Managing the agroforestry – landscape restoration nexus: lessons from indigenous tree domestication in Cameroon

Abstract

ABSTRACT The long-term contributions of agroforestry to landscape restoration should be carefully managed. Agroforestry began as early as 1977, meanwhile, landscape restoration, gained traction after the 2011 Bonn Challenge. Since missing the 2020 Bonn Challenge targets, there’s urgency to hit 2030 ambitions and secure the gains later. We use here, the participatory domestication of Irvingia wombolu, as an agroforestry pathway to mosaic landscape restoration. This paper describes the transfer of planting materials of this species between two agroecological regions of Cameroon. Over a twenty-year period; 2003 to 2023. we analyze the steps; reflections; performance of the transferred materials; and mixed fortunes they brought to beneficiary communities. A number of lessons emerge for agroforestry and landscape restoration practices; (i) there is need for future technical and social safeguarding, to support vulnerable segments of beneficiary communities; (ii) the cost of safeguarding should be anticipated; (iii) as the ‘decade of restoration’, looms models are necessary to anticipate the future; (iv) user-friendly models of ecosystem services of agroforestry systems are needed to leverage private sector funding; and (v) a ‘maintenance mentality’ and mechanism for restored landscapes, need to be developed.