ICARDA witnessed several important developments in 2006. Of these, the Fifth External Program and Management Review (EPMR) was the most significant, as it provided a comprehensive assessment of the Center's global activities, as well as new insights and dimensions that helped refine ICARDA's new Strategic Plan for 2007- 2016. The EPMR coincided with a transition in the governance and leadership of ICARDA.

The research and development community faces the challenge of sustaining crop productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods and securing environmental sustainability in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). This calls for a better understanding of farming systems and of rural livelihoods, particularly with the advent of, and strong advocacy for, conservation farming and resource-conserving technologies.

The research and development community faces the challenge of sustaining crop productivity gains, improving rural livelihoods and securing environmental sustainability in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). This calls for a better understanding of farming systems and of rural livelihoods, particularly with the advent of, and strong advocacy for, conservation farming and resource-conserving technologies.

La herramienta de mapeo (o cartográfica) del WOCAT/LADA se basa en el cuestionario de mapeo original del WOCAT (WOCAT, 2007). Este ha sido ampliado para prestar más atención a cuestiones como la degradación biológica e hídrica y hacer más hincapié en las causas directas y socioeconómicas de esos fenómenos, incluyendo los impactos sobre los servicios ecosistémicos. Se evalúa el tipo de degradación de la tierra que esta ocurriendo actualmente, dónde y por qué ocurre y qué se hace al respecto en términos de Manejo Sustentable de Tierras (SLM), bajo la forma de un cuestionario.

Livestock play an important role for poor rural households in regions such as the Peruvian Andes. Research methods leading to a better understanding of the role of livestock in household poverty dynamics, and what better targeted policies and interventions may enhance that role, however, are not readily available. We utilized multiple methods, including Stages-of-Progress and household surveys, which gave us a combination of qualitative and quantitative results.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is one of 15 future harvest

centres, which conduct food and environmental research to help alleviate

poverty and increase food security while protecting the natural resource base.

This article uses data from household income surveys to look at income structures amongst households in three mountainous regions of Tajikistan: Gorno-Badakhshan, the Rasht Valley and Eastern Khatlon. The structure of incomes demonstrates the dominant role of subsistence agriculture in all three regions although commercial agriculture is important amongst better-off households in Rasht. Relationships between poverty and household characteristics including access to capital, demographic variables and income-generating activities were examined.