A four-page information sheet, a brief summary and report on the SARD-M Project activities in Central America are now available.

They present the main results of the policy assessments for SARD conducted in Costa Rica and Nicaragua by PASOLAC in 2005 and of an expert regional workshop titled “Towards a Methodological Framework for a Rapid Assessment of Policies for SARD in Mountain Regions (16-17 November 2005, in Managua, Nicaragua) organized by PASOLAC together with the SARD-M Project. Representatives from governments and civil society organizations involved in the formulation and implementation of policies for SARD in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and from other regional or national institutions with experience in the design or implementation of SARD-related policies attended the workshop.

The results of the policy assessments include 27 lessons learned and suggestions, notably on the:

• general condition of hillsides in Central America;
• application of the SARD-M concept;
• level of familiarity with SARD policies;
• political and participatory processes, technical procedures and resource mobilization involved in the formulation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of SARD-M policies.

A CD-ROM containing the full report along with an anthology of SARD-M policies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua has also been created. Copies of this CD-ROM can be obtained by sending an email to the following address: sard-m@fao.org.