Agriculture in Forests Can Provide Climate and Economic Dividends

In the fight against climate change, tree planting as a natural climate solution is a popular policy and land-use initiative among governmental and conservation organizations. Trees provide additional carbon stocks when planted in treeless agricultural lands.

Yet there is another underutilized pathway to climate mitigation. Forests are the largest global above ground carbon sinks and managing them through forest-based agroforestry (FAF) can provide a myriad of benefits, a new study led by Yale School of the Environment scientists found.

“We want to make sure that we clarify that forest-based agroforestry (FAF) can achieve similar climate benefits as tree planting in fields,” said Karam Sheban ’28 PhD, ’20 MF, who co-authored the study, which was published in Nature Climate Change.