Agroforestry and land management in the future

Abstract

Since its modest beginning in the late 1970s, agroforestry has become widely recognized and accepted as a sustainable approach to land management the world over. Although the international investments in agroforestry research and development have been comparatively meager, those investments have paid off extremely well. The role and potential of agroforestry have been recognized as an alternative or a complement to the segregated approach to agricultural simplification that has been the dominant paradigm of the modern era. Recent studies and analyses have shown that as a land management system, agroforestry has the potential for achieving nine out of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. It has been well recognized that scientific knowledge is only one aspect of accomplishing the complex task of sustainable development. Time and again, it has become abundantly clear that it is not the lack of scientific knowledge that hinders progress. The gap between what we already know in agroforestry and the extent to which that knowledge is applied is widening. Therefore, a two-pronged approach is needed in agroforestry research and development: intensify research in key areas with potentially wide applicability of the results, and promote technology transfer for which the support of an enabling policy framework is critical. At a time when the world seems to be trying to solve its agricultural and other land-management problems through robotics and genetic engineering, we should be vigilant not to lose track and be left out of the opportunities to employ modern technological tools in agroforestry research and development.