UN Division for Sustainable Development

Case Study Detail Record

Organization type:	Government

Name of Ministry/Agency:	Department of State

Country:	United States of America

Name of Focal Point:	Hiram Larew

Initiative Title:	Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP)

Internet links:	http://www.oired.vt.edu/sanremcrsp

Scope:	Global

Status:	Ongoing

Timeframe:	Start: End:

Lead Institution:	US Agency for International Development

Stakeholders/Partners:	U.S. Universities and Host Countries

Relevent issues:	- Food security and sustainable agriculture - Enhancing agricultural productivity through adequate and sustainable inputs - Community-based and indigenous approaches to food production - Diversifying agricultural production systems - Agrarian reform - Environmentally sound pest control - Water management in agriculture - Early warning systems for monitoring food supply and demand - Access to financing, investments or markets - Capacity building - Technology transfer - Research development - Consultative land planning and development - Women's access to land and land decision-making - Strategic urban and peri-urban planning for poverty reduction - Land conservation and rehabilitation programmes

Objectives/Challenges:

In 1991, the National Research Council (NRC) outlined a strategy for U.S. universities to collaborate with host country institutions to carry out integrated, multidisciplinary research organized across agro-ecozones and in response USAID initiated the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Collaborative Research Support Program (SANREM). SANREM promotes stakeholder empowerment and improved livelihoods through the discovery, organization, and dissemination of sustainable agriculture and natural resource management (NRM) knowledge. This program is participatory, engaging stakeholders at all levels in research problem formulation and research implementation. 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 NRM with the economic concerns of local populations and the promotion of good governance.
Currently SANREM manages five long-term research activities involving public-private partnerships among scientists, SMEs, government, and NGOs in collaboration with local populations in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Activities include:

• Promoting farmer technological innovation to reduce risks associated with climate change.

• Developing new farming systems to increase production and improve the livelihoods of people who rely on marginal agricultural lands.

• Identifying and promoting forest management policies that increase income and ensure the long-term sustainability of forest resources.

• Developing business models that improve the livelihoods of African smallholders, preserve biodiversity, and create ecotourism opportunities.

• Building public-private partnerships to improve livelihoods and protect water and other natural resources.

• Research into the potential of payments for ecosystem services as an alternative to conventional conservation programs.

Lessons Learned:

Building participatory, science-based development for sustainable agriculture and NRM systems requires adaptation and local commitment. It involves building the human resources and the institutions that mobilize those resources, promoting local leadership and conflict management skills, and creating local private-public partnerships that a support policies for investment in innovative production processes and market institutions. Bringing these factors together in any particular situation takes time and a willingness on the part of donors to invest for the long term. Short-term projects that offer quick returns from one set of system components lead to imbalances and breakdowns in the medium and long term.

Summary:

All SANREM activities link sustainable natural-resource management with the economic concerns of local populations and the promotion of good governance. SANREM helps farmers, land managers, communities, and policy-makers make choices that not only improve their livelihoods, but also protect essential natural resources for themselves and for future generations.

• In the Philippines, SANREM researchers helped create a local organization to manage local water quality issues, initiated watershed planning at the municipal level, and promoted constructive policy dialogue over water resources management at the national level.

• In Mali, SANREM researchers developed a new model for decentralized natural resource management at the commune level that increased inter-village collaboration, reduced conflict between herders and farmers, and improved management of soil and water resources. A collaborative effort with the Soil Management Collaborative Research Support Program (CRSP) investigated the potential for local benefits from carbon sequestration.

• In Ecuador, US and national researchers built community capacity to monitor and manage their watershed in the face of receding glaciers while preserving biodiversity, and demonstrated how local culture can be used to support livelihoods.