28.03.2025
Agroforestry systems and timber plantations: issues, practices and prospects.
The first meeting of the ATIBT Agroforestry and Plantation (AF&P) commission for 2025 was held on February 25, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. UTC +1. It brought together 82 participants who discussed the change of secretariat of the commission and topics of priority interest.
The topics discussed were agroforestry systems and timber plantations: issues, practices and prospects. Four speakers addressed this topic in the form of conference-debates: (i) rubberwood-based agroforestry systems including timber species; (ii) enrichment of felling gaps and full planting in Cameroon's Forestry Management Units; (iii) seed orchards: why and how to set up seed orchards? and (iv) performance in planting local species: a summary for the Guinean-Congolese region.
The objectives were: (i) the preservation of forest potential, in terms of both quantity and quality, by prioritizing natural regeneration and combining it with forestry practices that favor the planting of local species; and (ii) the contribution to the evolution of the forest concession model, in order to make the exploitation of tropical rainforests a real driver of sustainable development.
This document reports on these interventions, summarizes the discussions that followed and presents the committee's upcoming activities. The aim of the committee's meetings is to encourage the sharing of experiences and the capitalization of knowledge, by creating a common space for discussion and debate on the various topics.
