Harnessing dividends from drylands: innovative scaling up with soil nutrients

Land conversion, climate change and species invasions are contributing to the widespread emergence of novel ecosystems, which demand a shift in how we think about traditional approaches to conservation, restoration and environmental management. They are novel because they exist without historical precedents and are self-sustaining. Traditional approaches emphasizing native species and historical continuity are challenged by novel ecosystems that deliver critical ecosystems services or are simply immune to practical restorative efforts. Some fear that, by raising the issue of novel ecosystems, we are simply paving the way for a more laissez-faire attitude to conservation and restoration.

Agroforestry is a land use system that allows for the concurrent production of trees and agricultural crops and/or animals from the same piece of land. It has a rich history of development and has been practiced in some parts of the world for more than 6,000 years. In 1997, CABI published the seminal book on this subject, Temperate Agroforestry Systems, which was a break from the norm as almost all agroforestry texts up to that date were only relevant to tropical areas. The book explored the development of temperate agroforestry and agroforestry systems, concentrating on those areas within temperate zones where the greatest advances, adoptions and modifications had taken place up to that time: North and South America, China, Australia, New Zealand and Europe.