Agroforestry offers climate and sustainability benefits – the conclusion from yesterday’s high-level conference hosted by FAO

Agriculture is recognized as a major emitter of greenhouse gases but the investments to mitigate these emissions are disproportionally low. In 2014, only 2 percent of the global climate finances were allocated for agriculture. FAO hopes to improve the understanding of how the agricultural sector can both adapt to and mitigate climate change by hosting several high-level conferences on the topic. These are organised in the wake of COP22.
 
Yesterday’s event was the first in this series and the theme was agroforestry. The conclusion from the conference was that agroforestry is a multi-functional and efficient land management strategy that will play a key role when transforming the global agriculture.
 
In the opening speech the Director-General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, described agroforestry as an essential component for sustainable agriculture.

Photo credit: Linus Karlsson