The expansion and intensification of agriculture as well as the associated land clearing are threatening both biodiversity and human wellbeing in tropical areas. Implementing agroforestry systems through a landscape approach has a strong potential for integrating nature conservation objectives into agricultural systems. A key challenge for implementing the landscape approach is that political processes and conservation initiatives operate in 'silos', being largely disconnected from farmers and local key agents responsible for tree governance. In this study we brought together different stakeholders in facilitated, structured focus discussions to analyse the role of actor groups in tree governance. We used social network analysis to quantitatively and qualitatively analyse agroforestry governance networks and actor interactions related to information exchange, finance flows, and regulation. The analyses were conducted at national, sub-national and local levels in four countries: Honduras, Peru, Indonesia, and Uganda. Using trees on farms as a boundary object enabled all participants to bridge common interests and illuminate some of the constraints and opportunities of local governance systems while overcoming institutional and ideological barriers. The quantitative results of the social network analysis identify a strong density of actor linkages. Despite this density, results indicate incoherent and fragmented actor networks undermining the support for agroforestry on all levels. Nevertheless, existing processes related to finance, information, and regulation can be better aligned to ensure an effective implementation and mainstreaming of agroforestry for biodiversity conservation. Building social capital among key actors on both national and local levels can reveal a strong potential for adaptive learning processes mainstreaming agroforestry as essential component of "good farming" and integrating incentive systems for a coherent and effective agroforestry governance. We conclude that redirecting both public and private funding towards continuous seed-funding for the facilitation of these integrated learning processes can transform landscape management and at the same time reduce transaction costs.

Papyrus is increasingly suggested as an alternative bioenergy source to reduce the pressure on forest ecosystems. However, there are few studies on the economic viability of papyrus wetlands and the benefits for local communities. We construct a village Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to examine whether papyrus harvesting and processing has the potential to improve local livelihoods and simultaneously counteract pressure on local forest resources. We apply the CGE model to a village in northern Zambia where overexploitation of forest resources to produce energy from firewood and charcoal poses a serious problem. The analysis is based on survey data from 105 households collected in 2015. The model results show that papyrus briquetting would be a possible alternative biofuel and that this technology improves household income and utility through labor reallocations. Higher opportunity costs lead to households switching from firewood extraction and charcoal production activities to papyrus harvesting and processing to produce bioenergy. Replacing energy supplies from firewood and charcoal with papyrus briquettes results in substitution effects between forest land and wetland and thereby reduces the pressure on local forest resources. The CGE approach allows for an economy-wide ex-ante analysis at village level and can support management decisions to ensure the success of papyrus bioenergy interventions.

In recent years, agroforestry has gained increasing attention as an option to simultaneously alleviate poverty, provide ecological benefits, and mitigate climate change. The present study simulates small-scale farmers’ agroforestry adoption decisions to investigate the consequences for livelihoods and the environment over time. To explore the interdependencies between agroforestry adoption, livelihoods, and the environment, an agent-based model adjusted to a case study area in rural Indonesia was implemented. Thereby, the model compares different scenarios, including a climate change scenario. The agroforestry system under investigation consists of an illipe (Shorea stenoptera) rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) mix, which are both locally valued tree species. The simulations reveal that farmers who adopt agroforestry diversify their livelihood portfolio while increasing income. Additionally, the model predicts environmental benefits: enhanced biodiversity and higher carbon sequestration in the landscape. The benefits of agroforestry for livelihoods and nature gain particular importance in the climate change scenario. The results therefore provide policy-makers and practitioners with insights into the dynamic economic and environmental advantages of promoting agroforestry.

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Local natural resource management in its diverse manifestations holds core to its principles that the marginal and vulnerable households are empowered to manage valuable natural resources to improve social and economic equality and conserve biodiversity. Yet studies aiming to identify the impacts often show inconsistent results. Through constructing an integrated Environmental and Social Accounting Matrix (ESAM), we aim to assess how natural resources are used in different sectors and by different livelihoods, thus delivering different direct and indirect benefits to the community. The study was conducted in Namibia's Sikunga Conservancy, which manages wildlife and fish resources in the Zambezi region. Our village-level ESAM shows an economic structure that strongly disadvantages remote households and identifies a small sector of the economy that benefits significantly from the use of natural resources. The ESAM approach is able to isolate undesirable socioeconomic developments such as unequal benefit sharing, which hinders community development.

The increasing demand for high‐value agricultural products such as fresh fruit presents opportunities for farmers in developing countries due to their higher market value compared with traditional staple crops. This study uses data on trust, risk, and time preferences obtained through behavioral experiments, combined with a discrete choice experiment to understand their effect on farmers’ choices of marketing attributes, collecting data from 252 farmers from Eastern Rwanda. The results reveal that farmers, overall, have positive attitudes toward collective marketing channels with guaranteed immediate payments, written contracts, provision of inputs, credit, and training, a personal relationship with a buyer, and low investment costs. Additionally, farmers with lower levels of risk aversion were found to have a greater preference for immediate payment than farmers with higher levels of risk aversion. Farmers with higher future orientation are more likely to choose contracts that guarantee inputs and/or services and written contracts, and they attach lower relative importance to immediate payments than farmers with lower future orientation. Farmers with higher trust levels attach lower relative importance to immediate payments, written contracts, and a personal relationship with a buyer than farmers with lower trust levels.

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) and nature-based tourism often go hand in hand as a strategy to drive economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet conservation measures aimed at preserving the resources that tourism thrive on can have negative impacts on the livelihoods of community members. Conversely, if the community continues to unsustainably harvest natural resources, the nature-based tourism sector may collapse, leaving households without an alternative livelihood. Based on survey data of 200 households from 2012, this paper analyses the trade-off between natural resource conservation and development objectives by means of a mathematical programming model that represents the economy of a rural conservancy in Namibia. We find that nature-based tourism may contribute to rural development and sustainable resource management, but only when natural resources are actively protected. We conclude that the tourism sector needs to consider the broader economic and nutritional needs of the community when linking with CBNRM.