Investing in agroforestry a strategy for building climate resilience

Across Asia and the Pacific, land degradation and climate change are converging to create one of
the most urgent environmental and socioeconomic challenges of our time. Unsustainable land use
practices, deforestation, and ecosystem fragmentation are reducing the resilience of rural landscapes,
leaving communities increasingly vulnerable to both climate shocks, such as typhoons, floods and
droughts; and climate stresses, such as rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns. These
compounded pressures are particularly affecting the poorest and most marginalized populations,
who are grappling with declining agricultural productivity, water scarcity, and increased exposure to
extreme weather events. Their exposure to acute climate shocks and stresses further deepens poverty
and food insecurity, threatening long-term development gains.
In this context, agroforestry emerges as a practical, nature-based solution that can restore degraded
lands, enhance ecosystem services, and strengthen the adaptive capacity of both people and landscapes. By integrating trees into farming systems, agroforestry offers a pathway to sustainable land management that simultaneously addresses climate change, food and nutrition security, and biodiversity conservation.
Forestry and Agriculture Sector The forestry resources of Asia and the Pacific are extremely diverse and significant, providing critical ecological, economic, social, and cultural services. Tropical rainforests provide critical goods (timber, fuelwood, non-timber forest products, and medicinal plants) and services (climate regulation, water cycle maintenance, and carbon sequestration) as well as helping to reduce exposure to disasters triggered by natural hazards such as floods, landslides, and cyclones. Inhabitants of these forested areas are also disproportionately represented by Indigenous Peoples who have lived primarily in the upland areas for centuries and have distinct customs and traditions, culture, language, and beliefs. While economic growth has brought prosperity to many people across the Asia and the Pacific region,
and lifted millions out of poverty, this has been fueled by unsustainable use of natural resources and has
created widespread forest degradation.
Healthy natural systems directly contribute to the productivity of key sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, energy, transport, and tourism. The conservation of forests and the hydrological functions they support is critical to sustaining ecological services and economic sectors, and the well-being of communities that rely on them. While some countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Thailand, and Viet Nam have shown increasing forest cover largely due to government policies and economic strategies that promoted reforestation and plantation development many countries continue to experience deforestation. These countries are witnessing deforestation and forest degradation because of agriculture expansion, logging (legal and illegal), infrastructure development, mining and extraction, forest fires, and overharvesting of
non-timber forest products, with many remaining forest areas either diminishing or being severely

source:

https://www.adb.org/publications/investing-agroforestry-climate-resilience