Conservation Carbon Company

IAF Network

The International Analog Forestry Network was created nine years ago to develop replicable models of sustainable resource management based on traditional methods of intensive tropical agriculture known as Analog Forestry. The technology was developed by creating a synthesis of traditional and scientific knowledge in Sri Lanka by Dr. Ranil Senanayake, who has spent past twenty five yeas researching and developing ‘Analog Forestry’, initially with his organization, the Neo-Synthesis Research Centre in the Sri Lankan highlands and subsequently with partners around the globe. The application of Analog Forestry is a careful balance between recreating a forest system that is analogous in structure and function to the original ecosystem and serving the economic interests of the participating farmers through the use of crop-producing species. Analog forestry is a science that allows farmers to add value to their existing agricultural system while benefiting from the effects of a healthier, more stable ecosystem.

Representatives of the five member organizations of the International Network first gathered for a conference in Sri Lanka in April 1995 to formalize the network and to examine and discuss the various aspects of analog forestry in application. Each member organization of the network was chosen for their work in practical restoration of degraded forest land and involvement of the local communities in their respective regions. In November 1996, practitioners from each organization came together again to be trained in applying practical landscape design training into their current forestry programs. The participants of the workshop acquired many practical skills that they have been able to use to transform their activities. Since that time, the founder organization’s members have been building programs of analog forestry, which includes working in the field, with rural communities establishing arboretums and a nurseries to install Forest Gardens or Analogue Forestry plots around the world.