Webinar: The Potential of Agroforestry to Transform Lives and Landscapes in the Region
Across the Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot, landscapes that support both people and nature face growing pressures: from climate change and soil degradation to biodiversity loss and food insecurity. Yet solutions exist that can restore ecosystems while improving livelihoods.
This webinar, hosted by Ebony Forest as part of the project “Strengthening Civil Society Organizations’ Capacities to Implement Ecosystem-based Adaptation” (2024–2026) and cofunded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, explores how agroforestry - the integration of trees within agricultural systems - can transform landscapes while strengthening rural livelihoods.
Opening the webinar, Ebony Forest’s Conservation Manager Dr Nicolas Zuël introduces agroforestry as a nature-based solution capable of addressing multiple environmental and social challenges simultaneously. By combining trees with crops or livestock, agroforestry systems can restore soils, enhance biodiversity, improve food production and increase resilience to climate change.
Dr Zuël also highlights the concept of ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA): an approach that uses biodiversity and ecosystem services to help communities adapt to climate change. Agroforestry represents one of the most practical ways to apply EbA within agricultural landscapes.
The webinar then explores agroforestry from three complementary perspectives: global scientific insights, community-led restoration in Madagascar, and agricultural innovation in Mauritius.
Agroforestry and Agroecology:
Transforming Food Systems
Fergus Sinclair, Professor Emeritus at Bangor University and Co-convenor of the Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology, explains how combining agroforestry with agroecological principles can help transform food systems while addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and rural poverty.
He highlights the multiple pressures facing global agriculture, including climate change, declining soil fertility and biodiversity loss, and described agroecology as a systems-based approach that works with nature rather than against it. Integrating trees into farms strengthens this approach by improving productivity and resilience.
Trees act as ecological infrastructure within agricultural landscapes. They produce valuable products such as fruits, nuts, oils and timber while providing critical ecosystem services, including soil erosion control, improved water regulation, pollination support and habitat for biodiversity. Nitrogen-fixing trees can also reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers that contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
Scientific evidence shows that diversified farming systems using agroecological practices can increase biodiversity, reduce pest damage, limit soil loss and improve farm income, while maintaining or even increasing agricultural yields.
Restoring Forests and Livelihoods through Agroforestry in Madagascar
Lovassoa Faramamiarimila, Project Officer at Coeur de Forêt Madagascar, highlights how agroforestry can restore ecosystems while improving rural livelihoods.
Home to extraordinary biodiversity, with nearly 80% of species found nowhere else on Earth, Madagascar is also experiencing rapid deforestation, losing around 500,000 hectares of forest each year. Today, only about 7.9% of natural forests remain, largely due to demand for fuelwood, construction materials and unsustainable farming practices. Land tenure insecurity further discourages farmers from investing in long-term solutions such as tree planting.
Working with local communities, Coeur de Forêt promotes agroforestry through a participatory approach: diagnosing local challenges with farmers, designing systems adapted to their needs, and providing training so communities can eventually manage sustainable farming systems independently.
Three agroforestry models are widely used:
- integrating trees with essential oil and medicinal crops such as geranium and lemongrass,
- combining trees with food and export crops like cloves, cinnamon, coffee, cassava and bananas, and
- creating agroforestry buffer zones around forests, where farmers manage productive plots while helping protect nearby forests from fire and illegal logging.
These systems help restore soil health, increase biodiversity, diversify production and improve food security, while reducing pressure on Madagascar’s remaining forests. Challenges remain, however, including land tenure insecurity and cultural barriers to planting trees within agricultural landscapes.
Agricultural Transformation through Agroforestry in Mauritius
Sailesh Chunen shares how the Compagnie Sucrière de Saint Antoine, located in north-east Mauritius, has transformed its agricultural model in response to climate change, soil degradation and declining sugar prices.
Following the collapse of international sugar trade agreements, the company began diversifying its activities and as a result, sugarcane cultivation declined from 562 hectares to 197 hectares, while diversified food production expanded from 112 hectares to 502 hectares between 2011 and 2024.
Today the company produces a wide range of crops, including potatoes, onions, pumpkins, melons, bananas, pineapples and lychees - representing over 8,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables, supplying 22% of Mauritius’ potatoes and 38% of its onions demand.
To improve resilience and soil health, Saint Antoine has integrated several nature-based solutions into its farming system, including agroforestry windbreaks, alley cropping, cover crops, mosaic cropping and silvopastoral systems. Windbreaks using species such as madre de cacao, moringa and jackfruit protect banana plantations from strong south-east trade winds.
These practices help restore soil fertility, improve water retention, increase biodiversity and reduce the farm’s carbon footprint. Some degraded fields were also temporarily converted to grazing land, allowing livestock manure to rebuild soil health: an approach that showed clear improvements within three years.
Alongside these changes, the company has established a 2.1-hectare endemic forest with 45 native species, supporting biodiversity restoration while creating opportunities for environmental education for local students.
Agroforestry: A Pathway for Resilient Landscapes
The webinar demonstrates that agroforestry has enormous potential to transform agricultural landscapes across the region.
By integrating trees into farming systems, agroforestry can simultaneously address environmental challenges while improving rural livelihoods. Scientific evidence shows that agroforestry and agroecological approaches can enhance productivity, biodiversity, soil health, climate resilience and farm income.
Examples from Madagascar and Mauritius show how these approaches can be applied in practice: restoring degraded landscapes while supporting farmers and communities.
However, successful implementation requires several enabling conditions:
- locally adapted agroforestry system design
- strong participation of farmers and communities
- supportive policies and land tenure systems
- functioning markets for diversified agricultural products
When these conditions are met, agroforestry can become a powerful strategy for climate resilience, sustainable development and landscape restoration across the Indian Ocean region.