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Authors: Nair, P.K. Ramachandran¹; Allen, Samuel C.²; Bannister, Michael E.³

Source: Journal of Forestry, Volume 103, Number 8, December 2005 , pp. 417-421(5)

Abstract:

The developmental stage of a discipline can be gauged by the nature of its publications. Major themes of the 750 presentations at the 1st World Congress of Agroforestry, Orlando, Florida, 2004, were biological and ecological (28%); communication and knowledge integration (24%); and economics, marketing, and social issues (23%). The presentations related mostly (88% of total) to the tropics. About 55% of the authors came from educational institutions, 21% represented governments, and 13% represented nongovernmental organizations. The presentations showed that sustainability continued to be a major conceptual foundation of agroforestry, but there was considerable tropical-temperate contrast in efforts to attain sustainability. Although issues such as poverty alleviation, food security, and attainment of the Millennium Development Goals dominate the research and development agenda in the tropics, the focus in the temperate region is on environmental services such as carbon sequestration, water quality enhancement, and biodiversity conservation. The nature, diversity, and distribution of presentations as well as the current trends in agroforestry research suggest that agroforestry is maturing as a robust discipline.

Keywords: agroforestry development; agroforestry themes; professional meetings; publication trend analysis; sustainability; environmental management; forest; forest management; forest resources; forestry; forestry research; forestry science; natural resources; natural resource management

Document Type: Regular article

Affiliations: 1: Distinguished Professor School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida, Box 110410, 118 Newins-Ziegler Hall Gainesville FL 32611-0410, Email: pknair@ufl.edu 2: Post-Doctoral Scientist School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida, Box 110410, 118 Newins-Ziegler Hall Gainesville FL 32611-0410, Email: scallen@ufl.edu 3: Research Assistant Professor School of Forest Resources and Conservation University of Florida, Box 110410, 118 Newins-Ziegler Hall Gainesville FL 32611-0410, Email: mikebann@ufl.edu