Other agroforestry systems and practices

Abstract

This chapter deals with a vast array of complex and diverse systems and practices that are little known outside the limited regions where they are practiced but are revered by the local inhabitants for their multiple products, outputs, and services. The term Cinderella agroforestry systems is used to refer to such "downtrodden" or little-explored systems. Some noteworthy examples of tree planting activities known by similar-sounding terms had been promoted by the traditional forestry departments in the 1990s. They all had the common underlying theme of the involvement of (local) people in planting, managing, and utilizing trees on farmlands (farm forestry), community lands (community forests), and socially and openly accessible lands such as the sides of roads, railways, and canals (social forestry). Fuelwood trees, fodder trees, medicinal and aromatic plants, trees outside forests, urban food forestry, permaculture, and carbon farming are some other specialty groups of trees and land-use practices that offer a variety of products and ecosystem services. These time-tested systems are intricately intertwined with the cultural and societal heritage of the practitioners and are repositories of ecological wealth providing diverse social and economic benefits.