The challenge of HIV/AIDS: Where does agroforestry fit in? - World ...

Chapter 9Land and People:Working Group ReportAfter some discussion, four working groups wereformed to brainstorm over priorities for the Land andPeople research and development agenda in the comingyears. The four groups corresponded to the topicsof the presentations: land and soil management, landmanagement policy, scaling up of agroforestry interventions,and the scientific challenges for the Centrepresented in Chapter 5.Working group on land and soil managementThis group identified two primary topics under land andsoil management where it felt ICRAF should significantlyincrease its role. The first is to develop relevant and usefulland-quality indicators. Within this, it was recognizedthat much research had already been undertaken thatdemonstrated the critical role of organic carbon (C) insoil fertility processes. However, more work should bedone to understand the links between organic C and soilqualityindicators. Furthermore, soil biology databasesand the links between different soil biota and soil fertilityrequire strengthening. This work needs to be conductedwithin a strategic framework with the landscape as a keyunit of research, which could have the additional resultof describing land capability classes that can guide decisionsabout future land-cover dynamics.The second area on which the Centre should concentrateis the greater application of geographic informationsystems (GIS) and remote-sensing tools. Thesecan guide priority setting for research on agroforestrytechnologies for improved land management, assist theCentre in moving innovations to scale and allow theorganization to identify strategic sites for testing thatexhibit different soil problems. GIS can also be use-ful in informing current development efforts. In termsof geographical emphasis, the working group felt thatthere was a need for ICRAF to pay greater attention tothe semi-arid and arid lands, where degradation andpoverty hotspots occur.Achievement in these two areas should produce ‘internationalpublic goods’, in particular publicly availableinformation that can be efficiently stored in databaseson soils and used in decision-support guides on technologicaloptions for different problem areas.The working group identified three key roles for ICRAFin this research:• contribute to better diagnosis of problems, andidentify entry points for agroforestry;• build capacity and develop human resources(including in civil society and for smallholderfarmers); and• produce research and development outputs inaccordance with the Centre’s comparative advantage.Working group on policyThis working group spent considerable time takinginto account the internal processes under which policyresearch is identified and implemented at the Centre.The group felt that more discussion is needed to answerthe following: How are policy research topics selected?What is the priority-setting process? Is this processbased on existing global or national strategies or policydocuments?The working group concluded that the manner inwhich policy research themes and directions are