Agroecological Territories and Integrated Landscape Approaches to Advancing Food Systems Transitions in Africa

The document advocates for a territorial approach to agroecology in Africa, integrating agricultural practice adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and the development of embedded food systems. It identifies key practices such as agroforestry, integrated landscape management (ILA), and territorial markets, while highlighting systemic hurdles including limited financial resources, loss of indigenous knowledge, and policy silos. The briefing recommends catalytic philanthropic funding for multi-actor governance, local market infrastructure, and participatory research to scale locally-driven solutions.

• Agroecological territories are defined by three integrated domains: the adaptation of agricultural practices, the conservation of biodiversity and natural resources, and the development of embedded food systems.
• Conventional agricultural methods in Africa, characterized by synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides, contribute significantly to soil degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change.
• Integrated landscape approaches (ILA), agroecology, and agroforestry have demonstrated positive outcomes in food security, yield productivity, carbon sequestration, and social cohesion.
• Territorial markets and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) enhance local economies and food security; PGS specifically have expanded across 22 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The transition to agroecology is hindered by several systemic hurdles, including the loss of indigenous knowledge due to agricultural modernization and the prioritization of export-oriented conventional agriculture in government policies.
• Philanthropic funding should shift from isolated poverty-reduction projects toward catalytic, territorial-scale initiatives that support multi-actor platforms and the redesign of agroecosystems.

APA

Greenberg, S., Sardeshpande, M., Elujulo, O., Drimie, S., Adeyemi, O., & Mabhaudhi, T. (2025). Agroecological Territories and Integrated Landscape Approaches to Advancing Food Systems Transitions in Africa. African Climate Foundation. https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/801023_G-Ecosystems-and-territorial-approaches-WEB-2.pdf

Chicago

Greenberg, Stephen, Mallika Sardeshpande, Opeyemi Elujulo, Scott Drimie, Opeyemi Adeyemi, and Tafadzwa Mabhaudhi. Agroecological Territories and Integrated Landscape Approaches to Advancing Food Systems Transitions in Africa. African Climate Foundation, 2025. https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/801023_G-Ecosystems-and-territorial-approaches-WEB-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{greenberg2025agroecological, author = {Greenberg, Stephen and Sardeshpande, Mallika and Elujulo, Opeyemi and Drimie, Scott and Adeyemi, Opeyemi and Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwa}, title = {{Agroecological Territories and Integrated Landscape Approaches to Advancing Food Systems Transitions in Africa}}, institution = {African Climate Foundation}, year = {2025}, url = {https://africanclimatefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/801023_G-Ecosystems-and-territorial-approaches-WEB-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }