Research Towards Integrated Natural Resources Management - Examples of Research Problems, Approaches and Partnerships in Action in the CGIAR

The CGIAR goal "To reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition by sustainably increasing the productivity of resources in agriculture, forestry and fisheries" conveys the mandate to provide scientific understanding, technologies and services which can be used as international public goods to preserve and favourably impact both the environment and its natural resource base, while improving human well-being. It requires an emphasis on improving resource use for biological production across a continuum of ecosystems and land types where many poor people live and work, including those of high productive potential as well as those of poor, degraded or fragile landscapes. While sustainable productivity depends heavily on genetic improvements for enhanced yield potentials and for relieving biotic and abiotic stresses, the cases and concepts shown here deal primarily with the interactions of productivity and natural resources.