Africa is largely dependent on natural resources in its quest to achieve sustainable development goals, with its woodlands and forests known to be among the most exploited ecosystems. Anthropogenic pressure has led to the progressive conversion of these woodlands and forests into patches of regrowth stands, savanna and cropland systems. Expansion with intensification of agricultural land and the unsustainable use of fuelwood biomass are among the major drivers of such landscape transformations and the associated decline of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This phenomenon is growing in magnitude and significance with emerging environmental issues including climate change, biological invasion, and pollution arising from various land use practices, thereby jeopardizing Africa’s development pathway. Agroforestry holds promises to reverse this trend, as it provides the potential for designing multifunctional agricultural landscapes that guarantee trade-offs of food security, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem services. Africa is characterized by highly variable ecological conditions and remarkable cultural diversity that influence the conception of landscape multifunctionality. Drawing upon the vast experience of researchers and many other professionals in Africa, this book contextualizes the roles of trees in African multifunctional landscapes, capturing the biophysical and societal diversity in the region, while scrutinizing the ongoing trend of landscape multifunctionality in Africa with reference to the global scenario. It is designed to provide a holistic and comprehensive understanding of the various roles of trees in African landscapes and shed light on the underlying functional attributes of trees, which will help readers to generate a better insight and problem-solving approach for landscape multifunctionality in the context of Africa. This book defines the multifunctional landscapes with reference to an African context. The book has fourteen chapters, covering five broad thematic areas (i) the multiple services, functions and role of trees in multifunctional landscapes; (ii) tree-based production systems, products and their contributions to rural livelihoods; (iii) drivers of land cover changes and their impacts; (iv) approaches for managing resources to integrate trees in multifunctional landscapes; and (v) external factors affecting landscape resources management in Africa. 

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Trees in Multifunctional Landscapes: definition, classification, systems, structure, functionality, examples in Africa.- Chapter 3. Place and roles of trees in a multifunctional landscape: Trees and environmental services.- Chapter 4. Distribution and potential of rocky outcrop plant species in African landscapes.- Chapter 5. Trees and agricultural production systems.- Chapter 6. Promoting crop productivity from Improved Soil Management in Smallholder Farming Systems: Policy implications for smart input subsidy programs in Africa.- Chapter 7. Land use and land cover change in Africa: implications on landscape multifunctionality.- Chapter 8. The Role of Non-Timber Forest Products for Sustainable Livelihoods in African Multifunctional Landscapes.- Chapter 9. Commercialization Potential of Africa's Indigenous Fruit Trees (IFTs) and Their Products for Enhancing Nutrition and Rural Livelihoods.- Chapter 10. Germplasm systems of multipurpose indigenous trees in Africa.- Chapter 11. Management of biological invasions in Multifunctional Landscapes of agroecological ecosystems.- Chapter 12. Socio-ecological management of multifunctional landscapes.- Chapter 13. Socio-economic factors, Policy and Governance systems influencing multifunctional landscapes.- Chapter 14. Securing multifunctional landscapes in Africa: What is the future policy research and development direction?.