Acacia project

R.D. Barnes	Population pressure and drought are causing deforestation and land degradation throughout the semi-arid parts of the African continent. Trees are needed in agricultural systems to provide fuelwood, fodder and shelter, to rehabilitate degraded land and particularly to increase the productivity of non-arable land.
R.D. Barnes	Exotic species have rarely proved to be successful in this situation and the solution is increasingly being sought among the natural pioneers, particularly the acacias. There is a need for the farmer, and the scientist and extension workers who work on their problems, to be provided with information that will enable them to identify Acacia species effectively.
Chris Fagg	Concerns over the potential for using Acacia species in Africa, led DFID, through the Forestry Research Programme (FRP), to fund a research programme on the biology and taxonomy of African acacias.
Chris Fagg	This project was led by the late Dr Richard Barnes in Oxford and involved a network of collaboration throughout Africa. One aspect of Richard Barnes', and his colleagues, work was extensive fieldwork in Africa. This produced extensive sets of photographic slides of Acacia species.
Chris Fagg	Some of these images, together with drawings by Rosemary Wise, based on herbarium specimens are now available from this site. We hope that these images are going to be useful for the whole range of people who have an interest in African Acacia species.
Chris Fagg	Images and information on African Acacia species will continue to be added to this site.