The Resources for Tree Planting Platform explains how to go about sourcing good quality tree planting material for growers carrying out land restoration, agroforestry, plantation establishment and other tree planting activities. By ‘planting material’ we mean seeds, seedlings and vegetatively propagated materials (clones). The resources on the Platform are mostly practical ‘how to’ guidelines for extension workers, tree seed collectors, nursery operators and tree growers. But they also include information useful for the planners of tree planting, for tree researchers and for government policy makers. For each resource listed on the Platform, we explain its use and the user group.

The intention of the Platform is to support more effective tree planting for livelihoods and the environment, with an emphasis on low-income tropical and sub-tropical nations, and smallholder growers. The present lack of knowledge about how to deliver high-quality planting material is a major constraint in achieving successful tree planting. It is this gap that the Platform seeks to help fill.

Many of the resources on the Platform were first published some time ago, but they remain relevant for use today. One of the purposes of the Platform is to make sure that these older resources are not forgotten, so that we do not ‘reinvent the wheel’ during the current renewed focus on forest restoration planting.

Resources on the Platform are organised into three different headline categories that provide different entry points for finding information: Seed and seedling handling; Extension resource type; and Subject area. The last of these headline categories provides a broader view on a topic than the other headline categories. The headline categories contain sections on different topics as shown on the Platform’s home page. Clicking on one of these topics will reveal resources organised further into relevant subject sub-sections.

This Platform has been assembled by the Tropical Trees and Landscapes Research Group at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark working with the Tree Productivity and Diversity: Realizing Economic and Ecological Value from Tree Genetic Resources research team of World Agroforestry, based in Nairobi, Kenya, along with colleagues in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both the University of Copenhagen and World Agroforestry work to deliver high-quality tree-planting material to growers. Many of the resources mentioned on the Platform were developed from the 1980s onward by the Danida Forest Seed Centre or by its successor Forest & Landscape, Denmark (FLD). FLD was originally part of the Danish Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University that then became part of the current-day University of Copenhagen.

An earlier version of the Platform, titled Tree Seed Training and Extension Resources, was developed by FLD in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The development of the current updated and reformulated version was stimulated by, and funded under, the Provision of Adequate Tree Seed Portfolio in Ethiopia project (PATSPO) that is supported by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative. It was also supported by the CGIAR’s funding partners through the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA). PATSPO supports the Ethiopian government with the provision of high-quality tree planting material to meet its large forest restoration targets, while FTA is the world’s largest research-for-development programme focused on the role of forests, trees and agroforestry in sustainable development, food security and addressing climate change. The resources listed on the Platform are mostly of broad geographic relevance.

World Agroforestry and the University of Copenhagen have also worked together to create the Global Tree Knowledge Platform which provides broader information on trees.

An equitable world where all people have viable livelihoods supported by healthy and productive landscapes.

To harness the multiple benefits trees provide for agriculture, livelihoods, resilience and the future of our planet, from farmers’ fields through to continental scales.