Agroforestry as land use based on planted trees, provides productive and protective (biological diversity, healthy ecosystems, protection of soil and water resources, terrestrial carbon storage) forest functions that societies care about in the debate on sustainable forest management. Yet, the trees planted in agroforestry systems are excluded in formal definitions and statistics of 'forests' and are often overlooked in the legal and institutional framework for sustainable forest management. A paradigm shift is needed in the forestry sector and public debate to redress this oversight. Current relationships between agroforestry and plantation forestry are perceived to be complementary, neutral or competitive, depending on the ability of (inter)national policy frameworks to provide a level playing field for the provision to society at large of productive and protective forest functions. In conditions where large-scale plantations operate with substantial government subsidies (direct or indirect, partly justified by environmental service functions), in contrast to non-existent or minimal subsidies for agroforestry, the potential to produce wood and simultaneously provide for many forest benefits and ecological services with agroforestry is placed at a disadvantage, to the detriment of society at large.
Publication year
2022
Authors
Martini, E.; Suyanto; van Noordwijk, M.
Language
English
Keywords
trees, agroforestry
Geographic
Indonesia
