From the semi-arid Sahel to the biodiversity-rich Congo Basin to the Miombo woodlands …
Africa is home to highly diverse populations who depend on agriculture, biodiversity and natural resources for food, shelter and energy – including tens of millions of people relying directly or indirectly on forests. Yet many of its rich ecosystems face urgent and unique environmental challenges.
Through capacity building, engagement in development, scientific studies and long-term collaboration with local partners, CIFOR-ICRAF is filling key information gaps and piloting policies for more sustainable management of Africa’s farm and forest landscapes.
REGIONAL FOCAL POINT
About our work in Africa
From food security and nutrition to green growth to sustainable tree-based value chains, our focus is on finding critical solutions to the challenges facing African farm and forest landscapes, such as population pressure, poverty, low agricultural productivity, deforestation and degradation, and refugees and internally displaced persons.
Our work
Our research areas include: artisanal logging and domestic timber markets, sustainable consumption of wild meat, food and nutrition security, sustainable woodfuel value chains, restoration of degraded lands, climate change mitigation and adaptation, participatory tree domestication, promoting farmer-managed natural regeneration, scaling up of agroforestry technologies through rural resource centres, rehabilitation of tree crop landscapes and development of tree-based value chains, support for quality germplasm supply systems, diversified and supportive on-farm tree management, effective demonstrations of agroforestry systems at scale, ecological services with a focus on water management under agroforestry systems, and strengthened and mobilized partner capacity including joint planning, and mainstreaming agroforestry principles and practices into national development plans, strategies and projects. We also focus on engaging youth and women, improving cross–sector analyses and collaboration, and strengthening communication in local media and local languages.