Valuing Agroforestry Systems Methods and Applications

Agroforestry, the purposeful growing of trees and crops in interacting combinations, began to attain prominence in the late 1970s. when the international scientific community embraced its potentials in the tropics and recognized it as a practice in search of science. During the 1990s the relevance of agroforestry for solving problems related to deterioration of family farms, increased soil erosion, surface and ground water pollution, and decreased biodiversity was recognized in the industrialized nations too. Thus, agroforestry is now receiving increasing attention as a sustainable land-management option the world over because of its ecological, economic, and social attributes. Consequently, the knowledge-base of agroforestry is being expanded at a rapid rate as illustrated by the increasing number and quality of scientific publications of various forms on different aspects of agroforestry. Making full and efficient use of this upsurge in scientific agroforestry is both a challenge and an opportunity to the agroforestry scientific community. In order to help prepare themselves better for facing the challenge and seizing the opportunity, agoroforestry scientists need access to synthesized information on multi-dimensional aspects of scientific agroforesty. The aim of this new book-series, Advances in Agroforesrry, is to offer state-of-the art synthesis of research results and evaluations relating to different aspects of agroforestry. Its scope is broad enough to encompass any and all aspects of agroforestry research and development. Contributions are welcome as well as solicited from competent authors on any aspect of agroforestry. Volumes in the series will consist of reference books, subject-specific monographs, peer-reviewed publications out of conferences, comprehensive evaluations of specific projects, and other book-length compilations of scientific and professional merit and relevance to the science and practice of agroforestry worldwide. All Rights Reserved O 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, r.@crofilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specificalIy for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.