The opportunities and potentials offered by agroforestry as a promising approach to sustainable land use has enhanced the need for trained professionals in the subject. This has created considerable interest in professional education and training in agroforestry in Mexico and the rest of Latin America, and indeed, all over the world. A few such educational and training programs are under way in various stages of development in the Latin American region; but they lack common strategies. These existing and emerging programs, as well as the scientific, development, and donor communities who are interested in these activities, will be benefited greatly by a set of guidelines that is based on a critical review of the evolutionary trends in agroforestry education, an assessment of the constraints faced, and identification and prioritization of action plans. Since the previous two international workshops on agroforestry education and training (held at ICRAF, Nairobi, Kenya, in December 1982; and the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA, in December 1988), some of these issues have either emerged anew, or have assumed new dimensions. It was in this scenario that an International Mini-Workshop on Professional Education and Training in Agroforestry was organized by the Agroforestry Center for Sustainable Development of the University of Chapingo, Mexico, with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation, at Taxco, Mexico, during 3-7 May 1993.

The Workshop’s focus was on Latin America, Mexico in particular. However, some international experts with extensive experience in agroforestry education, invitees representing emerging programs in other parts of the world, and regional representatives of several international agencies also participated. The Workshop was structured into five round-table sessions, each with brief presentations followed by general discussions; four working group sessions for in-depth analysis and recommendations; and a final plenary session for identifying opportunities for action and to set guidelines for moving the agenda forward.

The Universidad Autónoma Chapingo (UACh). Mexico, established in 1854,is one of the largest and oldest institutions of agricultural education in Latin America. Over the years, the university has undertaken pioneering efforts to develop academic activities pertaining to many new and innovative areas of scientific agriculture, forestry, and natural-resource management. Given UACh's leadership role, and the prevailing high level of academic interest in agroforestry, it was only natural that the university decided to establish a Center of Agroforestry for Sustainable Development (Centro de Agroforestería para Desarrollo Sostenible). Realization of the importance of having such a center for meeting the increasing demand for technical and scientific agroforestry personnel in Mexico, and of the potential role that such a center could play as a leading agroforestry institution in the -Central American region were the main motivations for establishing the Center in 1992. To mark the inauguration of the Center, a small-scale international conference was organized at Chapingo, Mexico, on 24-28 August 1992; this volume is the proceedings of this conference.

The main objective of the conference was to make a quick review and appraisal of past accomplishments, present trends, and future directions in agroforestry in order to set the priorities and directives for the new Center. Accordingly, leading world experts on key aspects of agroforestry research and development were invited to participate in a worldwide reconnaissance, as much as possible, of these issues. Owing to funding-related time constraints, the lead time for conference preparations was rather limited, so some of the overseas invitees were unable to attend. Nevertheless, several important contributions were made and insightful ideas were discussed at the conference. The Conference consisted of keynote presentations, reviews on major developments in the technical and scientific aspects of agroforestry, and regional presentations. Key issues identified in these papers and the ensuing discussions were addressed in three working group sessions on policy and program strategies, research needs and priorities, and education and training. The recommendations of the working groups were presented and discussed at the final plenary session. These proceedings contain the text of a selected few presentations, conference recommendations, and a list of participants. We regret that, because of journal-space limitations, texts of other presentations could not be included in the volume.

The conference and its deliberations were extremely useful for charting the program of the new Center. We hope that members of the agroforestry community worldwide will find this Proceedings equally useful in their activities for further development and continued growth of the discipline of agroforestry.

Este libro de nivel licenciatura resume el actual conocimiento en el campo vertiginosamente cambiante y creciente de la agroforestería. Está organizado en 25 capítulos agrupados en seis secciones; describe los desarrollos en agroforestería que han acontecido durante los últimos 15 años, así como los logros de la aplicación de las ciencias biofísicas y socioeconómicas a la agroforestería. Aunque la atención principal está enfocada hacia los trópicos, donde las prácticas y el potencial de la agroforestería son particularmente promisorios, también se discuten en este libro los desarrollos de la agroforestería de las zonas templadas.

Este texto se recomienda a estudiantes, profesores e investigadores en agroforestería, en agrosistemas y en el uso de la tierra en los trópicos.

El autor, Dr. P.K.R. Nair, es profesor de agroforestería de la Universidad de Florida en Gainesville, Florida en los Estados Unidos de América y ha sido científico fundador del Centro Internacional de Investigación en agroforestería (ICRAF) en Nairobi, Kenia donde colaboró alrededor de 10 años. Es una autoridad mundial en el tema, así como un investigador de frontera y profesor divulgador de la agroforestería.