Blogs

For an overview of day-by-day happenings at the Congress, take a look at the Daily Highlights. Each pdf includes a summary of the day’s plenary sessions, panel discussions and symposia together with participant photos and other items of interest.

Opening day highlights – Monday 24 October 2009

As the Congress wound up, news of agroforestry continued to feature in media across the globe. Here is a summary of some more of the coverage with links to stories where they are available online.

Discovery News
African Tree Makes Soils Rich for Crops

SciDev.net
Acacia tree can boost crops — and more — across Africa

Dear Garrity and all other colleagues, let me before leaving the soil of Nairobi where the 2nd World Agroforestry Congress has taken place (23-28.08.2009), I would like to congratulate you all for the excellent work that has already received the high level of satisfaction among the participants, both in terms of subject matter contents and logistics.

This WCA2009 will be remembered by many as a landmark showing and shaping the future of land use gearing towards poverty reduction, food security and targeting climate change.
WCA2009 will remain as an unforgettable event,

These may be the most astonishing posters I have ever seen. Out of the 300 posters displayed during the WCA 2009 at the UN Headquarters in Nairobi from 23rd to 28th of August, the two posters produced by LAYA are unique. They are all handwritten!

Forests in Sub-saharan Africa are crucial to the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people who rely on their services for daily support. They are also vital carbon sinks and biodiversity zones, and must therefore be a priority to the international community as it strategizes about climate change and other global challenges. How can we make sub-Saharan African forests work for people and nature? This question is at the heart of a new policy document launched at the World Agroforestry Congress on Wednesday.

“Making sub-Saharan African Forests Work for People and Nature”(PDF) was developed jointly by the Special Project on World Forests, Society and Environment (WFSE) of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). Its key messages can help guide Africa forward in harnessing its rich natural resources for economic development and participation in global markets and mechanisms.

Peruvian agronomist and forestry expert Marc Dourojeanni put himself in a policy-maker’s shoes and asked “what would I be thinking if I were designing agroforestry legislation in Latin America?” A lawmaker is constrained by political trends and timelines, the economic bottom line, public opinion, and catering to his constituents and supporters.

Too many laws, he said, are ‘declarative’ – based on a priori assumptions that agroforestry is appropriate and or feasible in a given landscape. However, a law is not a policy document but the consequence of a policy. The environmental and social functions of agroforestry must be taken into account for financing. If agroforestry is so profitable, then why do we need to promote it? Serious but simple economic feasibility studies must take place. And laws must be precise, clear and enforceable.

On 26 August at the World Congress of Agroforestry, the ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins convened a symposium on High Carbon Stocks Development Pathways. Land use change and deforestation are critical drivers to climate change, contributing to 20 - 25% of gas emissions.
Smallholder carbon agroforestry, such as Jungle Rubber in Indonesia (left) can be critical in reducing deforestation while restocking deforested lands. Smallholder farmers in the tropical forest margins can potentially benefit from global carbon markets and contribute to fighting climate change, by implementing agroforestry practises that store carbon, bring short term economic returns, and fit with local traditional practises.
Click to read the full story on the ASB Blog

In her keynote address on the final day of the Congress, Angela Cropper, Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, emphasized the need for greater integration between organizations working in natural resource management. “While we are working on different issues, we are all working for the same global goals”.

“A sectoral approach has been largely ineffective in ecosystem management,” said Cropper “the challenge is to understand and address the management of natural systems in a more systematic manner”.

The reports of Day 2 afternoon technical sessions are available from the Day 2 reports page.

More documents will be added as session leaders make them available. Please keep checking out http://www.worldagroforestry.org/wca2009/reports/day2.html

Agroforestry Centre’s research and outreach activities in southern and eastern Africa. Among the key findings presented are:

• Fodder shrubs and fertilizer trees have proven potential for increasing yields and income, and providing many other
• social benefits. They have been adopted widely by poor farmers, both men and women in southern and eastern Africa.
• Fertilizer trees add substantial nutrients from tree biomass, reducing the requirement for mineral N fertilizer by 75%,translating to substantial savings on mineral fertilizer imports.