INVESTING IN TREES AND LANDSCAPE ... - PROFOR

with strong policy and extension support from the Ministry of Agriculture and international donors (e.g.,
Norway). The World Agroforestry Centre, the African Conservation Tillage Network, and FAO were actively
involved. From civil society, NGOs such as the Catholic Archdiocese of Monze, Development Aid from
People to People, CARE, and Africare have participated in promotion efforts. Other stakeholders include
the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), the Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust (a publicprivate
partnership created by the government and ZNFU), the Cooperative League of the USA, and World
Vision. The Dunavant Cotton Company—one of the largest cotton companies in Zambia—has worked
closely with the CFU, especially in farmer training, to support the widespread spontaneous adoption of CA
by Zambian cotton farmers (Haggblade and Tembo 2003).
Source: Carbon Trading in Conservation Agriculture and Green Knowledge Institute.
services are also being pursued as a source of business opportunities by a wide spectrum of
business interests, from small entrepreneurs to large banks and institutional investors. In a survey
of more than 1,500 business executives, 59 percent of respondents saw biodiversity as more of a
business opportunity than a risk (TEEB 2010).
Farm and Landscape Strategies for Restoration
The degradation and restoration of tree cover in countries over time, under continuing land
use pressure, is illustrated in Figure 1: Forest and Land Use Transition Curve reproduced in this
volume’s introduction. Landscape restoration generally aims to achieve a mosaic of natural forest
habitat, planted forest cover, farmlands, and grazing areas that are managed synergistically to
increase household and business income while maintaining and enhancing the natural resource
base to provide a range of critical ecosystem services. Tree crops and production forestry can play
an important role, particularly if these plantings include a diversity of tree species and planting
types, such as intercrops, boundary plantings, mixed species plantations, and multistrata systems.
Tree planting can also support nearby agricultural practices; for instance, by providing nitrogenous
fertilizer, fodder, or biomass for mulch on nearby cropfields.
Beyond commercial tree crops, a rich menu of SLM practices is available for farms, rangeland,
forests, and wetlands in all parts of Africa, such as agro-ecological cropping approaches, including
organic materials application, cover crops, and intercropping; conservation agriculture (FAO 2010,
Milder, Majanen and Scherr 2011); agroforestry and evergreen agriculture (Garrity et al.2010); and
soil and water conservation techniques, including terracing, planting pits, soil bunds, live fences,
intensive rotational grazing, and fallow strips (Liniger et al. 2011).
Several barriers inhibit the broader and more effective use of combinations of farm-level sustainable
management strategies to achieve landscape restoration goals. Despite the plethora of reports and
case studies on SLM practices, context-appropriate information on promising practices is not always
readily available to prospective investors, local businesses, rural consultants, NGO staff, farmers, and
land managers. In other cases, the critical gap is investment capital needed to finance up-front land
management transitions that would be profitable in the long term, with co-benefits for environmental
protection and poverty alleviation. Even when the return on investment of such transitions is quite
favorable, access to capital often proves to be an absolute barrier, especially for rural households
Chapter 2. WHERE DO PRIVATE MARKET INCENTIVES CONVERGE WITH LANDSCAPE RESTORATION GOALS?
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