mitigation scenarios

and the potential for reducing emissions from land-use

change.

The Presidential Decree requires all provincial

governments to submit locally appropriate mitigation

actions known as LAMAs to the countrys National

Development Planning Board. During 2012, Dewi and

her colleagues produced guidelines for developing

action plans and conducted numerous trainings to help

provincial staff draw up their plans, using its LUWES

(Land Use Planning for Low Emission Development

Strategy) decision-making platform.

Land-use activities that generate economic benets,

such as forestry enterprises and palm oil plantations,

can cause considerable carbon loss if developed in

carbon-rich areas. However, halting these activities

could lead to serious economic losses if not carefully

planned. LUWES provides a set of tools and principles

which enable those involved in land-use planning to

work out how best to reduce emissions without

causing undue economic hardship.

ICRAF/VanessaMeadu


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Some provinces required more thorough training

and several training sessions than others. We found

there were variations in both technical capacities and

available data across provinces in Indonesia, says

Dewi. Capacity tends to be much lower as you move

towards the eastern part of Indonesia. However, we

found that when a handful of individuals are willing to

champion the process, it can make a big difference. By

the end of 2012, more than half of the provinces had

submitted their LAMA plans.

Working out the levels of current emissions and

projecting what they will be in future if no action istaken is a pre-requisite to establishing measurable

reductions in emissions. To enable provinces to do

this, Dewi produced technical guidelines, published

in the local language, Bahasa Indonesia. The World

Agroforestry Centre also published a complete manual

for LUWES in Bahasa Indonesia.

In response to local demand, the Centre also conducted

training sessions on developing LAMAs, using LUWES,

in Viet Nam and Cameroon. Similar sessions have

been planned for Peru. During the course of 2012, the

software developed within LUWES, known as ABACUS,

was translated from English into Bahasa Indonesia and

Vietnamese. A French version will be published in 2013.

ICRAF


16/6816 Annual Report 2012-2013

Making climate finance workfor small farmersAgriculture is both a cause of climate change directly

responsible for 10-12 per cent of human-generated

greenhouse gas emissions and a victim, with increases

in temperature, changing patterns of rainfall and more

extreme weather events already having an impact on

food production.

A range of practices that come under the heading of

climate-smart agriculture can help farmers reduce

their emissions, become more resilient to climate

change and increase food production. But theres a

catch: if the worlds smallholder farmers are to adopt

low-carbon practices such as agroforestry there must

be some incentive, nancial or otherwise. The big

challenge at present is how to connect small-scale

farmers to international climate nance, says Henry

Neufeldt of the World Agroforestry Centre.

This is the subject of a policy brief Climate Finance

for Agriculture and Livelihoods published by the

World Agroforestry Centre in 2013. 4 This issue was

also explored in depth during the 18th Conference

of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention onClimate Change (COP 18), held in Doha in November

2012. Jointly organized by the World Agroforestry

Centre, CARE International and the Climate Change,

Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Program, a

roundtable session on climate nance was held as part

of Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day.

During the session, Neufeldt drew on an analysis of

seven biocarbon schemes in East Africa, all of which

seek to link smallholders to the carbon market.

Carbon is the currency that pays for many projects,but only a small amount of the money actually reaches

farmers, he says. Most goes on setting up the

projects and on measuring and verifying carbon stocks.

Nevertheless, farmers gain in other ways.

To give just one example, the Sustainable Agriculture in

a Changing Climate (SACC) project, managed by CARE

International in western Kenya, estimates that farmers

will receive an average carbon payment of just US$3

per year over the projects 25-year lifespan hardly

an incentive. However, the income from tree products

such as timber, rewood and building poles is estimated

to be 50 times greater, and therefore highly signicant.

Farmers also stand to benet from the provision of free

tree seedlings, the sale of fruit and fuelwood, and higher

crop yields that result from improved farming practices.

Smallholder carbon projects invariably require upfront

public nance. There is a long lag time between setting

up projects and gaining a signicant income from

carbon. In the case of the SACC project, Phil Franks of

CARE International told the meeting that the projects

breakeven point would be around year 15, and that was

being optimistic. This inevitably deters private investors.

However, there is scope for public-private partnerships.

There is plenty of evidence that there is private money

looking to invest in sustainable land management, butthe investors will need to make a return to do so, says

Neufeldt. This theme was explored by Lou Munden,

who described the Munden Projects Inari approach to

nancing sustainable land-use initiatives. This involves

leveraging risk across a wide range of investments,

spanning countries, landscapes and land-use activities,

in order to provide long-term, low-cost credit to

producers, with better returns to investors.

Another speaker, Rachel Diro of Colombia University,

talked about the importance of providing incentivesto help farmers adapt to climate change. These

include index-based insurance schemes which buffer

farmers against the risks they take when investing

in technologies and practices which are designed to

increase productivity.

4Foster K, Neufeldt H, Franks P, Diro R, Munden L, Wyatt M, Anand M, Wollenberg E. 2013. Climate Finance for Agriculture and Livelihoods. ICRAF

Policy Brief 15. Nairobi, Kenya. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)


17/68


Whereas conventional crop or livestock insurance

involves the direct measurement of losses in farmers

eld, which can be difcult and costly, payments made

under index-based insurance schemes are triggeredwhen an agreed parameter such as rainfall falls

below a certain level.

More information can be found about this and other

aspects of climate nance in the policy brief. It stresses

the importance of seeing the subject through the lens

of livelihoods and not just carbon sequestration andunderlines the need for an innovative and integrated

approach that connects rural farmers to public and

private nance at the global level.

Going carbon neutralThe World Agroforestry Centre is the rst

CGIAR institution to make a rigorous assessment

of its carbon emissions and in January 2013 its

headquarters in Nairobi was ofcially certied ascarbon neutral.

Greenhouse gas emissions for the Nairobi

headquarters amounted to approximately 2600 t of

carbon dioxide equivalent for 20115. Approximately

half the emissions came from staff travel and

ground transport; most of the rest came from the

consumption of electricity and individual commuting.

In December 2012, the Centre bought carbon

credits, based on the 2011 gures, to offset

its emissions for the next two years via the

CarbonNeutral Company. The rst tranche of

credits was bought from the Kasigau Corridor

REDD+ project in Kenya. This is helping to protect

over 200,000 ha of forest, an important wildlife

migration route, between East and West Tsavo

national parks.

We put out a call to tender and looked at 10

different projects in East Africa, explains Audrey

Chenevoy, who is responsible for overseeing the

Centres carbon offsetting programme. We wanted

to make sure that the projects we chose were really

beneting local communities. The Kasigau Corridor

is creating jobs, improving education and providing

direct nancial benets from carbon nance to over

100,000 local people.

As well as offsetting its emissions, the Centre is

reducing its carbon footprint by encouraging better

recycling, switching to energy-saving lighting and

improving video-conferencing as a way of cutting

down on travel. Over the coming years, the regional

ofces will also be assessing their emissions and

reducing their carbon footprint.

ICRAF/WildlifeWorks

5Following the accounting rules of the WBCSD/WRI


18/6818 Annual Report 2012-2013

Promoting carbon-richagriculture in PeruInternational climate change negotiations have been

much preoccupied with Reducing Emissions from

Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Since

deforestation is responsible for 15 per cent of global

greenhouse gas emissions, this makes sense. However,

scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre have

pointed out that more could be achieved by reducing

emissions from all land uses (REALU), as carbon

emissions outside areas ofcially dened as forests are

often highly signicant.

Take, for example, the Ucayali region in Peru. Since the

1930s, this once remote area in the upper Amazon

has seen wave upon wave of migration. This led to a

rubber boom and, much later, the building of a new

highway to link the region with the capital, Lima. Since

then migrants from the Andes and elsewhere have

continued to convert forest into farmland, says Claudia

Silva of the World Agroforestry Centre. While many

have practised shifting cultivation, others have made a

living from highly protable coca the raw material for

cocaine and, more recently, cocoa and oil palm.

In 2012, the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest

Margins initiated a REALU project in Ucayalis Padre

Abad province, one of the most deforested regions in

the Amazon. The research is exploring ways of working

with farmers to enhance carbon stocks in a range

of land-use systems. Scientists are also conducting

research on the design of payment schemes which

could encourage farmers to increase carbon stocks.

Frombusttoboom

Many families who migrated to Padre Abad during the

1980s and 1990s cleared forest to make way for coca

bushes. As part of a programme to reduce production

of coca, farmers have been encouraged to plant crops

such as cocoa and oil palm. The US-funded Alternative

Development Programme, known by its Spanish

acronym PDA, was particularly inuential in shaping the

y

Slash-and-burn farming practices have turned PadreAbad province into one of the most deforested regionsin the Amazon.

Farmers are being encouraged to increase carbon stocksby planting native species in their cocoa gardens.


19/68


land-use systems

and encouraging

the conversion of

forest to farmland

in Padre Abad.

The PDA also

helped to

establish farmer

cooperatives.

One of these

the Asociacin

de Cacaoteros

Tecnicados

de Padre Abad

(ACATPA) is

now working

with the World

Agroforestry Centre on REALU. Scientists from the

Centre had previously collaborated with ACATPA on

a project which involved, among other things, planting

shade trees in cocoa gardens. Because of our past

relationship, we knew about environmental services,

says ACATPAs chief executive ofcer, Ranfol Crdenas.

When Claudia told us about the possibility of getting

carbon payments, the idea immediately appealed to us.

In 2012, Claudias team, which included technicians from

ACATPA, conducted socio-economic surveys of 30

farms covering 931 ha, 128 ha of which were devoted

to cocoa. The surveys provided information about every

aspect of management, from the crops grown to the

length of fallows, from the use of trees on farmland to

methods of tackling pests and diseases. At the same

time, scientists measured carbon stocks for a range of

land-use systems, from high forest to tree crops and

degraded pasture.

Layingoutthechoices

By the end of the year, we had come up with a menu

of options for farmers, each with different implications

for storing and trapping carbon, says Silva. At one end

of the spectrum is business as usual. In this scenario,

smallholders will continue to emit carbon by clearing

forests and older fallows to make way for crops. At the

other end are farming systems which involve a range of

different options which will increase carbon stocks.

Weve calculated that by planting trees, farmers couldincrease carbon stocks in their cocoa gardens from an

average of 7590 t of carbon to 120 t, without reducing

productivity, explains Silva. Scientists are currently

assessing the sort of measures, and legal arrangements,

which will enable smallholders to receive payments for

their carbon enrichment activities under the voluntary

carbon market.

Many of ACATPAs members have high hopes for the

project. I think this scheme could provide us with

some income, says Nicolas Agero, who manages

9 ha of cocoa gardens with one of his sons. It may

not be much, but it will help. He says he would be

happy to plant more trees in his cocoa gardens; even

if the payments are modest, the trees will provide him

with timber and fruit. Agero also knows that better

management could increase the productivity of his

cocoa gardens. This, stresses Silva, is an important part

of the project. Its not just about carbon, she says.

Its about creating sustainable and productive farming

systems.

Nicolas Agero is one of manyfarmers who hope to benet fromthe REALU project.


20/6820 Annual Report 2012-2013

Adapting to climate change inthe West African SahelClimate models suggest that the West African Sahel is

likely to become hotter and drier, with a more variable

climate, during the next century. This has serious

implications for rural communities. Strengthening their

ability to analyse vulnerability to climate change and

develop plans to adapt to change is one of the priorities

of a World Agroforestry Centre project funded by the

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

A participatory methodology to analyse the

vulnerability of livelihoods was developed and applied in

villages in one region in Mali, another in Niger and two

in Burkina Faso. Using the methodology, scientists wereable to gather information about how the landscape has

changed, the major threats to natural resources, and the

villagers plans if any to reduce their vulnerability to

climate change.

Villagers typically cited a number of changes to the

landscape. Woodlands had disappeared as a result of

over-harvesting for fuel and fodder; many native tree

species had disappeared, especially in drier regions;

most wild animals had become locally extinct, largely

because of over-hunting; and constant cropping had

led to soil degradation and the loss of fertility. Many

villagers also said that rainfall had become more meagre

and less predictable; they attributed this to changes in

the climate, rather than any human activities.

The fact that most villagers recognized that they

themselves, and their ancestors, are responsible for

the negative changes in the landscape is crucial for any

climate change adaptation plan, says John Weber, who

led the research with Carmen Sotelo Montes. If they

accept responsibility for causing change, then they know

that they can alter certain practices to reverse thetrends and adapt to a hotter, drier and more variable

climate.

However, Weber points out that relatively few villagers

understood the effect of tree cover on local rainfall

and water table levels. This highlights the need for

extension and education programmes to explain why

the retention of tree cover is important.

During subsequent discussions, the villagers highlighted

practices which could help them adapt to climate

change. These included farmer-managed natural

regeneration, which has helped to re-green large

expanses of once degraded parklands in Niger, and the

planting and protecting of drought-tolerant tree species,

and provenances within species, especially in drier areas.

Ageandgendermatter

The methodology also involved interviews and

discussions with different gender and age groups: adult

men, young men, adult women and young women.

Members of each group began by listing the principal

activities including agriculture, animal herding, the sale

of food products from trees and fuelwood collection

which contributed to their livelihoods, and the threats

to these activities. Having assessed the vulnerability of

each activity on a scale of 0 to 3, they then discussed

specic adaptation plans for each of them.

The gender group analysis illustrated the importance

of developing adaptation plans that respond to the

specic vulnerability issues of each group, says SoteloMontes. Our research suggests that livelihoods of

different gender and age groups may be vulnerable to

different factors that are directly or indirectly affected

by climate change. Vulnerability should therefore be

assessed not only by region, but by gender and age

groups within each region when developing climate

change adaptation plans.

In several villages, adult women identied two major

threats to the livelihood activities of all groups: a

large number of children who cannot be properly fed,

clothed and educated; and limited farm size, especially

in the drier and hotter regions. Their solution: family

planning.

Many traditionally-minded men refused to listen to

these discussions. However, there were also many

young men and women who clearly understood the

need for family planning as part of their strategy

to adapt to climate change. We need to recognize


21/68


that human beings are also natural resources, and

that managing the size of the human population is an

essential component of a natural resource management

plan, says Weber.

Obviously, the World Agroforestry Centre and other

institutions conducting research on natural resource

management should not become involved in developing

management plans for the human population. However,

Weber believes they should promote dialogue about

these issues both within and among governmental and

non-governmental organizations involved in resource

management and climate change adaptation planning.

ICRAF/JohnC.

Weber


22/6822 Annual Report 2012-2013

Adapting to climate change inViet Nam

How are small-scale farmers in Viet Nam and thePhilippines adapting to extreme weather events, such

as oods and typhoons? And to what extent are

agroforestry practices helping them to cope? These

are among the questions which scientists from the

World Agroforestry Centre are putting to farmers in a

research project assessing adaptive strategies to climate

change in Southeast Asian watersheds. Under another

project, conducted in parallel, scientists are providing

support to local governments so that they can develop

policies for climate change adaptation.

Most of the farmers weve talked to say that eventhough there were extreme weather events in the past,

they tended to be regular, says World Agroforestry

Centre scientist Elisabeth Simelton, who is responsible

for overseeing research activities in Viet Nam. Now,

they say that there are more extreme events and they

are less predictable.

In Viet Nam, the projects have focused on two districts:

Yen Bai, a mountainous area near the border with

China; and Ky Anh, a coastal area which is frequently

hit by typhoons. Prior to conducting interviews with

ICRAF/LuyenThiDoan


23/68


farmers, local extension workers received training

in the use of participatory tools these will be

published in 2013 specically designed to guide

discussions about extreme weather events, climate

change adaptation, and the role of trees. Together

with Simelton, they subsequently held focus group

discussions, involving some 90 people, in 18 villages.

They found that farmers are exposed to at least ve

types of extreme weather events, and these contribute

along with other factors, such as pests and diseases

to crop failures, livestock deaths and the loss of income.

Where extreme weather was not the direct cause ofharvest failure, it was often the nal nail in the cofn,

says Simelton.

Most of the coping strategies identied by the research

were reactive, with farmers taking measures after

the events, rather than before. Knowledge about

agroforestry and its potential to buffer farmers against

climatic shocks, for example by preventing landslides,

was scanty.

The information gathered during the focus group

discussions will help local governments to develop andrene their land-use plans. Although some district staff

had received training on climate change issues, most

had never worked on mainstreaming climate change

into land-use plans. To improve their knowledge and

skills, Simelton and her colleagues organized a number

of workshops, which included feedback from the focus

group discussions and an introduction to climate-smart

agriculture and the role of agroforestry.

Local government ofcials showed considerable interest

in developing their knowledge. Thats partly because

the districts are legally obliged to develop climate

change adaptation plans, and the government has to pay

compensation for some losses of crops and livestock,says Simelton. But theyve also heard the testimony

of farmers, and that has encouraged them to take a

greater interest in climate-change adaptation.

During the second year of these three-year projects,

Simelton and her colleagues will analyse household

surveys, existing meteorological data and farmers

perceptions about changes in the climate. This will help

them to assess vulnerability to climate shocks at the

household level. The project will also continue to help

local governments develop their land-use plans.


24/6824 Annual Report 2012-2013

Trees, biodiversity and healthThere may be 60100,000 species of tree in the

world. Between them, they offer an astonishing array

of products and services. They provide us with timber,fuelwood, fruit, medicines, livestock fodder and much

else, and they help to maintain the health of landscapes

and ecosystems. The future of humankind depends, to

a considerable degree, on our ability to safeguard this

rich source of biodiversity.

In October 2012, the World Agroforestry Centre played

a prominent role at the 11th Conference of the Parties

(COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity,

which attracted some 5000 policymakers, scientists and

environmental activists to Hyderabad, India. This was

the rst time we have attended a biodiversity COP,

says Ramni Jamnadass, head of the research programme

on domestication, and it provided an excellent

platform for discussing the roles and importance of

trees on farms.

One of the main side events during the week was

Tree Diversity Day, which the World Agroforestry

Centre co-hosted with Bioversity International, the

Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)

and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture

(CIAT). There is always a strong focus on policy during

international COPs like this, but Tree Diversity Day

helped to create some space to describe some of the

scientic issues of importance, says Stepha McMullin,

who coordinated the event.

Meine van Noordwijk from the World Agroforestry

Centres Southeast Asia ofce opened the morning

session by describing the importance of tree diversity

in the UN conventions on biological diversity, climate

change and desertication. Ramni Jamnadass discussed

the role of trees for food, health and nutrition;

Eike Luedeling contributed to the discussion about

biodiversity and climate change; and Roeland Kindt

spoke about vegetation mapping (see page 45) in a

session on restoring biodiversity to landscapes.

Whatscooking?

An evening event organized by the World Agroforestry

Centre Whats cooking on farms? Trees for health,

fuel and nutrition proved so popular that, in the

words of the organizer, Stepha McMullin, there were

people hanging out of the doors and windows.

Speakers talked about the contribution of medicinal

trees and shrubs to human health, the importance of

domesticating wild fruit trees, and health issues related

to the use of fuelwood.

According to Tony Cunningham, a senior associate

with the World Agroforestry Centre, some 2.4 billion

people in developing countries rely on wood, charcoal

and animal dung for cooking and heating. In Africa, 90

per cent of the rural population use these solid fuels,

and they would be lost without them. You cannot eat

raw beans; it would be dangerous to eat raw chicken

or pork. In short, much of the food we eat must be

cooked.

While many types of fuelwood do the job theyresupposed to do without signicantly damaging human

health, others pose or could pose a serious health

risk. Cunningham gave the example ofEuclea divinorum,

whose local name in Africa ichitamuzi means to

split the family. Any use of the wood is thought to lead

to family arguments, so it is never used for cooking. This

is just as well, said Cunningham. Not only does Euclea

wood produce a lot of smoke, it contains diterpenes

ICRAF/CharliePye-Smith


25/68


that can have serious health consequences when

inhaled.

Some tree species contain aromatic hydrocarbons

that are carcinogenic when inhaled; and certain metal

ions, released when wood is burned, can lead to eye

cataracts. With charcoal and fuelwood becoming more

expensive, many poorer families nd they can no longer

afford to buy non-toxic fuelwood, and end up using

whatever they can.

One way of tackling this problem is through the

cultivation of trees that produce good quality

fuelwood on farms. Cunningham recommended using

participatory processes that combine modern science

and local knowledge to select tree species with low

toxins.

The World Agroforestry Centre already has

considerable experience of participatory tree

domestication, a practice which it pioneered in West

and Central Africa. This was the focus of a presentationby Roger Leakey, the author ofLiving with the Trees of

Life, a book which draws heavily on his long experience

as a former research scientist with the Centre.

Diverse agroforestry systems, argued Leakey during

the Whats cooking? event, could help to stem the

loss of biodiversity, and at the same time tackle land

degradation and social deprivation. Participatory

domestication can play an important role in improving

the protability and productivity of smallholder farming

systems.

A new dealDuring the 11th Conference of the Parties in

Hyderabad, the World Agroforestry Centre and the

United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity

(CBD) signed an agreement which aims to improvesmallholders livelihoods. The agreement will do

this through the development and application of

knowledge on the use of trees to diversify farming

systems. It will contribute directly to the CBD

Strategic Plan for Biodiversity and a series of targets

known as the Aichi Nogoya targets to protect

the worlds biodiversity. So far, 197 countries have

signed up to these.

Agriculture should no longer be seen as the enemy

of biodiversity, said Ravi Prabhu, the Centres

Deputy Director General for Research, as he signed

the new Memorandum of Understanding with CBDExecutive Secretary Braulio Ferreria de Souza Dias.

During the same event, the CBD Secretariat signed

another MoU with the CGIAR Research Programme

on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, in which the

World Agroforestry Centre is a major partner.

The vast majority of families in rural Africa rely on wood for cooking.

ICRAF/ValterZia

ntoni


26/6826 Annual Report 2012-2013

Agroforestry and treeconservationThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species estimates

that 1200 trees and shrubs are critically endangered,

1700 are endangered and another 3700 are

vulnerable. The decline in availability of many tree

species, and the loss of habitats in which they are found,

is of particular concern to rural communities who

depend on them for their sustenance and livelihoods.

It is frequently claimed that agroforestry, now practised

by an estimated 1.2 billion people, has a signicant role

to play when it comes to conserving trees and shrubs.

But to what extent is this true? A review published in

BiodiversityandConservation in 2013 sifted the evidence.6

What we tried to do for the rst time, I think

was bring together into a single consideration the

different mechanisms of tree conservation, and explore

the linkages between them, says the reviews leading

author, Ian Dawson, an Associate Fellow with the World

Agroforestry Centre.

Agroforestry systems frequently boast high tree species

diversity, and they can therefore make a signicant

contribution to conservation. However, the review

points out that in some situations this is a transitorystate of affairs. For example, an agroforest may contain

trees which are remnants of the old forest cover, and

these may not be replaced when they die. If we are

to successfully conserve trees on farmland we need

to understand how to promote connectivity among

individual trees in low-density populations.

We also need to understand how issues such as

climate change will affect pollination, and potentially

reduce connectivity, says Dawson. This is particularly

important when it comes to conserving trees whose

main function is the provision of fruit. If particular fruit

tree species are found at such low densities that their

pollination becomes problematic, and hence little fruit is

produced, farmers will gain little from keeping them.

Conventional wisdom suggests that cultivating trees

on farms, or in plantations, helps to take pressure off

nearby natural forests. However, the review suggests

that there is little hard evidence for this. Indeed, the

opposite may be true if cultivation increases markets

or eases access to resources. The conditions under

which cultivation can promote forest protection are

being explored more fully in partnership with Bioversity

International and the Center for International ForestryResearch (CIFOR).

6Dawson IK, Guariguata MR, Loo J, Weber JC, Lengkeek A, Bush D, Cornelius JP, Guarino L, Kindt R., Orwa C, Russell J, Jamnadass RH. 2013. What

is the relevance of smallholders agroforestry systems for conserving tropical tree species and genetic diversity in circa situm, in situ and ex situ

settings? A review. Biodiversity and Conservation, Vol 22, No 2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0429-5

ICRAF


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ICRAF/SherryOdeyo

Dawson and his co-authors believe that the presence

of tree seeds in collections held by commercial

dealers, research institutes, national tree seed centres

and genebanks may lead to a false sense of security,

promoting the belief that the species are being

conserved and will be available for future use. However,

these ex situ collections do not necessarily represent

the best way of conserving many species, not least

because of the high costs of regenerating stored seed,

and the fact that many species are represented only

once or a few times and may be lost as commercial

demands and research trends change.

Ultimately, conservation relies on a combination of

forest, farm and ex situ approaches. According to the

authors, conservation will increasingly rely on retaining

a diverse range of tree species on smallholders farms.

However, concerns about the long-term effectiveness

of this strategy need to be properly quantied and

addressed. More research is also needed on the stability

of tree seed collections held by dealers, researchers

and seed centres.

Safeguarding the genetic heritageIn 2012, the World Agroforestry Centres Genetic

Resources Unit received the rst tranche of a

grant which will lead to major improvements in the

conservation and storage of tree germplasm. This will

strengthen its ability to provide the genetic material

required for research and conservation, and for

programmes involving domestication. The ve-year

grant will be divided between the long- and medium-

term storage of seeds at low temperatures and

conservation in eld genebanks.

Over the years, the Centre has established an ex

situ collection of around 3700 accessions of some

300 agroforestry species in medium-term storage

at its headquarters in Nairobi. It also has over 1500

accessions in the Millennium Seed Bank in the UK

and over 750 accessions in Kunming, in China, in

long-term storage. About 770 accessions are in

safety duplication at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in

Norway.

We aim to conserve as many different varieties of

the priority agroforestry tree species as possible,

to represent their range of genetic diversity,

says genebank manager Alice Muchugi. The new

grant means that we can now expand our ex situ

collections and improve the seed research and

storage facilities at our headquarters.

Many agroforestry tree species valued by farmers,

including many important fruit trees, are recalcitrant;

that is, they produce seeds which cannot be

conserved in cold, dry conditions. Instead, they

must be grown from either seeds or clones in eld

genebanks, where they can be used for multiplication

and distribution, as well as for conservation.

The World Agroforestry Centre has some 60 eld

genebanks in over 20 countries. Most of these

were established for evaluation and multiplication of

indigenous tree germplasm in domestication projectswith national partners in the respective countries,

explains Ramni Jamnadass. However, once projects

were completed they tended to suffer from neglect,

even though they still contain important genetic

variation. The new grant will help the Centre to

restore and expand these eld genebanks and make

better use of them to develop new cultivars for use

on farmers elds.


28/6828 Annual Report 2012-2013

Herbal medicine: good for health,bad for the environment?According to the World Health Organization, 7080per cent of people in developing countries use herbal

medicines, with thousands of plant species many of

them trees providing the raw material. However,

despite their importance, there has been relatively little

research on medicinal trees and shrubs.

Its not an easy subject to explore, says Stepha

McMullin, a scientist with the World Agroforestry

Centre. Transactions tend to be informal, the quantities

and species traded dont appear in government

statistics, and traders tend to lack formal education.

Furthermore, there has been a paucity of research

on the bio-chemical properties of species used in

traditional health care.

To gain a better understanding of the trade in Kenya,

McMullin conducted surveys in traditional medicine

markets in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, the largest

cities in the country. Her study, published in 2012,

provides one of the most comprehensive analyses to

date of the use of medicinal trees and shrubs in Kenya

and the impact of the trade on wild populations. 7

McMullin interviewed 91 traders. Between them, they

were buying and selling bark, roots, leaves and other

material harvested from 53 species of trees and shrubs.

Some of these were bought and sold in relatively

small quantities. However, others were traded in large

amounts. These included Warburgia ugandensis, which is

widely used as a cure for malaria, stomach ache and a

variety of other ailments.

The vast majority of material sold in the markets came

from wild harvesting, either by traders or collectors.Many traders said there had been a signicant decline

in the availability of many species during the two

years prior to the study. The reasons varied, with 30

per cent citing overharvesting, 23 per cent changing

environmental conditions and 19 per cent restrictions

on access. Almost two out of three traders said they nolonger had enough material to satisfy demand.

McMullin also interviewed over 180 consumers while

she was in the markets. Getting to the truth wasnt

always easy. Many people are reluctant to speak about

traditional medicines, especially in urban areas, because

there is a stigma attached to their use, she says. The

perception is that its more modern to use conventional

medicine.

According to some of the medical doctors McMullin

spoke to, this is a major concern. Although many were

sympathetic to the use of traditional medicines, they

were worried about the reluctance of patients to admit

to their use. Potentially, combining traditional and

conventional treatments could have a lethal effect, says

McMullin. She suggests that consumers would be more

willing to acknowledge their use of herbal medicines

if traditional medicine was recognized as a legitimate

form of health care by the government.

7McMullin S, Phelan J, Jamnadass R, Iiyama M, Franzel S, Nieuwenhuis M.2012. Trade in medicinal tree and shrub products in three urban centres in

Kenya. Forests, Trees and Livelihoods 21, 3: 188-206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14728028.2012.733559

ICRAF/ReaganSirengo


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McMullins research conrms what many suspected: the

demand for medicinal trees and shrubs is leading to

signicant levels of overharvesting. The increasing rarity

ofWarburgia ugandensis, to give just one example, has

led to it being classied as vulnerable on the IUCN

Red List of Endangered Species. Although some of the

traders said that they were cultivating medicinal trees,

this was happening on a very small scale, says McMullin.

Future research, she suggests, should focus on further

evaluation of the threat to natural populations

of priority species; on analysing value chains for

sustainable production and marketing; and on assessing

the economic and ecological benets of cultivating

medicinal trees and shrubs on smallholder farms.

A domestication primerDuring the last two decades, the World Agroforestry

Centre has pioneered the practice of participatory

tree domestication, and this has become one of the

great agroforestry success stories. Scientists and

farmers have worked together to bring wild trees

out of the forests and onto farmland and develop

superior, high-yielding varieties of indigenous trees

like African plum, Bush mango and kola nut. This has

helped to increase the incomes of tens of thousands

of small-scale farmers in Africa, Latin America and

Asia.

2012 saw the publication ofAgroforestry Tree

Domestication: A Primer. Its a sort of bible, saysRamni Jamnadass, one of the co-authors. It pulls

together all the elements of domestication in

ways which will be useful to universities, research

institutes and extension agencies.

The primer consists of ve modules on key topics

related to tree domestication. These include basic

principles; choosing the right tree; evaluating variation

within species; obtaining high-quality germplasm; and

delivering the results to farmers. Written in a lively,

non-technical language, and illustrated with case

studies and photographs, the primer will be updated

at regular intervals, providing readers with the latest

information on the subject.

ICRAF/Ste

phaMcMullin

ICRAF


30/6830 Annual Report 2012-2013

Linking life above ground withlife belowBefore he joined the World Agroforestry Centre in2010, Edmundo Barrios conducted extensive research

on the Quesungual slash-and-mulch agroforestry

system in Honduras. This involves farmers pruning trees

interspersed among annual crops and spreading the

green matter to decompose on the soil. Barrios found

signicantly higher concentrations of biological activity,

more carbon and nutrients and greater availability of

water in the soil under the inuence of trees than in

the soil in nearby elds without trees.

This and other studies conrm that trees can play amajor role in maintaining and enhancing fertility by

acting as a refuge for soil organisms, improving soil

structure and increasing the supply and availability of

nutrients. But which particular tree species, and what

mixtures of species, do the most to promote biological

activity in the soil? It is questions such as these that

Barrios and his colleagues now seek to answer.

We are currently assessing the impact of trees on soil

biodiversity at the landscape level, building on the soil

and vegetation characterization work which has been

done by the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS),

says Barrios. This four-year project, which comes to an

end in 2013, conducted a systematic evaluation of soil

health at 61 sentinel sites in 21 countries. At random

plots within each site, scientists took soil samples

and recorded data on key plant and soil parameters,

including erosion risk, tree cover and land use.

Working at sentinel sites in four countries Malawi,

Kenya, Uganda and Mali Barrios and his colleagues

have been sampling life below ground, thus adding

another layer of information to the AfSIS data. Soil

macro-organisms which are visible to the naked eye,

such as earthworms and centipedes, are hand-sorted

and taxonomically classied; micro-organisms are

investigated using novel DNA ngerprinting techniques.

This is providing scientists with a better understanding

of the interactions between trees and soil biodiversity,

and the impact of trees on below-ground biologicalactivity that is benecial to agriculture.

Diggingdeeper

But the research doesnt end there. To evaluate the

precise impact which particular tree species have on

soil organisms, Barrios is enlisting the help of local

farmers. At the Kiberashi sentinel site in Tanzania,

scientists organized a workshop with seven local

communities (See box: Blending local and scientic

knowledge). The farmers were able to share theirknowledge and experience with scientists on specic

trees which were having an inuence on biological

activity below the soil either for better or for worse.

We then selected a number of plots for intensive

sampling, and analysed soil biodiversity at various

distances around and beyond these trees, says Barrios.

At the time of going to press, the data was still being

analysed, but Barrios is convinced that the information

gathered here, and at other sites, will provide valuable

guidance to farmers, national research and extensionservices, agricultural ministries, policymakers and

others interested in soil health. Among other things,

soil biodiversity information will act as an early warning

system, providing evidence of degradation before it is

visually obvious.

The research at the sentinel sites will also be useful

for organizations and individuals who wish to manage

landscapes for their ecosystem services. The more

we know about the links between vegetation and the

biological activity underpinning key soil functions, theeasier it will be to evaluate the role specic landscapes

play in sequestering carbon, storing clean water and

controlling pests and diseases. Barrios stresses that this

is work in progress. However, theres no doubt that

we are gaining a much better understanding about the

relationships between life above and below ground.


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Blending local and scientific knowledgeIn May 2012, a ve-day workshop organized by the

World Agroforestry Centre, the Brazilian Agricultural

Research Corporation (Embrapa) and Mozambiques

National Institute of Agronomic Research (IIAM)

explored the benets of linking local knowledge

with scientic expertise when assessing soil health.

Researchers, extension workers and some 50

farmers from eight communities in Rapale District

used a methodological guide8 developed through

a collaboration involving the World Agroforestry

Centre, Embrapa and the International Centre for

Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

One of the aims of the guide is to provide tools

that facilitate communication between scientists and

farmers, so they can develop a shared view about

which soil fertility constraints should be tackled

rst, and what agroecology principles and integrated

soil fertility management options should be used to

address such constraints, says Edmundo Barrios.

The Mozambique workshop involved training onthe systematic identication, classication and

prioritization of local knowledge with farmers, and

the use of tools to integrate local knowledge with

science. Agroforestry is usually high on the list of

options because it can simultaneously address several

constraints, given its multifunctional character, says

Barrios.

The workshop was part of a new South-South

initiative, Fostering Knowledge Sharing for Integrated

Natural Resource Management in Agricultural

Landscapes of Southern Africa. This is funded by theAfrica-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace and

led by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

(FARA) and Embrapa. I think it was a huge success,

says Barrios, and it was a good example of effective

collaboration between Latin America and Africa.

ICRAF

/EdmundoBarrios

8Barrios E et al. 2012. InPaC-S: Participatory Knowledge Integration on Indicators of Soil Quality Methodological Guide. ICRAF, Embrapa,

CIAT.


32/6832 Annual Report 2012-2013

In search of stable crop yields

As rural populations have increased in sub-Saharan

Africa, the average size of land holdings has shrunk

and soils have become exhausted through continuous

cropping, with most small-scale farmers unable to

afford mineral fertilizers. As a result, maize yields have

stagnated at a meagre 1 tonne per hectare. This is one

of the reasons why Africa suffers from such high levels

of malnutrition.

But it neednt be like this. Research by the World

Agroforestry Centre has shown that farmers can

increase their yields, and improve soil fertility, by

integrating leguminous trees in their cropping systems.

Evidence suggests that the greatest response to the use

of fertilizer trees is on nutrient-poor soils.

However, until recently little work had been done

on the stability of these yields. Led by agro-ecologist

Gudeta Sileshi, senior scientists from the Centre

compared the stability of maize yields in three long-

term trials in Malawi and Zambia under three different

regimes: the maize-gliricidia systems promoted by the

World Agroforestry Centre; monoculture maize grown

with mineral fertilizers the option favoured by many

better off farmers; and maize grown without either

fertilizer trees or mineral fertilizers, the practice of

most poor farming families.9

As expected, the intercropping of maize with gliricidia

signicantly increased maize yields when compared

with maize grown without any external inputs. At the

Makoka research site in Malawi, for example, the green

leaves and twigs of gliricidia added up to 302 kg of

nitrogen per hectare per year. This is highly signicant,

bearing in mind that the average amount of nitrogen

fertilizer used by African farmers is a meagre 10 kg per

hectare.

The experimental plots of maize grown with mineral

fertilizers also produced high yields. However, in

contrast to the maize-gliricidia systems, yields were

unstable in all three trials; in other words, they did not

remain constant year after year. This hig

ICRAF 2012-13 Annual Report-8

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