article · Discover Forests
Agroforestry integrates trees into agricultural land, offering notable opportunities for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation alongside diversified income for smallholders. A systematic review of 95 empirical studies published between 2000 and 2024 evaluated how these systems fit into compliance and voluntary carbon markets. While carbon markets historically prioritised forests and wetlands, agroforestry presents distinct environmental and adaptation advantages. However, voluntary carbon markets often suffer from weak regulation and missing sustainability standards. Additionally, smallholders encounter barriers including deficient rural infrastructure, inadequate technical knowledge, and limited financing. Successful adoption relies on established practices such as baseline assessments, community engagement, structured system design, and rigorous monitoring and verification. Existing initiatives like the ACORN Platform, Amazonia Connect Initiative, and Dream Fund Program demonstrate pathways to connect farmers with markets, supported by recommendations for capacity building and simplified certification.
Agroforestry can capture carbon while helping farmers adapt to climate change and earn extra income. Understanding how carbon markets function enables policymakers and project developers to design better systems that reward sustainable farming, simplify complex certification rules, and ensure that smallholder communities receive direct economic benefits from climate mitigation efforts.
This research provides applied insights for carbon project developers, agricultural finance institutions, and carbon trading platforms seeking to involve smallholder farmers. Practical frameworks are already active through existing programmes such as the ACORN Platform. Widespread commercial roll-out depends on simplifying verification and certification processes, creating accessible financing models, and deploying monitoring tools adapted to smallholder settings.
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Climate change, driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, manifests through recurrent heatwaves, wildfires, and erratic rainfall, posing significant environmental and socio-economic challenges. Mitigating these effects necessitates the reduction or offsetting of emissions, with the carbon market playing a critical role in achieving these goals. Agroforestry systems, which integrate trees with agricultural practices, offer a promising solution for carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. The primary objective of this paper is to examine how agroforestry systems can be incorporated into the carbon market framework, with a focus on existing initiatives at global, national, and sectoral levels. A systematic review of empirical research was conducted using three academic databases: Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS). Relevant papers published between 2000 and 2024 were selected based on their focus on carbon markets and agroforestry systems. The review included 95 empirical studies that were analyzed through thematic analysis. Key themes explored include the effectiveness of carbon market initiatives, the challenges and opportunities for agroforestry systems in carbon sequestration, and the alignment of these practices with carbon market mechanisms. Findings indicated that, while much of the focus has been on forests and wetlands, agroforestry systems have significant potential within carbon markets, offering environmental and socio-economic benefits, including enhanced climate adaptation and diversified income for smallholders. Carbon markets are divided into compliance markets and voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), each with distinct challenges. VCMs, in particular, face issues such as weak regulation and the absence of sustainability standards. Notable initiatives, such as the ACORN Platform, Amazonia Connect Initiative, and Dream Fund Program, are working to enhance smallholder access to carbon markets. Best practices for integrating agroforestry into carbon markets include baseline assessments, community engagement, agroforestry system design, and robust monitoring and verification systems. The integration of agroforestry into carbon markets presents a promising pathway for mitigating climate change while promoting sustainable land-use practices. However, challenges such as lack of infrastructure, technical knowledge, and financing barriers hinder smallholder participation. To overcome these obstacles, policy recommendations include investing in rural infrastructure, providing capacity-building programs, developing innovative financing models, simplifying certification processes, and ensuring policy stability.
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DOI: 10.1007/s44415-025-00013-4
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