Scientists challenge the idea that we should leave forests untouched to maximize climate benefits
Humans as forest stewards
Humans living in and around forests have been supporting forest health for 1000s of years, they say—and we should protect those practices.
By Emma Bryce
June 6, 2025
It might seem counterintuitive, but farming directly in forests can deliver wins for biodiversity, people, and climate change. That is the argument researchers make in a new comment piece about agroforestry methods, published in Nature Climate Change.
Agroforestry is a broad term that describes the practice of integrating crops with trees, and it falls into two main categories. In one case, trees are planted in open agricultural fields. In the other, farmers plant specific crops beneath the canopies of existing forests. These methods are known respectively as ‘field-based’ and ‘forest-based’ agroforestry.
The researchers penned their comment over concerns that one type is starting to overshadow the other, to the detriment of nature and people.
Increasingly, field-based agroforestry is catching on in industrial agricultural settings, where tree-planting is seen as a way to break up crop monocultures and bring some biodiversity into these deprived landscapes. The allure of this method is increased by the promise of tree-planting as a carbon-sequestering climate solution.
As these flashier tree-planting initiatives attract more funding and attention, however, the authors of the new article say they have noticed that the traditional, forest-based methods from which they stemmed, are being sidelined. The increasing association of agroforestry solely with tree-planting “yields the monolithic conclusion that agroforestry in forests necessarily causes degradation, while agroforestry in treeless fields and pasture results in restoration,” they write in their paper.
But the evidence suggests otherwise. Forest farming, which stems from Indigenous practices, occurs in a surprising number of places around the globe. One example is Indonesian farmers who grow commercial fruit, spice, and rubber tree crops within the understory of tropical forests. Another is growers who plant home gardens into the temperate natural forests of North America. Still another is farmers in Finland who produce mushrooms and berries in managed timber forests.
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Forest farms can range from small-scale crops grown for personal use, to the production of commercial produce. Crucially, they are defined by active stewardship that maintains a healthy, functioning forest ecosystem, partly because this also supports better crops.
active stewardship that maintains a healthy, functioning forest ecosystem, partly because this also supports better crops
The practice can include measures such as thinning tree cover to create gaps, controlled burning, and removing invasive species. Such management, it turns out, often leads to healthy forests. The researchers cite papers showing that forests which are stewarded in these ways often do better on measures of ecological health such as biodiversity, tree regeneration, and carbon storage, compared to regular unmanaged forests. Meanwhile, this farming method also supports livelihoods and creates economic stability for millions of farmers, whose crops often thrive in the more biodiverse forest environment and can even produce comparable yields to monocultures.
do better on measures of ecological health such as biodiversity, tree regeneration, and carbon storage
Therefore, “agricultural activities in forests can have positive impacts on forest health, carbon sequestration, ecosystem function, and rural livelihoods,” says Karam Sheban, a doctoral student at the School of the Environment at Yale University, and lead author on the paper.
However, with the focus on field-based agroforestry there has been an erasure and a misunderstanding of forest farming, which has bled into policy: some leading nature organizations now even actively discourage the practice. Considering its potential, letting this system of stewardship slip away would be a mistake, the researchers believe. “We’re advocating for both approaches together—field and forest—rather than an “either or” approach,” says Sheban.
Particularly, Sheban and colleagues argue that the careful management of forests is needed in a time of climate change, where forests will need to be actively protected against increasing threats, including invasive species and forest fires. Forest farmers can also play a crucial role not only in protecting but also restoring the land under the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Having people acting as stewards in forests can also protect forest borders, and maintain their existence against outside threats.
Tree-planting has its place and can do wonders for empty agricultural landscapes, where it can usher in biodiversity and lock away carbon. But that should not displace forest-farming, an ancient and undervalued practice, the researchers say. “There’s a narrative that human activity in forests causes degradation, and that we really should leave forests untouched to maximize climate benefits,” the authors said in a press release. “But humans living in and around forests have been supporting forest health for thousands of years and continue to do so now.”
Sheban, et al. “Keeping forests on the agroforestry agenda.” Nature Climate Change. 2025.
