The emergence of the concept of sustainable development induced a generalization of the consideration of environmental dimension in most planning policies during the 1990’s. Threats on biodiversity became a subject of concerns not only for the scientists, but also for the public authorities and the citizens. In 2004 France has launched a national strategy to stop the biodiversity loss. It was followed by the Grenelle Environment Forum, in October 2007, to determine policy guidelines for sustainable development.

The environmental legal measures were completed by the Green and Blue Ways (GBW) laws.  This conservation and land planning policy tool is a response to landscape fragmentation and loss of biodiversity 1/ by participating in the preservation, management and rehabilitation of the ecological networks, and 2/ by taking into account human activities – including agriculture – in rural areas. This became a grid of reading for the environmental policy of the State and territorial collectivities.

This paper focuses on the role that agroforestry systems can play as structuring elements of the landscape for the implementation of the GBW, and how it is revealing multiple territorial challenges related to biodiversity. It is based on the result of the INTERFACE research project conducted in South of France. Agroforestry trees can be all at the same time a marker of the landscapes and an essential component of the ecological corridors. Agroforestry systems thus occupy a paramount place within the framework of the implementation of the GBW, which intend to provide eco-systemic services and to be part of a virtuous circle which aims at decreasing the risks and the vulnerabilities of any type. Could GBW be seen as a way to promote agroforestry by the capacity of such systems to value the environmental services of trees in the landscapes?