The Policy Terrain in Protected Area Landscapes: Challenges for Agroforestry in Integrated Landscape Conservation

Integrated ecosystem and landscape approaches to conservation are moving from concept to practice in many parts of the developing world. Agroforestry – the deliberate management of trees on farms and in agricultural landscapes – is emerging as one of the most promising approaches to enhance and stabilize rural livelihoods, while reducing pressure on protected areas, enhancing habitat for some wild species, and increasing connectivity of landscape components. For the potential of agroforestry to be effectively harnessed, however, the policy and institutional environment needs to provide farmers with clear incentives to plant and protect trees that contribute to both ecosystem function and rural livelihoods. This paper analyzes the policy terrain affecting agroforestry around protected areas in five very different contexts across Sub-Saharan Africa, finding both expected and unexpected similarities. Across the sites in Uganda, Cameroon and Mali, the study revealed a rough policy terrain for agroforestry – systemic market constraints, contradictions between development approaches and conservation objectives, and inconsistencies in institutional and regulatory frameworks. Making the conservation landscape approach more effective will require that both agriculturalists and conservation planners have much greater appreciation for the conservation and livelihood potential of agroforestry.