Photo by AnnaLena Hållner
AFAN
Agroforestry Action Network
Connecting communities with agroforestry to regenerate multifunctional landscapes
Learn More Get Involved
Agroforestry Action Network
Connecting communities with agroforestry to regenerate multifunctional landscapes
Learn More Get InvolvedWe organize action projects to strengthen environmental-social resilience through applied agroforestry and experimentation.
Our participatory action projects enable people to help shape agroforestry systems, everyone contributing to environmental regeneration and bio-(cultural) diversity enhancement in their own way.
We host place-based workshops, demonstrations, and cultural events, alongside online sessions, to engage learners and practitioners.
Educational agroforestry experiences transform participants into practitioners, building not only multidisciplinary knowledge but positive place experience.
We collaborate with municipalities, universities, and civic groups to create lasting impact in regenerating local ecosystem areas.
By bridging municipalities, universities, and civic groups, we secure resources and permissions needed to support restoration efforts and enhance project impact.
We catalyze social learning through exploring diverse forms of participation in global agroforestry projects.
Connecting with agroforestry networks worldwide, we enhance community engagement in agroforestry through interdisciplinary research & project collaborations.
AFAN is a non-profit network connecting students, practitioners, and local communities to restore degraded landscapes through agroforestry. We connect practitioners to public parks, forests, community gardens, and ecologically vulnerable areas where their skills directly benefit the public.
As a networked organisation, we facilitate collaborations that contribute to community-led agroforestry systems, stakeholder engagement, and environmental education. Through our local projects, we connect interested practitioners directly to spaces where they can learn and apply agroforestry-based regenerative practices. Practitioners can as members also participate in network exchanges with our partner organisations; from transdisciplinary research initiatives to local and international learning experiences, there are ways for everyone to get involved and take action through agroforestry practice!
AFAN launched in 2025 with a participatory approach: public events and an open planning process. Our members lead community-driven activities that maintain, stabilize, and regenerate space. Event activities are open to everyone—students, professionals, families, and residents participate and learn together as practitioners of agroforestry.
We design accessible events and provide tools that enable anyone, students, families, and professionals, to actively participate in local environmental projects.
We implement participatory assessments to design feasible agroforestry adaptations that enhance existing practices, from water-harvesting design to resilient species selections.
Through keyline/contour design, composting and mulching, and improving ground cover, we rebuild soil structure and hydrological function in degraded landscapes.
We layer fast-growing pioneers with long-term canopy species, mimicking forest succession to create self-maintaining, increasingly productive systems.
Based in Lund, Sweden, our pilot project restores and reactivates the public park landscape through community-led agroforestry initiatives. We're working with the municipality, alongside schools and the public to build local ecological and social resilience to climate change.
| Focus Area | Description |
|---|---|
| Soil & Water Management | Developing context specific strategies to improve rainwater retention, prevent erosion of garden areas, and regenerate biomass & ground cover through integrated regenerative systems. |
| Biodiversity Enhancement | Establishing multilayered gardening zones alongside native forest species to create biocultural ecosystems that provide food, medicine, and ecological value. |
| Food Forestry & Permaculture | Regenerating the area through effective food forest management, arrangement, and species selections to enhance cross-season productivity, carbon capture, and soil fertility. |
| Community Engagement | Leading hands-on training in propagation, planting design, and maintenance that equips participants to initiate projects in their own neighborhoods. |
Depending on your interests and background, you might get involved in: Agroforestry & food systems (food forest & permaculture practices, soil amendments, outplanting); Water & WASH systems (rainwater harvesting, solar water pumping, watershed protection); Circular & regenerative systems (composting, biochar, organic waste reuse, sustainable food systems); Built environment & green infrastructure (creative solutions for agroforest accessibility & co-benefits); Learning & knowledge exchange (training sites, youth programmes, research partnerships, 'farmer-to-farmer' learning); Community organisation & governance (participatory planning, women- and youth-led initiatives); Climate adaptation & restoration (needs assessments, regenerative co-management, resilient landscapes).
You don't need to be an expert. AFAN projects are designed as learning-by-doing spaces, where people contribute what they know and grow new skills alongside communities.
Are you looking for a community of collaboration and exploration? Click below to be contacted by organisers in your area.
Agroforestry connects land, water, food, energy, and people to (re-) build ecosystems & community resilience.
At AFAN, we connect people to real, community-led agroforestry projects where they can learn, contribute, and apply diverse skills across food systems, design, climate adaptation, and local livelihoods.
Interested in getting involved but not sure where to start?
Fill out the form below to request a one-on-one conversation with an AFAN project facilitator. We'll help you explore how your interests, skills, and availability can connect to ongoing or upcoming agroforestry projects.