Agroforestry as a Key to improve Water Management & Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events

Agriculture and people in Europe are increasingly exposed to climate change and extreme weather events. Droughts on the one hand and floods on the other have increased significantly in number and cause considerable damage. Agroforestry (AF) can make substantial contributions to water retention in the landscape as protection against drought, erosion, and floods. Nevertheless, modern agroforestry systems only play a minor role in European agriculture so far. Concepts on targeted planning of AF for improved water management (AWM) are missing. The EU-LIFE SAP project “AFaktive - Agroforestry as a Key to improve Water Management & Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events” – developed in collaboration with partners from DE, BE, and the NL – addresses this need by demonstrating and promoting Agroforestry (AF) as a Nature- Based Solution (NBS) in land management. In order to achieve this goal, AFaktive will massively promote at the farm and regional level the implementation of AWM at model and demonstration sites in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, develop planning tools, and support policy-makers in the improvement of the political framework conditions concerning AF implementation. By applying AF as an adaptation strategy to counteract the impacts of extreme climatic events, AFaktive will contribute to reaching the EU objectives through its support for environmental and socio-economic adaptation. This will be delivered thanks to knowledge-based best-practice examples and their application. Ultimately, AFaktive aims to improve resilience by reducing the vulnerability of society as a whole.