FAO State of the Forests Report: Use trees wisely, whether they be in forests or on farms, is the core message contained in the FAO’s newly issued report, “The State of the World’s Forests 2012′. Hundreds of millions depend on trees for food, fruit, fodder, medicine and soil fertility; billions more on the timber and fiber trees produce. And, argues the FAO, if trees are properly managed, they can provide all this and more while restoring land, capturing carbon and reversing biodiversity loss. What’s not to like? http://allafrica.com/stories/201206180693.html

Bangladesh, the FAO survey reveals, has among the world’s lowest rate of forest coverage, at 6.7%. The world’s largest mangroves, found in its delta region, are being cut back. The lack of trees exacerbates the devastating floods this low-lying, densely populated country is exposed to (see here). Yet it need not be this way. Pakistan’s Adbul Qadir Shah is a Sindi cotton farmer whose date palm, neem and mango trees allowed him to feed his family, rebuilt the capital stock and cotton crop ruined in last year’s devastating floods, and resume farming (his story is here). 

Evidence of trees’ usefulness is also coming from Senegal’s peanut basin, reports The Guardian. That is smack in the Sahel  zone, in the grip of its third drought in a decade. Yet peanut farmer Abdou Sall is cheerful: his trees have shielded him from hunger. “Last year there was lack of rain, but I had fewer problems than others. When it rained, the humidity stayed longer on my fields.” Sall has allowed trees on his fields since 2009, using farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR; protecting tree seedlings and pruning sprouting stumps so they rapidly grow into trees). “I do not need fertiliser now,” says Sall. Der Spiegel agrees, building a detailed profile (in German) of FMNR in this week’s issue around the career of World Vision’s Tony Rinaudo, who developed FMNR in Niger in the 1980s. The figures speak for themselves, argues Der Spiegel: Niger’s FMNR farmers generated a 14 000 ton cereal surplus, despite the drought. In Mali’s Dogon agroforestry lands, the surplus was even more surprising: 50 000 tons.  

Now busy introducing FMNR to Ethiopia’s Humbo plateau, Rinaudo has made a huge difference to the life of local farmer Thomas Hera. He has bought himself an oxen, rebuilt his house, and can finally send all his kids to school. “My life has improved dramatically,” says Hera.

How to grow more food is a crucial worry for the bone-dry Gulf states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Emirates. Salon has a good review of what this has meant over decades, from the now out-of-favour desert farms watered from declining aquifers to today’s huge land deals. A brand new report by the World Agroforesrty Centre’s Frank Place and others sets out how some do land investment right, using agroforestry to manage sustainability and social elements and thus being able to generate higher incomes for all, from smallholders to investors.

Finally, we are proud to report that the World Agroforestry Centre’s Zac Tchoundjeu has won the 2012 National Geographic / Buffet Award for conservation leadership. Dr Tchoundjeu has made invaluable contributions toward the conservation of biodiversity in the Congo Basin, the development of sustainable agricultural techniques for smallscale farmers and the training of a new generation of African scientists and environmentalists. As the regional director of the World Agroforestry Centre’s regional office in Yaoundé, Cameroon, he leads international teams in 21 West and Central African countries that are focused on agroforestry, forest conservation and domestication of high-value indigenous fruit trees and medicinal plants, with the aim of enhancing the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.