Potential of agroforestry practices to improve biodiversity and carbon sequestration in Africa

Abstract

Agroforestry in Africa shows great potential for addressing climate change by conserving biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and improving smallholder farmers’ resilience through increased productivity and adaptation. However, these potentials of agroforestry practices in Africa are often overlooked in the literature. Hence, the objective of this review paper is to evaluate the potential of agroforestry systems to optimize biodiversity, enhance carbon sequestration, and identify knowledge gaps and research priorities in Africa. The review followed a systematic method to synthesize scientific evidence from 201 selected articles on agroforestry systems/practices in 22 African countries. It involved four distinctive stages: article selection criteria, search strategy, collection, and presentation of data. Three full-text scientific databases, including Google Scholar, Scopus, and ISI-Web of Science were searched to identify the regional research landscape on the topic using Publish or Perish software version 8.14. Search terms were applied to article titles, abstracts, and keywords using Boolean operators. This review identified that there is a growing body of literature on agroforestry systems/practices, specifically during the last two decades in Africa. The trend might be associated with the signing of international agreements like the Paris Agreement and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the emergence of United Nations SDGs and African Union Agenda of 2063, which stress global and regional actions on climate change and biodiversity loss. However, the increased agroforestry research in Africa mostly revolves around the role of agroforestry in agricultural productivity, income generation, and food security, disregarding the core potential of agroforestry: carbon sequestration and biodiversity benefits. Given the potential of agroforestry and the growing concerns about global environmental sustainability, future research should keep the balance or more focus on the most neglected components (biodiversity and carbon sequestration) in Africa.