In launching his new book, past director of research at the World Agroforestry Centre, Roger Leakey, claimed that “abject rural poverty, food insecurity, land degradation and climate change can all be relatively easily addressed through the widespread application of agroforestry”.

Humanitarian News reports that the book is based on Leakey’s three decades working as a tropical forest biologist and research manager in Africa, Asia, Oceania and Latin America.

In Living with the Trees of Life: Toward the Transformation of Tropical Agriculture Leakey says that rehabilitating degraded land, diversifying farming systems and protecting watersheds through agroforestry will avoid the widespread food crises expected in coming decades. He is also confident that agroforestry can generate income and provide employment which will help people to lift themselves out of poverty.

His book takes a fresh approach to boosting food production; using trees on farms to “enrich, stabilize and intensify local farming systems”. The result, he says, “will be diversified, multifunctional farmlands that better meet people’s food and other tree-product requirements, while at the same time restoring the planet’s ecological balance.”

“We already know that agroforestry works, thanks to over three decades of research.”

Read more on the World Agroforestry Centre blog: Leakey book says ‘trees of life’ could nourish the planet, build wealth

Read the story in Humanitarian News: Money really can grow on trees, says Leakey at agroforestry book launch

The book is available for purchase from CABI Bookshop