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.
Dourojeanni raised a number of specific policy considerations. ‘Pro-poor’ agroforestry is sometimes promoted as the bottom line. But in Latin America, the best agroforestry is being implemented by rich farming families, not poor people. Although laws must bring benefits to poor farmers, they should not completely exclude the rest of the farmers. What about agroforestry legislation that results in further deforestation? In Brazil, the legislation has lured agroforestry into protected forest areas. Dourojeanni emphasized that the very first principle of any agroforestry law is that agroforestry must not be a pretext for more deforestation and forest degradation. Other considerations relate to how to facilitate selective timber use within the forestry law, and how to accommodate for concurrent land uses. Another fundamental question is where to place Agroforestry within the administration. Does it sit in forestry, agriculture, or rural affairs? Ultimately cross-sectoral interactions must form the basis of any agroforestry legislation. Dourojeanni suggested that one good way forward is to catalogue success stories in agroforestry legislation, and to understand how it’s been defined, in which sector it is located, and what incentives exist. Finally he suggested that more attention be paid to the economics of agroforestry systems, especially how to make evident in dollars-per-hectare the environmental services benefits, and how these benefits will reach the farmers.