Compared to conventional farming and wild collection, agroforestry cultivation methods of fruits and nuts offer ecological and social benefits. Consumers are increasingly willing to pay price premiums for environmentally friendly products. Monetising this readiness can encourage local farmers to switch to more sustainable production systems. In Central Asia, small farmers and food processors are currently not considerably involved in environmental and social certification systems, thus renouncing appropriate market and income opportunities. This is partly due to the high transaction costs of such certification schemes for individual small producers. The project therefore aims to support the creation of the scientific, technological and organisational framework for sustainability and carbon certification of local agroforestry systems. For this purpose, the measure and economic benefits of these services as well as the potential of environmental and social standards for Central Asian SMEs are analysed, a model for establishing producer organisations is developed and the effectiveness of regulatory measures analysed. A roadmap for the registration of agroforestry systems as a climate protection project, the implementation of a carbon footprint visualisation software and the development of a model for certification of producer groups and/or SMEs according to selected environmental and social standards create the basis for monetising selected socio-economic and environmental performance of agroforestry systems.
