In a ‘Letter to the Editor’ published in the Guardian Development Blog, Professor Roger Leakey urges a closer look at agroforestry’s potential as a pathway for both mitigating climate change and fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty.

Leakey, who serves as the vice-chair of the International Tree Foundation, outlines a three-step action plan that involves:

1. Using simple biological approaches to rehabilitate degraded farm land and improve crop yields;
2. Planting local, highly favoured, traditionally important food trees to reduce hunger and malnutrition; and
3. Setting up new cottage industries to process and add value to these products, creating business and job opportunities to further improve household livelihoods. Read more. . .