The 4th Philippine Agroforestry Congress was held on November 18-20, 2009 at the Chali Beach Resort and Conference Center in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Philippines with the theme “agroforestry promotion for climate change mitigation and adaptation: building lessons from the field”. This year’s Agroforestry Congress was convened to serve as a venue to promote sharing of experiences of various stakeholders in agroforestry technology development, promotion and adoption; intensify agroforestry promotion through agroforestry roadshow; and highlight the experiences of agroforestry practitioners/farmers in agroforestry farm development.
The 4th National Agroforestry Congress elicited a total of 155 participants representing the local government units, non-government organizations, students, farming communities, people’s organizations, academic institutions, foreign and international organizations, and national government agencies. Among the highlights of the Agroforestry Congress include: a) five (5) plenary paper presentations that dealt with recent climate change research, and the roles of agroforestry in climate change mitigation and adaptation; b) 15 concurrent paper presentations that revolved around three themes, namely: Recognizing the Multifunctionality of Agroforestry; Promoting Enterprise Development Through Agroforestry; and, Innovative Approaches in Agroforestry Development and Promotion; c) 16 poster paper presentations; d) Agroforestry Roadshow/Caravan; and e) Farmers’ Forum.
The Congress delegates also signed the Congress Declaration for Agroforestry Promotion as their sign of support and commitment to promote agroforestry not only as a climate change adaptation strategy, but also to work towards institutionalizing agroforestry as a development strategy in the Philippines.
The Philippine Agroforestry Education and Research Network (PAFERN), UPLB Institute of Agroforestry (UPLB-IAF) and the Misamis Oriental State College of Agriculture and Technolgoy (MOSCAT) co-organized the event. Among the major sponsors are the Southeast Asian Network for Agroforestry Education (SEANAFE), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN), and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF-Philippines).
