Promoting Agroforestry Systems for Livelihoods and Ecosystem Management: The Role of Global, National and Sectorial Initiatives

Agroforestry is one of the few landuse systems in the world with a capacity to contribute to livelihood improvement while fostering ecosystem management.In recent years, agroforestry has gained increasing attention globally as a climate-smart and multifunctional practice.Despite the popularity of agroforestry in recent years, there are currently few global, national and sectorial initiatives geared towards promoting agroforestry as a sustainable strategy for livelihood improvement and ecosystem management.This paper which is based on an in-depth review of existing literature seeks to fill this void while proposing pathways for future empirical research.Findings reveal that, agroforestry systems contribute to livelihood improvement through the provision of food, fodder, fuelwood, income, honey, fruits, poles, building materials, meat, milk, eggs.Agroforestry systems are equally vital for ecosystem management through the conservation of flora and fauna in-situ as well as contributing to the conservation of protected areas through the buffering of pressure on the latter.The main global initiatives promoting agroforestry as a sustainable strategy for livelihood improvement and ecosystem management are the sustainable development goals (SDGs), Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF), Green Climate Fund (GCF), REDD+, the Paris Climate Agreement, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100).Nationally, countries such as Nepal, Kenya and India have well developed initiatives geared towards promoting agroforestry as a strategy for livelihood improvement and ecosystem management.Other countries across the world have factored in agroforestry into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).There are also sectorial initiatives championed by stakeholders such environmental non-governmental organizations, community organizations as well as environmental and development agencies such as CIFOR-ICRAF, IUCN and WWF as well as community organizations geared towards promoting agroforestry as a strategy for livelihood improvement and ecosystem management.A better alignment and synchronization of global, national and sectorial initiatives will contribute towards fostering agroforestry as a sustainable strategy for livelihood improvement and ecosystem management.