Tree-based Sustainable Development: Sustainable Development Goals and tree-cover transitions: a review of what we know, ought to know, want to learn.
This session took place on the Thursday morning of ICRAF's Science Week 2015, held 14-18 September in Bogor, Indonesia.
Development as we know it has, by and large, been achieved by using forest resources: by replacing forests with open-field agriculture, pastures, plantations, cities, roads and industrial infrastructure.
Historical data for Indonesia suggest, however, that large gains have been made in reconciling human populations and forest, even at increased per capita welfare. Further reconciliation of per capita welfare and presence of forests will be needed, however.
This is a challenge that the Sustainable Development Goals need to address. A trade-off between human population density, well-being and forests is not inevitable and functional tree cover (whether or not this meets the forest definition and institutional concepts) comes back after periods of decline.
This non-linear response is known variously as "forest transition" or "tree-cover transition" and is associated with a "tree-diversity transition" curve. Functionality, in this context, can be judged from many angles, relating to several, if not all, of the Sustainable Development Goals.
A key theory of change for the agroforestry community is that functional tree cover on farms and in landscapes can assist to achieve any or all of the SDGs and that it is the integration (simultaneous achievement) of goals that is a particular strength of a "landscape approach".
Through a review of evidence and critical uncertainties of the way agroforestry efforts relate to all of the SDGs, a new perspective of forests, trees and agroforestry starts to emerge.
The introductory presentation will share compiled "key findings" and their "implications" from a rapid review of the available evidence and science.
