In the
Spotlight

Presenting CIFOR-ICRAF's ongoing commitment to resilient tree, forest, and agroforestry landscapes

Annual Report 2024

Doris Capistrano

Board Chair

Éliane Ubalijoro

Ex-officio Trustee, ICRAF
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CIFOR-ICRAF
Director General, ICRAF

Robert Nasi

Ex-officio Trustee, CIFOR
Chief Operating Officer (COO), CIFOR-ICRAF
Director General, CIFOR

Message from our leadership

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Éliane Ubalijoro

Ex-officio Trustee, ICRAF Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CIFOR-ICRAF Director General, ICRAF

Robert Nasi

Ex-officio Trustee, CIFOR Chief Operating Officer (COO), CIFOR-ICRAF Director General, CIFOR

By the numbers

Counting our successes

People and projects around the world count on CIFOR-ICRAF to deliver meaningful impacts for tree-based landscapes and the lives they support. Each number factors into our story of hope-in-progress – one that we and our partners continue to write each day.

Impact
Staff and projects
Partnerships
Finance
Reach

Our work

Putting impact into words

With projects in over 20 countries, our work covers a lot of ground and translates into countless outcomes for human and environmental well-being. The impact stories highlight our 2024 successes in advancing dialogue, revitalizing landscapes, reimagining food systems, and supporting equitable action.

Influence

Advancing global dialogue

CIFOR-ICRAF advocated for tree-based ecosystems to play a more central role in addressing earth’s most pressing challenges.

Trees on the COP agendas

Restoration

Revitalizing landscapes

Our pioneering restoration work was recognized internationally with a UN Restoration Flagship Award, and CIFOR-ICRAF projects boosted data-driven decision-making for holistic ecosystem management.

Award-winning restoration in Africa

National biodiversity strategies advance towards global commitments

Ethiopian proclamation funds forest landscape restoration

African initiative advances ecological monitoring

Empowering people in DRC’s Yangambi landscape

Mitigation and adaptation

Building climate resilience

The reality of climate change continues to shape the future of forests and agroforestry. As discussions on global ‘tipping points’ intensified in 2024, CIFOR-ICRAF remained committed to delivering research and innovations that strengthen community resilience—working to sustain a partnership with trees for the decade ahead.

15 years of REDD+ research informs forest futures

Fighting fire with nature in The Gambia

Co-creating peatland impacts in Indonesia

Game-changing tools for Indonesian oil palm

Nature’s pantry

Reimagining food systems

Our work across tree-based food systems—spanning farmers, hunters, sellers, and policymakers—informed national and regional strategies and resulted in innovative technologies.

Pioneering support for National Agroforestry Plans

Peru agroforestry platform officially recognized

Groundbreaking wildlife assessment in Guyana

New paradigm for cocoa farming in Ghana

Inclusion

Facilitating equitable action

In 2024, CIFOR-ICRAF continued to prioritize equitable outcomes for people in and around forest, tree and agroforestry landscapes. Our efforts resulted in improved governance frameworks and opportunities in the communities where we worked.

Lowering barriers through gender-transformative

Improved governance for communal reserves in Peru

From our labs

Science on site

CIFOR-ICRAF is home to state-of-the-art laboratories, including Africa’s largest agroforestry genebank and cutting-edge facilities for soil spectral analysis and dendroecology. In 2024, we continued finding data-driven solutions that support sustainable land use, climate resilience, and ecosystem restoration.

Tree Genebank

Strengthening global efforts to preserve vital tree biodiversity

Tree diversity is critical, but of the 60,000 known tree species worldwide, 30% are threatened with extinction. CIFOR-ICRAF is leading the way in the conservation of tree species, including native trees critical for food and climate resilience. Its seed genebank in Nairobi headquarters houses one of the world’s largest tropical tree seed collections used to improve tree planting, with over 7,000 accessions representing 195 agroforestry tree species. Field genebanks located in 52 sites across 19 countries conserve over 19,000 accessions of 82 agroforestry tree species from Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Tree Genebank made up of the seed and field genebanks sent the very first tree seeds to be duplicated for storage in Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which holds over 1 million tree seeds from 177 species. In 2024, our scientists prepared 120,000 seeds from 13 native African tree species for another deposit in early 2025. And in partnership with Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and Unique land use, CIFOR-ICRAF launched a Transformative Partnership Platform for tree seed and seedling delivery systems (Quality Tree Seed TPP) as part of the Right Tree, Right Place – Seed project (RTRP-Seed), which aims to empower Africa-wide stakeholders to develop sustainable, integrated and high-quality tree seed and seedling sectors for effective landscape restoration and broader tree planting.

Spatial Data Science & Applied Learning (SPACIAL) Lab

Translating CIFOR-ICRAF science into user-friendly tools

The Spatial Data Science and Applied Learning Lab (SPACIAL) leverages satellite imagery to monitor forest cover, deforestation, and restoration progress in near-real-time. Through remote sensing, Earth Observation Data, and modelling, SPACIAL is working to predict soil properties, land degradation status, and species distribution – including invasive species – for more targeted and efficient interventions. SPACIAL co-designs digital tools with a wide range of stakeholders to engage citizen scientists and help fill data gaps. These include decision-support dashboards, mobile apps like the Regreening App, and the Landscape Portal, an interactive online spatial data storage and visualization platform. Nam sed leo purus. Duis tellus orci, vulputate sit amet fringilla tempus, blandit vulputate dui. Phasellus ornare ac odio et scelerisque. Aenean lacinia ex eget ipsum rutrum, sit amet accumsan neque hendrerit. Aliquam non lacinia ex. Aliquam sollicitudin, felis eu dapibus fermentum, mi eros placerat erat, vel gravida justo dolor ac massa. Praesent consectetur aliquam eros, gravida venenatis erat. Donec vitae accumsan tellus, sit amet vehicula risus. Maecenas finibus mattis nunc, ut sollicitudin nulla. Nam sed leo purus. Duis tellus orci, vulputate sit amet fringilla tempus, blandit vulputate dui. Phasellus ornare ac odio et scelerisque. Aenean lacinia ex eget ipsum rutrum, sit amet accumsan neque hendrerit. Aliquam non lacinia ex. Aliquam sollicitudin, felis eu dapibus fermentum, mi eros placerat erat, vel gravida justo dolor ac massa. Praesent consectetur aliquam eros, gravida venenatis erat. Donec vitae accumsan tellus, sit amet vehicula risus. Maecenas finibus mattis nunc, ut sollicitudin nulla.

Soil laboratories

Leading a transformation in land and soil health assessments

The Soil and Land Health Laboratory, based in Nairobi, is renowned for its robust, cost-efficient, and rapid analysis of soils, plants, and agricultural inputs using dry spectral methods. In 2024, the lab analysed over 27,000 samples from 14 countries and received 425 visitors. Its internship programme has welcomed 50 interns worldwide in recent years – including a record 14 students last year. To celebrate World Environment Day, CIFOR-ICRAF and the United Nations Environment Programme co-hosted a workshop on soil management. To strengthen technical capacity in soil spectroscopy, CIFOR-ICRAF’s Soil and Land Health Theme established new spectral labs in India, Gambia and in Sri Lanka. As part of an ongoing project in Sri Lanka’s Knuckles region, soil sampling is being conducted using the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework (LDSF) – a tool designed to help track the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts. Soil experts also contributed to the seminal Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit and action plan and are working with the African Union Development Agency to strengthen soil information services across Africa. Finally, we launched Soil Values, a 10-year programme focusing on Integrated Soil Fertility Management, and continued our work in the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health (CA4SH). Nam sed leo purus. Duis tellus orci, vulputate sit amet fringilla tempus, blandit vulputate dui. Phasellus ornare ac odio et scelerisque. Aenean lacinia ex eget ipsum rutrum, sit amet accumsan neque hendrerit. Aliquam non lacinia ex. Aliquam sollicitudin, felis eu dapibus fermentum, mi eros placerat erat, vel gravida justo dolor ac massa. Praesent consectetur aliquam eros, gravida venenatis erat. Donec vitae accumsan tellus, sit amet vehicula risus. Maecenas finibus mattis nunc, ut sollicitudin nulla.

Dendroecology laboratory

Building climate resilience through tree-ring analysis

Trees are natural archives, revealing vital clues that can help forests, trees and agroforestry landscapes adapt to a changing climate. Housed at CIFOR-ICRAF headquarters in Nairobi, the Dendroecology Lab studies how climate change affects trees, forests and communities. Using tree rings, wood anatomy, isotopes, and growth monitoring, the lab analyses past and present climate impacts to predict future ecosystem resilience and guide climate-smart restoration and land management decisions. Scientists reconstruct hydroclimate history, assess carbon and water cycles as well as fire, natural hazards and insect dynamics, and identify climate-smart ecosystem restoration and management options. Strengthening capacity through student training and citizen science is another key aim. In partnership with the African Tree Ring Network (ATRN), CIFOR-ICRAF organized the first-ever dendrochronology workshop in Africa, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Workshop participants explored the role of tree-ring science in addressing global and regional climate challenges, supporting ecosystem restoration, and advancing sustainable development. Nam sed leo purus. Duis tellus orci, vulputate sit amet fringilla tempus, blandit vulputate dui. Phasellus ornare ac odio et scelerisque. Aenean lacinia ex eget ipsum rutrum, sit amet accumsan neque hendrerit. Aliquam non lacinia ex. Aliquam sollicitudin, felis eu dapibus fermentum, mi eros placerat erat, vel gravida justo dolor ac massa. Praesent consectetur aliquam eros, gravida venenatis erat. Donec vitae accumsan tellus, sit amet vehicula risus. Maecenas finibus mattis nunc, ut sollicitudin nulla.

Our landscapes

Where we work

CIFOR-ICRAF remains active in more than 27 countries, launching projects with high-impact potential across Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Explore the map to read the regional highlights.

Latin America

Europe

Africa

Asia

Our work

Growing together

By forging deep partnerships with local and global organizations, CIFOR-ICRAF remains at the forefront of delivering transformative research that unlocks lasting impact. We are deeply thankful to our funding partners for their trust and support, and to our implementing partners who translate vision into reality.

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF)

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) is the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, dedicated to achieving global goals and committed to the landscape approach.

Resilient Landscapes

Acting as a bridge between science and the private sector, Resilient Landscapes inserts the knowledge of CIFOR-ICRAF’s 800+ international staff into high-impact, bankable project designs.

Partners

Our work is possible thanks to the financial support of our funding partners and the collaboration of our implementing partners – to deliver the greatest potential impact.

About CIFOR-ICRAF

The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) harnesses the power of trees, forests and agroforestry landscapes to address the most pressing global challenges of our time – biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, livelihoods and inequity. CIFOR and ICRAF are CGIAR Research Centers.

About CIFOR-ICRAF

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Doris Capistrano

Board Chair

Éliane Ubalijoro

Ex-officio Trustee, ICRAF Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CIFOR-ICRAF Director General, ICRAF

Robert Nasi

Ex-officio Trustee, CIFOR Chief Operating Officer (COO), CIFOR-ICRAF Director General, CIFOR

Message from our leadership

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CIFOR-ICRAF Board of Trustees

The members of our Board of Trustees draw on diverse expertise, from forestry and agroforestry science to audit, finance and risk management to policy and governance.

Doris Capistrano
Board Chair
Chair, Executive Committee