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Agroforestry Comes of Age Agroforestry first captivated the attention of the scientific community in the late 1970s. Today, agroforestry has come of age - poised as a sustainable land use option the world over. Its potential for achieving the goals of the key global environmental conventions - climate change, Biodiversity, and Desertification, as well as the Millennium Development Goals, has drawn the interest of scientists and policy makers alike. The Stern Review on the economics of Climate Change put forests and land use firmly back on the global agenda. The 12th Climate Change Convention of the Parties (COP), co-hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya, emphasized how crucial it is to link carbon credits with smallholder agroforestry throughout the tropics. Scientists are developing effective and inexpensive methods to enable major carbon investment flows to smallholders - and governments and development agencies worldwide are taking notice. Emerging partnerships between institutions engaged in agroforestry and biological conservation are building on their respective strengths to tackle the challenges of protecting biodiversity. Indeed the role agroforestry plays in tackling global environmental problems, and poverty, has never been more widely appreciated. It is against the backdrop of these exciting developments that we announce the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry, scheduled for 23-28 August 2009, in Nairobi, Kenya. The 1st World Congress of Agroforestry, held in 2004 in Florida, USA, provided a global forum for agroforestry professionals to share knowledge, experiences, and ideas, and to plan future strategies in agroforestry research, education and training, and development.
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