Agroforestry as a Nature-Based Solution for Climate Resilience and Food Security

The ADB report shows that agroforestry, combining trees with crops and livestock is a practical, nature-based solution that strengthens climate resilience, restores degraded land, and improves food security and rural livelihoods across Asia and the Pacific. It concludes that with supportive policies, finance, and market linkages, agroforestry can be scaled into a core strategy for inclusive and climate-resilient development.

Investing in Agroforestry: A Strategy for Building Climate Resilience is a policy-focused study led by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), informed by the work of major research and knowledge institutions including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the World Bank, and national research agencies across Asia and the Pacific. Together, this body of research frames agroforestry as a practical response to climate change, land degradation, food insecurity, and rural poverty, especially in regions where agriculture and forests are deeply interconnected.

Why Agroforestry Matters Now

The paper begins with a clear warning: climate change and land degradation are reinforcing each other across Asia and the Pacific. Unsustainable farming practices, deforestation, and forest fragmentation have weakened soils, reduced water availability, and stripped landscapes of their natural defenses. As temperatures rise and rainfall becomes more erratic, rural communities face increasing floods, droughts, landslides, and heat stress. These impacts fall hardest on smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, and poorer households who depend directly on land and forests. Agroforestry is presented as a way to rebuild these damaged systems by restoring trees to farms and landscapes, helping nature and agriculture work together rather than compete.

How Agroforestry Works

Agroforestry refers to farming systems that deliberately combine trees with crops and/or livestock on the same land. These systems can take many forms, from fruit trees grown alongside food crops to timber or nitrogen-fixing trees integrated into grazing land, to complex multistory systems that mimic natural forests. Closely linked to agroecology, agroforestry emphasizes diversity, resilience, and efficient use of resources. When well designed, these systems create multifunctional landscapes that produce food, fodder, fuelwood, timber, and non-timber forest products while also improving soil health, water retention, and biodiversity.

Benefits for Climate, People, and Nature

The report shows that agroforestry delivers multiple benefits at once. For climate adaptation, trees help regulate farm microclimates, reduce erosion, stabilize slopes, and improve water infiltration, making farms more resilient to floods and droughts. They also protect crops and livestock from heat and wind stress. From a climate mitigation perspective, agroforestry stores significant amounts of carbon in trees and soils, often far more than conventional monoculture systems. Socioeconomically, agroforestry reduces risk by diversifying income sources. Farmers can earn from fruits, nuts, timber, fodder, and other products instead of relying on a single crop. Producing fuelwood and fodder on-farm can also reduce labor burdens, especially for women. Environmentally, agroforestry improves soil fertility, supports wildlife habitats, and helps restore degraded land, turning declining landscapes into productive and stable systems.

Lessons from Cambodia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines

The paper draws on detailed case studies to show how agroforestry works in practice. In Cambodia’s Sangker River basin, agroforestry and reforestation reduce soil erosion, improve water flows, and increase farm incomes after an initial transition period. In Bangladesh, especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, homestead and multistory agroforestry systems help stabilize steep slopes, improve food security, and generate strong financial returns. In the Philippines, agroforestry in upland watersheds such as Manupali in Mindanao helps reduce disaster risks, protect water supplies, and support farmers shifting away from input-intensive monocultures toward more resilient tree-based systems. Across all three countries, agroforestry proves technically feasible and economically attractive in the long run.

Barriers to Scale and the Way Forward

Despite its promise, agroforestry remains underused. The report identifies several barriers, including high upfront costs, delayed returns from trees, limited extension support, weak market linkages, lack of suitable finance, unclear land and tree tenure, fragmented policies, and gender inequalities. Poor farmers often cannot afford to wait years for trees to mature without short-term income support. To overcome these challenges, the paper recommends combining agroforestry with short-term crops or livestock, improving value chains and market access, developing blended finance and concessional loans, strengthening land tenure, and improving coordination between agriculture and forestry institutions.

The conclusion is clear and optimistic: agroforestry offers one of the most effective and practical pathways to build climate-resilient, inclusive rural economies. With the right policies, financing, and partnerships, it can move from small projects to a central pillar of sustainable development and climate action across Asia and the Pacific.