Contributions of agroforestry to ecosystem services in the miombo eco-region of eastern and southern Africa

Abstract

The miombo, the most extensive tropical woodland formation of Africa with particular ecological and
economic importance, is threatened by deforestation, land degradation and loss of biodiversity. Over
the past two decades, agroforestry has been studied as one of the integrated natural resource
management interventions for addressing various environmental and social problems. This has helped
to establish a solid knowledge-base on the functions and capabilities of agroforestry. However, little
attempt has been made to synthesize and publicize the knowledge on ecosystem services provided by
the various agroforestry practices in southern Africa. This has led to lack of appreciation of the
environmental benefits of the practices, and hence less attention being paid to accelerating their
adoption and institutionalization in national agricultural and natural resource programmes. The
objective of this review was to summarize the state of current knowledge on ecosystem services of
agroforestry. From the studies reviewed, it is concluded that agroforestry practices provide (1)
provisioning services such as food, source of energy and fodder, (2) regulatory services including
microclimate modification, erosion control, mitigation of desertification, carbon sequestration and pest
control, and (3) supporting services namely, soil fertility improvement, biodiversity conservation and
pollination in the miombo eco-region. The paper also outlines challenges to wider adoption of
agroforestry and makes recommendations for future research, development and policy to capitalize on
ecosystem services.