The Landcare Approach: Enhancing community participation in sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in the uplands

Three factors are increasingly fundamental to successful natural resource management in the uplands. First, there is a need for improved land husbandry practices that enable farmers to sustain food production on sloping lands. Such practices would help farmers change gradually from a monoculture system to mixed tree, crop and/or livestock-based systems that provide increased income and environmental protection. Second, there must be real and effective participation by the rural population, through their own local institutions, in the decisions that impinge upon their livelihoods. Third, there must be an effective partnership among service providers and stakeholders. This paper describes the evolution of Landcare, a farmer-led movement in the Philippines that has emerged as an approach to successful natural resource management in the uplands.