3.1. Introduction
3.2. Hillsides
3.3. Tropical Lowlands
3.4. Land Management Group
3.5. Conclusions
The past work of CGIAR Centres has already made major contributions towards increasing the food supply of certain crops and alleviating poverty in the developing world. But it has become increasingly apparent that there are pressing needs for improved management of natural resources to ensure the sustainability of agricultural productivity. For example, cereal monocropping in the savannahs leads to a rapid linear fall in yields as organic matter declines. In the hillsides, soil erosion undermines agricultural productivity and the livelihood of poor farmers.
Moreover, agricultural activities also often have important environmental consequences going beyond agriculture. For example, continued clearing of natural vegetation for new farming and grazing land in the lowland forest margins, savannahs and hillsides threatens a massive loss of biodiversity. Erosion and deforestation in hillside watersheds can have a major negative effect on downstream water resources. On the other hand, intensified pasture systems in the savannahs can have a beneficial effect by acting as a carbon sink, thus reducing the risk of global warming.
Responding to the need for more sustainable agriculture, while simultaneously preserving the natural resource base, the CGIAR is searching for an approach to address these issues through the IARCs acting in collaboration with other organizations. CIAT is at the frontier in this search.
In 1990, TAC defined the warm humid tropics as the highest priority for research in the Americas. CIAT, considering the heterogeneity of this ecozone, conducted a study to prioritize agroecosy stems in tropical America. The variables included: climate, soil, land use and potential for alleviating rural poverty. Three priority areas emerged from this study: 30 million ha of hillsides. 180 million ha of savannahs, and 45 million ha of cleared forest margins. These agroecosystems share the common problem of acid, infertile soils; they are well-watered; and pasture is the main land use. They are also linked socioeconomically; for example, most migrants to forest margins or savannahs seek better living standards than they can find in the hillsides.
The strategy defined for natural resource management is to integrate regional land use and farming options that help relieve market and social pressures on fragile environments. The work includes two levels of aggregation. The first is at the sectoral and regional level, with emphasis on the understanding of policies to mobilize alternative land use strategies. The second is at production level, with the emphasis on generating and integrating improved technologies into economically viable systems which are also agroecologically sound and efficient in the use of inputs. This general strategy includes three elements: understanding the natural resource processes; generating new technology, including adapted germplasm; developing decision tools and policy options to promote sustainable development.
This common approach, adapted to the features of each agroecosystem, has been initiated in each of CIAT's three ecoregions. The time so far elapsed is short, but the first results justify a certain optimism.
Initially, four programmes were created: Land Use, Hillsides, Savannahs and Forest Margins. At the time of the Review there are two programmes, Hillsides and Lowlands, and two SRGs: Land Management, evolved from the former Land Use Programme; and Production Systems and Soil Management.
3.2.1. Evolution
3.2.2. Achievements and Impact
3.2.3. Future Strategy
3.2.4 Overview and Assessment
This Programme builds on previous work in the Bean and Cassava Programmes and the Participatory Research Project. It has its origin in a working group formed during the development of CIAT's Strategic Plan in 1991. At that time, the Agroecological Unit identified a subsystem of Tropical American Hillsides (30 million ha out of the 96 million ha in the whole region) that have acid, low-fertility soils and are well-watered, like the savannahs and forest margins of the tropical lowlands. That subsystem has an important rural population, and is undergoing serious environmental damage from loss of biodiversity, erosion, nutrient losses and water contamination.
CIAT, IICA, CIMMYT and CATIE formed an International Hillsides Consortium in 1991. A Central American NGO and IFPRI joined the group. After a rapid rural appraisal, the group selected La Ceiba, Honduras, as a research area and identified broad priorities.
By 1994, the group had established the Andean Hillside interprogramme activity in the Cauca Valley, Colombia, with two scientists from the Lowlands Programme allocating 20% of their time to this site.
In both areas, the selection of specific research sites aimed at incorporating a large degree of variability across a range of conditions, reflecting the diversity of the hillsides as a whole. Thus the Central American project, with three sites, covers a significant range of annual precipitation. The Cauca, in the Colombian Andes, has a wide range of hillside systems including slash and burn, high-input horticulture, and cultivation of CIAT commodities (beans, cassava, forages). In each case the watershed is the area under study.
In both areas the rapid rate of environmental degradation is thought to be driven by the lack of incentives for hillside farmers to invest in conservation. The three objectives of the Programme are: to characterize the mechanisms leading to resource degradation and assess technological options; to generate agroecologically and economically viable components, acceptable to farmers, for soil and water conservation practices; and to strengthen the capacity of national systems to generate and transfer resource-enhancing technologies. The programme follows the operational structure for NRM defined in CIAT's 1993-98 Medium-Term Plan, including a 'vertical' element or in-depth case studies conducted by area-based teams, and a 'horizontal' component of comparative research led by the headquarters team.
The Programme consulted partner institutions, then selected specific priorities for the sites in Honduras and Colombia. Points held in common were: the search for conservation practices; their effects on regeneration; strategies to increase technological components and their adoption; the economic value of conservation practices; and the distribution of benefits in the community.
To complement the consultation the headquarters scientific staff analysed and prioritized the strategic research issues. Those identified as relevant to the Programme's capacity are:
· To improve methods for extrapolation and targeting of technical soil conservation recommendations. This will be possible after a clearer relation has been established between practices and productivity, and a set of guiding principles to select suitable practices has been developed.· To develop decision-support systems for land use planning and technology design. Management of natural resources in hillsides requires collective action, and this involves reaching a consensus on the cost of solutions. A decision support system which is multi-objective and multi-stakeholder will help greatly.
· To generate technologies that serve production or income as well as conservation needs. Existing technologies have to be tested in transition systems before generalizations can be made about their effects on conservation and production, especially in the more closely integrated agrosilvopastoral systems.
· To develop methods for participatory research and development with a view to accelerating the adoption of conservation practices, especially through identifying institutional mechanisms, goal-formulating capacities and a good interface between farmers and researchers.
In relation to staff, the target level in the Strategic Plan was never reached. In 1994, 5.6 Senior Staff positions were budgeted, 4 were approved but at present there are only 3.6 effectively available.
The impact of NRM research comes inevitably over the longer term. In its first three years of activity at three sites, the Hillsides Programme has carried out careful problem identification and prioritization, and has initiated four research projects with interesting first results. Prototype systems have been designed, field trials have been planted, and the Decision Support Research group has calibrated five different models. Conservation technologies have been tested through participatory research.
To illustrate the importance of the last point, researchers tested several conservation technologies and made a provisional selection based on their effectiveness in controlling erosion. However, farmers selected others on the basis of complementing their animal production. So practices had to serve both production and conservation simultaneously (win-win technologies).
The Programme established institutional relations through consortia. The International Hillsides Consortium for Central America and a Colombian Consortium (CIPASLA) with ICA and an NGO were formed; and the programme joined the Andean Ecoregion Consortium (CONDESAN) for collaboration with CIP. In programme development, three senior scientists were outposted to Central America, and special funds (US$ 2.2 million) were obtained for Central America and the Andean region.
Because the hillsides agroecosystem is so diverse, it is impossible to develop a single technology package or policy for universal adoption. So the strategy of the Hillsides Programme for the next five years is to develop a methodological tool kit for national agricultural and NRM institutes, and for other clients, offering:
a) A land classification scheme to identify and select 'strategic' watersheds, that is, with significant downstream user constituents for improved resource management;b) Bioeconomic models for ex-ante impact assessment and methods for the economic evaluation of conservation technologies;
c) Improved methodologies for soil quality assessment and indicators of sustainability to facilitate extrapolation of results and targeting of conservation practices;
d) A suite of calibrated models to use in a decision support system tailored to the requirements of multiple stakeholders who collectively manage common resources;
e) Methodologies and organizational principles which can be widely disseminated among diverse clients;
f) Guidelines for combining component technologies into transitional production systems.
More specifically, future strategy will involve completing the Hillsides projects started in 1993/94. These are: 'Effects of soil degradation and practices for soil conservation and regeneration on the potential productivity of cultivated hillsides'; 'Decision Support Systems for Land Use Planning, Technology design and Participatory Research'; 'Prototype systems for ecologically sound intensification of production in the hillsides'; and 'Improving Agricultural sustainability and livelihoods in the hillsides'. These projects are being implemented in stages, first at the Andean site, then in Central America.
Among new projects there is one funded by the Kellogg Foundation (US$ 750.000 in 3 years), 'Dissemination of a model for community-based, participatory, agricultural technology development'. Other new projects concern: biodiversity and in-situ conservation in the tropical American hillsides, together with the CIAT Biotechnology Unit, IPGRI and potentially CONDESAN/CIP; and 'Application of integrated market and production of high value production system component for the hillsides', together with the Cassava Programme.
The Panel considers that this Programme is at the cutting edge of integrated research for agroecosystems involving smallholder communities. Many innovative methods have been adopted, particularly for achieving farmer and community participation, that will benefit the sites, the ecoregion, and the overall development of effective approaches to research in natural resource management in the small farm sector.
The results obtained in collaboration with other Programmes and Scientific Groups in the area of selection and characterization of sites is encouraging. In the area of conservation technologies and their adoption by farmer communities there are important methodological findings and practical results.
The strategies and methods proposed are comprehensive and challenging. Some are also ambitious, particularly the build up of Decision Support Systems, considering the present resources available to the programme. Decision Support for the Hillside system would involve models of the basic processes related to soil, weather and crops at the farm, community and watershed levels. Some needs can be met using available models; in other cases models have to be adapted or even created. Careful consideration should be given to the time and effort required to validate existing models and the adoption and generation of new ones. More expertise is needed at CIAT in the area of models, expert systems or Decision Support Systems. A recommendation on this issue is made in section 4.3.1.4.
Even though the staff is very capable and motivated, the pending loss of the Programme Leader and another core scientist raises in acute form the issue of critical mass. The Panel urges that consideration be given to concentrating the limited staff in one site, selecting the site that appears more promising in terms of an integrated approach, possibilities of obtaining early results, and a wide community impact.
International and national collaborators are already involved. The Panel encourages the Programme to look for regional partners, like PROCIANDINO (IICA), that have an interest in activities in the Andean Hillsides related to land degradation. These interests may complement the activities of CIAT. Well chosen partners can help in consolidating and focusing the Programme's research.
3.3.1. Evolution
3.3.2. Achievements and Impact
3.3.3. Future Strategy
3.3.4. Overview and Assessment
The origin of this Programme - which was formally created in 1993 by merging existing programmes on the Savannahs and the Forest Margins - goes back to 1989. At that time the Rice and Tropical Pastures Programmes, together with the Colombian NARS (ICA) and the Federation of Rice Growers (FEDEARROZ), began a research project in the Colombian savannahs to integrate experimental lines of rice into cropping systems with pasture grasses and legumes.
In 1991, CIAT created a Working Group on Savannahs jointly with EMBRAPA's Centre for Agricultural Research in the Cerrados (CPAC) of Brazil. This group began a study of the Brazilian Savannahs using secondary information on environmental classes, farming systems, land use and rural census, all integrated into a Geographical Information System (GIS). As a result, an area was selected for future research in the Brazilian Cerrados.
During 1991-92, CIAT began a feasibility study of rice-pasture systems using Delphi surveys and Rapid Rural Appraisals in both the Brazilian and Colombian savannahs. Also at that time, CIAT contracted with a Brazilian NGO to conduct a socioeconomic study of land use in the Brazilian savannahs and forest margins. In early 1993, the Forest Margins programme integrated its activities with the CGIAR Alternatives to Slash and Burn initiative led by ICRAF. CIAT is the regional coordinator for LAC. Research involving CIAT, ICRAF and EMBRAPA is underway in Brazil, on a strip of land along the Acre-Rondonia border.
Because of limited resources, the existing activities in the Savannahs and Forest Margins were merged to create the Tropical Lowlands Programme in late 1993.
The overall objective of the Programme is to: 'develop and adapt technologies for sustainable production systems for the acid soil savannahs and forest margins of tropical America while reducing the pressure for environmental degradation by maintaining or enhancing the quality of the natural resource base'.
The staff level budgeted in the Strategic Plan has not been reached, and at present there are nine Senior Scientists and three Postdoctoral Fellows.
For both Savannahs and Forest Margins, there are three inter-related research areas:
1. Agroecological characterization through an analysis of trends in land use patterns;2. Studies of the production, resource conservation and socioeconomic circumstances of current patterns of land use;
3. Development of sustainable agropastoral and agrosilvopastoral prototype systems, based on biophysical and socioeconomic processes that affect resource management.
In work on agroecological characterization between 1991 and 1993, CIAT integrated farming systems, environmental, and other socioeconomic information in a GIS and concluded by selecting research areas in Uberlandia for the Brazilian savannahs, the Meta region for Colombian savannahs, and Acre/Rondonia for forest margins.
In the field of studies on production systems, six projects have been formulated, including a characterization of the existing farming systems, allowing an impact assessment of contrasting management systems on the natural resources; and cross-sectional studies (replicated over space and time) providing estimates of temporal trends. These studies have started in the Meta and Uberlandia. Also in this field there has been on-farm and participatory research with monitoring of inputs and outputs at farm level. These studies have achieved several objectives, among which are the rehabilitation of degraded pastures by introducing crops and legumes, and ascertaining the positive effects of a succession crop after a combination of grasses-legumes.
In the Forest Margins area, in the two sites of P. Peixoto (Acre) and Theobroma (Rondonia), characterization has advanced and the initial experiments are just starting.
The development of sustainable prototype systems is being implemented through seven projects involving long-term strategic research in the savannahs of Colombia (Carimagua) and Brazil (Brasilia, CPAC) to quantify the soil-plant processes associated with changes in primary biomass productivity. These experiments are carried out in collaboration with the respective national programmes (CORPOICA and EMBRAPA). They are long-term experiments on present and potential crop rotation and ley-farming systems. They involve a detailed characterization of the crops and soils to understand processes, derive sustainability indicators, and develop or validate models representing technological systems or components. These can later be used to explore scenarios of sustainable production systems.
In Brazil, after three years of experimentation, there are conclusions about soil factors affecting crop performance and that of pasture and animal productivity. In Carimagua (Colombia) the CULTI-CORE experiments established in 1992, exploring several alternative systems, have concluded and emphasized the positive effects of rice established with pastures, especially when legumes are also incorporated. In both cases, soil compaction and nutrient depletion, as important sustainability factors, are correlated with changes in soil fauna populations.
Besides the long-term experiments, there is on-farm validation of components and some combinations, and transfer activities like the crop-pasture technology that is being monitored on 44 farms in Colombia. Between 1992 and 1993 there was a 44% increase in areas sown to rice-pasture and a 34% decrease in areas sown to monocropped rice.
Other forms of process-oriented research have produced interesting results related to organic matter decomposition in these acid soils, and the positive effects of introduced grasses, especially when combined with legumes to sequester significant amounts of soil carbon, a phenomenon which could potentially be of global importance.
Other impacts of the programme are the fostering of greater interinstitutional linkages via research projects such as: the global 'Alternatives to Slash and Bum' project in the forest margins (led by ICRAF globally and by CIAT regionally); an agropastoral network with Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela; Consortia, such as the Management of Acid Soils (MAS), and a recent ecoregional consortium on the use and management of savannahs with PROCITROPICO/IICA, FAO, CIRAD, and the national institutes IBTA, EMBRAPA, CORPOICA AND FONAIAP.
In December 1994, CIAT and IBSRAM were designated conveners of the Soil, Water and Nutrient Management (SWNM) global initiative. CIAT is coordinating the general proposals for TAC, and specifically that on acid soils in Latin America.
The Programme will continue emphasising its three major research regions: the Brazilian Cerrados, the Colombian Savannahs and the Forest Margins. It will also complete the three inter-related areas of research in each region, especially the development of sustainable agrosilvopastoral systems which is in its initial stage.
As part of the scientific research group on production systems and soil management, and of the MAS consortium, new thrusts will be pursued on C sequestration, P acquisition and the integration of organic and inorganic nutrients in lowland systems.
As convener of the SWNM initiative, CIAT plans to identify several projects and international and national partners in order to consolidate research on the ecoregions selected.
Even though the Programme was inaugurated in late 1993, there are several important achievements from the Savannahs and Forest Margins activities which started earlier and which have continued in this programme.
The Panel finds that there are important contributions to methodology as well as direct impacts from programme-developed technologies. The selection of geographical areas for research, the cross-sectional land use effects on natural resources, the long-term research on scenarios of farming systems, their components and the differential effects on land use and natural resources, the search for indices of sustainability, are all innovative contributions. The important agropastoral system technologies (Rice-Grass-Legumes) are having a significant impact in the region. NARS and private organizations are transferring and adopting these systems.
The Panel suggests that the long-term experiments in Brazil, as well as in Colombia, could benefit from an even more comprehensive approach by incorporating scientists from CIAT or other institutions to cover other important components like crop phenology, the dynamics of organic matter, and expertise in the area of simulation models, expert systems, or Decision Support Systems. The build up of Decision Support for the Tropical Lowlands would include the validation and development of models derived from the experiments in relation to soils, crop and management processes; the capacity to structure crop and farming system prototypes for an ex-ante impact assessment of sustainability; policy-later evaluation of components at farm level; and finally the process of farmer and policy decision-making. Limitations in human and financial resources suggest that an important decision has to be made in relation to the number of sites for the savannahs and the forest margins. The Panel urges consolidation in one site for each agroecosystem in order to promote the more efficient and effective use of available resources.
In relation to the Forest Margins activities in Brazil, the Panel considers that it is important to clarify the coordination and programmatic boundaries with ICRAF and EMBRAPA, and the internal coordination within CIAT. Clearer responsibilities and reporting lines are needed within and across the institutions involved. As LAC convenor for CGIAR ecoregional initiatives CIAT has an important role to play here. The general definitions and principles for the governance and management of system-wide programmes and ecoregional initiatives agreed last December at IPGRI are an important guide for this purpose.
3.4.1. Evolution
3.4.2. Achievements and Impact
3.4.3. Future Strategy
3.4.4. Overview and Assessment
Since 1989, the evolution of this Group has been from the Agroecological Studies Unit (until 1991), to the Land Use Programme (until February 1994), and finally to the Land Management SRG. This last decision responded to CIAT's financial difficulties.
From the start, the Group had a system perspective focusing on working in partnership with other CIAT groups, on identifying new geographic areas of researchable problems, on the extrapolation of research results, and on policy oriented research. Additionally, in the last few years, it has generated its own projects broadening its scope from the biophysical to the socioeconomic area and to policy analysis. This is aimed at understanding and anticipating land use changes in tropical America, the determinants and impacts of land management, and their implications for technology development and diffusion. All this requires the causal analysis of trends in land use, the study of the spatial distribution of agricultural land use patterns in relation to ecological factors, understanding the role of cross-scale (micro/macro) interactions in land use dynamics, and the identification and development of policy-relevant indicators of sustainable land use.
In 1994, it became a member of the Committee 'Use of GIS in Agricultural Research Management', together with UNEP, as part of a CGIAR initiative on GIS. It also became a UNEP collaborating 'Centre for Environmental Assessment' for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The main tools of the Group have been databases related to biophysical aspects, like climate, soil and physiography, but lately more emphasis has been on agricultural statistics, land use and other socioeconomic aspects. These databases are being processed through a Geographical Information System (GIS) and global simulation models by a group of four experts at present.
This group is well recognized in CIAT for its collaboration and achievements. In this period we can cite:
· A diagnosis of Latin American rice distribution; an Atlas of Cassava for Africa with IITA; maize distribution in the Andes with CIMMYT; land degradation in the Peruvian Amazon with IFPRI; and land use in the high Andes with CIP. In all cases this activity helped priority setting for research.· Selection of the most important agroecosystems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Within the agroecosystems, sites were selected and characterized, namely hillsides in Honduras and Colombia (Colombia), one savannah site, two forest margins in Brazil, and a land use study in Acre/Rondonia.
· Several applications have been made to biodiversity with GIS and environmental classifications, like the mapping of the bean core collection, and the environment of wild relatives of crops to guide germplasm searches.
The Group will emphasize both site-specific and ecoregional research. According to its goal on sustainable land use, the investigation of the ecological and economic determinants and impacts of land use will be added to the geographical and anthropological dimensions already incorporated. The Group is planning to complete its minimum core competence by the incorporation of a Tropical Ecologist and a Resource Economist.
In relation to GIS, it will move further in complex GIS analysis integrating crop growth, hydrological and erosion models. Use of simulation models for land use planning will also be integrated into GIS.
Some examples of major initiatives soon to be undertaken are:
Characterization and analysis of land use dynamics in Central American Hillsides; nutrient acquisition and use in the savannahs; carbon sequestration in tropical lowland ecosystems; in situ conservation areas of Arachis germplasm; resource degradation and land use in Latin America; an integrated spatial database for the Andean regions; and strategies for sustainable land use in the lowland savannahs of South America together with FAO, IICA and regional NARS.
In summary, future research will involve agroecosystem themes, continental projects, biodiversity-related projects, commodity-related activities and theoretical research.
The Panel is pleased to acknowledge the effectiveness of the activities carried out by the Land Management Group, which have led to significant contributions for other programmes, scientific groups of CIAT and other IARCs and the community as a whole. Special mention is made of the GIS team, who have acquired a leadership role in the region as well as among the CGIAR Centres. The themes and approaches of this group are filling important gaps and are opening new avenues, especially in the processes of technology transfer at different scales and the very important area of impact of land use policies on the management of natural resources, fields on which they should concentrate.
Many national institutes will benefit from closer associations with the group, such as those proposed in the 'Strategies for Sustainable Land Use in the Lowland Savannahs of South America'. On the job training and other techniques of transfer will strengthen the national collaborators.
Interactions with somewhat analogous methods of Land Use Studies, like the FAO Framework for Land Evaluation, can be expected to provide benefits in the area of integrating biophysical and socioeconomic studies as well as in the selection of land quality indicators.
The facilities and human resources are very appropriate and continuous support should be given to its maintenance and future development.
The Panel urges a clearer delimitation of the scope of work of the group, and the strengthening of channels of interaction with other SRGs, Units and Programmes, particularly with the Natural Resources Programmes, in order to avoid duplication and to focus on the group's central role.
The SRG is at present an anomaly; contrary to the policy regarding SRGs it has a budget and fixed assets. The Panel urges CIAT to study the implications for the Centre of making the Land Management SRG into a programme or a unit. The decision will depend on the direction that CIAT wants to take in this field. If the Centre wants to emphasize activities at the regional level in Latin America, or perhaps also further afield, and to strengthen work on land use policies and their consequences for land degradation, as well as sustainability indicators within and between ecoregions, then the Land Management would be better as a programme. If CIAT prefers to place main emphasis on the support that this group gives to the Natural Resources and other programmes in matters of GIS, data collection and its analysis, then it would be better to consider it as a unit. There will always be a mixture of both activities, and support to other CIAT programmes must be a top priority, but the direction in which the group should move must provide the basis for a decision. This matter is taken up again in the recommendation in the next section.
The Panel agrees with the expansion in natural resources research initiated by CIAT since the last EPMR. The most important contributions in this area are: the selection and characterization of three important agroecosystems for Latin America and the world, where present agricultural practices are associated with significant land degradation effects; the development of a research approach aimed at obtaining, through case studies, knowledge of natural resources, cropping systems and decision-making processes and their links with land use policies; sustainability factors; and a start with the development of a methodological framework or tool kit for NARS to use in their respective countries.
In the face of severely limited human and financial resources, the Panel has suggested above that activities of both the Hillsides and the Lowlands Programmes should be concentrated in the minimum necessary number of sites, while retaining as comprehensive an approach as possible. In a later phase the number of sites could be built up in a network approach with the NARS, in order to validate and transfer methodologies.
The Panel has considered various options for the organization of programmes in the Natural Resources Management area, but without reaching any final conclusion. It has therefore decided to submit these options for the new Director General and the Board to consider further. The options identified are:
a) To leave the present situation unchanged, with the two ecoregional programmes for Hillsides and Tropical Lowlands, but with Land Management becoming either a programme or a unit as outlined in the preceding section;b) Forest Margins would be moved from the Lowlands to the Highlands programme, as the two sets of activities have a strong emphasis on socioeconomic factors and deal with similar crops. The Lowlands would continue as a separate programme, with Land Management again becoming either a programme or a unit;
c) The two ecoregional programmes could be consolidated into one, with Land Management becoming a separate programme or unit;
d) All activities, including both the ecoregional programmes and Land Management, could be consolidated into a single Natural Resources programme.
The Panel emphasizes (b) and (c) as its preferred options.
The preceding views are summarized in the following recommendations:
3. In view of the limited resources available for CIAT's NRM work, the Panel recommends that:· the number of research sites be reduced;· Board and Management consider the options for consolidating existing programme structures (Chapter 3.5);
· the Land Management SRG become either a programme or a unit depending on the orientation that CIAT considers more appropriate to its future (Chapter 3.4).
The Panel draws attention to its recommendation in Chapter 4.3.1.4 regarding the integration of expertise in scientific data management and decision support systems in a broadened Biometry Unit. This is of considerable importance for work on NRM.
In addition, the Panel feels that CIAT should go ahead with the establishment of a Soils Unit as already discussed inside the Centre. The Panel's support for this proposal is based on its understanding that the expertise in soil science necessary within the programmes would not be critically weakened. The Panel feels that CIAT should attempt to mobilize funding for a Soil Biologist to be located in the Soils Unit. The following recommendation is put forward:
4. The Panel recommends that CIAT establish a Soils Unit, which should follow an integrated approach with emphasis on organic matter, soil biota and nutrient cycling. The funding of a Soil Biologist to be located in the Unit should be given a high priority.
The ecoregional consortia already established with NARS, IARCs and regional programmes like the PROCIS of IICA, should be encouraged as they are important vehicles for mobilizing expertise, resources and decision capacity to address the natural resources problems of the region.
