Environmental Guidelines for Agroforesry Projects - UNEP Environmental Management Guidelines No. 11

There is no doubt that Agroforestry can be an environmentally sound and economically feasible means of developing and protecting marginal and ecologically fragile lartds. Agroforestry, however, is a highly com-plex and multi-dsciplinary approach to land use and should not be un-dertaken unless there is an adequate understanding of the cultural, economic and environmental interactions common to mixed farming systems. Half-baked or haphazard land management can lead to serious environmental and economic repercussions. it is therefore critical to embark on Agroforestry projects in a well thought manner keeping all the various inter-relationships in mind during planning, implementa-tion and management phases.