The impact of climate change is being increasingly felt in the Global South, and particularly in rural and peri-urban environments. Both rely on natural resources that are under pressure from multiple demands for food security, livelihoods and development. Agroforestry in a broad sense is often portrayed as one of the high potential solutions. This is especially true for Rwanda, a land locked country in central Africa that has seen a major population increase over the past decennia and where the pressure for land is among the highest in Africa. The contribution of trees to the conservation of biodiversity and support of ecological functions underpinning selected agroforestry systems will be different in agricultural landscapes representing different levels of tree cover in East Province and peri-urban areas of Kigali City. The effect of agroforestry trees on biodiversity will be determined by first by (i) Assessing landscape structure and composition (e.g. tree presence/absence, density, diversity and functional traits) along a gradient of agroforestry adoption rates; (ii) Assess above-ground functional biodiversity impacts of AF systems (iii) Assess below-ground functional biodiversity impacts of AF systems (iv) Assess impact of AF systems on biodiversity-mediated crop performance along the adoption gradient.