Planting of alien tree species has been promoted by national and international organisations, including NGOs, with the aim of addressing social and environmental problems in Eastern Africa. These species are promoted for agroforestry purposes, to re-green degraded landscapes or to alleviate fuelwood shortages. Some of the promoted trees have spread widely and now cause serious environmental problems that impact human wellbeing, including losses of grazing land, reduced water availability and increased land management costs.

Despite the well-known unintended impacts of such actions in the past, planting of alien tree species continues to be promoted in developing countries, while leaving these countries to deal with the unintended consequences. Project proposals and funding calls should therefore be critically reviewed by experts from diverse backgrounds to avoid promoting any alien tree species that could have serious impacts. A new policy brief provides recommendations to support decision making about funding for projects that aim to introduce new, or promote established alien woody plant species.

The policy brief can be downloaded here.