The maintenance of good soil quality is vital for the environmental and economic sustainability of annual cropping. A decline in soil quality has a marked impact on plant growth and yield, grain quality, production costs and the increased risk of soil erosion. Therefore, it can have significant consequences on society and the environment. A decline in soil physical properties in particular takes considerable time and cost to correct. Safeguarding soil resources for future generations and minimizing the ecological footprint of annual cropping are important tasks for land managers. Visual Soil Assessment is based on the visual assessment of key soil ‘state’ and plant performance indicators of soil quality, presented on a scorecard. With the exception of soil texture, the soil indicators are dynamic indicators, i.e. capable of changing under different management regimes and land-use pressures. Being sensitive to change, they are useful early warning indicators of changes in soil condition and as such provide an effective monitoring tool.

Land evaluation is a vital link in the chain leading to sustainable management of land resources. There is a perceived need to update the FAO 1976 Framework for Land Evaluation to reflect current concerns related to climate change, biodiversity and desertification. The goods and services of the land that are related to its multiple functions or benefits as well as the sustainability of its use need to be addressed. New tools to conduct land evaluation have become available and the need for a participatory approach has been recognized.Many concepts and definitions of the original Framework remain valid; others evolved and new concepts arose over the past 25–30 years.

This publication is available in Portuguese under the title “Comunicação, diálogo, conciliação”; it is the result of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) . The Conference called on participants to develop grassroots, participatory strategies in land policy discussions. The Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development approach facilitates the process of dialogue among all actors involved, including national governmental and non-governmental institutions working on agrarian reform and territorial development issues, in addition ot civil society organizations and interested stakeholders.