Current R&D work revolves around these areas of concern:
 

  • Development and dissemination of practical conservation farming systems for sloping lands;
  • Diversifying tree species for agroforestry, and improving planting material quality and delivery pathways;
  • Natural resources management policies and strategies for the uplands;
  • Understanding tenure and ancestral domain issues;
  • Developing mechanisms for rewarding environmental services provided by the upland poor;
  • Developing viable carbon sequestration projects and climate change mitigation; and
  • Climate change adaptation for smallholder farmers;
  • Capacity building.

 
ICRAF is proud to be part of a multi-sector effort to promote Agroforestry in the Philippines, especially among swidden agroculturists (slash-and-burn farmers) and upland farmers.  ICRAF has also worked on developing the negotiation support process with partners in the Manupali watershed in Central Bukidnon. The work focused on the buffer zone of the Mt. Kitanglad Range Nature Park in the upper reaches of the Manupali watershed in central Mindanao, Philippines. The research aimed to develop the elements of a workable social contract between buffer zone communities and non-local stakeholders concerned with resource protection. ICRAF and its partners developed tools and approaches to improve the integration of biodiversity conservation and agroforestry development through the active involvement of communities.
 
In the Philippines, ICRAF is at the forefront of research and development on carbon sequestration potential of tree farms and agroforestry farms. It is also providing technical assistance in developing viable forest carbon projects under the CDM and in other climate change mitigation projects in the country. It is also working with various partners to facilitate the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into the country’s development agenda.
 
ICRAF is committed in promoting “trees on farms” in the country and is initiating the promotion  of ecosystem-based mitigation and adaptation strategies to address climate change.