SANREM CRSP Annual Report: 2006

Abstract

"During the past year, the SANREM CRSP (Phase III) established the Long-Term Research Program that will generate the core of new sustainable agriculture (SA) and natural resource management (NRM) knowledge and development impacts. The overall SANREM CRSP vision is to develop knowledge pertaining to SA and NRM interventions and strategies, organize that knowledge into an accessible on-line knowledge base, place it in its proper development context, and disseminate the knowledge to decision makers. During this past year, the SANREM CRSP: - Completed high-impact, short-term, Bridging Award research activities that capitalized on earlier SANREM Phase II research activities - Initiated five new long-term research activities - Initiated and expanded capacity building activities - Continued development of a book on adaptive management of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management systems; and - Sponsored (in collaboration with the IPM CRSP) the Biodiversity Conservation in Agriculture Symposium, which promoted the integration of biodiversity conservation into agriculture development programs.

"The SANREM CRSP promotes stakeholder empowerment and improved livelihoods through the discovery, organization, and dissemination of SA and NRM knowledge. Our approach is participatory, engaging stakeholders at all levels in research problem formulation within priority areas of inquiry, focusing on multiple countries and/or regions to facilitate scaling research findings up and out. Program efforts are competitively driven and organized through a nested landscape systems approach. Gender sensitivity is integral to the SANREM approach and reinforced by gender-sensitive participant training programs that include degree and non-degree training plans. All activities link sustainable natural resources management with the economic concerns of local populations and the promotion of good governance."