The Nairobi investment forum which wrapped up last week provided a one-of-a-kind inventory of private sector opportunities related to growing trees, marketing tree products and restoring degraded landscapes. Participants from a wide variety of backgrounds talked about increasing the numbers of trees in productive landscapes -- not only for the good of the planet, but also to make money for their shareholders and employees, in partnership with local communities, NGOs and the public sector. The next step is to draw up an action plan to make sure that the contacts and good ideas generated by the forum translate into new investments.

We recorded a number of short interviews with some of the forum participants, from baobab powder advocates to traders of carbon offsets, which we'll be posting in the days ahead.

We begin with a welcome message from Dr. Dennis Garrity, head of the World Agroforestry Center, who explained in a nutshell the concept of 'triple win' behind the push to plant more trees:

Dennis Garrity on Investing in Trees on Farms from Program on Forests (PROFOR) on Vimeo.