CONSULTATIVE GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Mail address: 355 E. Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501 · TEL: (1-505) 988-1284 · FAX: (1-505) 988-1285 · [email protected]
Donald L. Winkelmann
Chair
15 April 1995
Dear Mr. Serageldin,
I am pleased to submit to you the report of TAC's study on Priorities and Strategies for Soil and Water aspects of Natural Resources Management Research in the CGIAR. The report is supported by two background documents prepared in the course of the study: A Strategic Review of Natural Resources Management Research on Soil and Water (SDR/TAC:IAR/96/9); and A Synthesis of Current Activities in Soil and Water Research in the CGIAR (SDR/TAC:IAR/96/10). You will recall that the draft versions of all these three reports were made available to the Group at ICW'95 but discussion was deferred until MTM'96.
This study was requested by the Group at MTM'94 in New Delhi in the light of the changing priorities of the CGIAR on natural resources management research. You will recall that at that meeting, the Group discussed its follow-up to Agenda 21 of UNCED, as well as a number of issues related to biodiversity and genetic resources. Consequently, the scope of the attached study was limited to the soil and water aspects of natural resources management research.
In the conclusions of the study, TAC reconfirms that the strengthening and expansion of natural resources management research, and the linking of it with productivity improvement, poverty alleviation and protection of the environment, are essential components in the implementation of the new vision for the CGIAR developed at the Lucerne meeting. TAC concludes that such research should be undertaken using an integrated natural resources management approach, and recommends various criteria for assessing the relative importance of new proposals to strengthen or expand natural resources management research in the System.
An early draft of the attached report was discussed by TAC at TAC 67 in July 1995 and was subsequently circulated to Centre Directors as well as to a number of non-CGIAR centres active in the field of soil and water management. Many useful comments were received and, to extent possible, have been incorporated in the attached revised draft, which was also discussed by TAC at TAC 69 in March 1996. The study also benefitted from the work of the CGIAR Task Forces on Sustainable Agriculture and on Ecoregional Approaches to Research. TAC was also pleased by the excellent collaboration it had with the leaders of the Soil, Water and Nutrient Management Programme throughout the process of conducting this study. I would like, on behalf of the Committee, to express sincere appreciation for the support received from all those collaborators.
I commend the report to you and to the Group. The views of the Group will be taken carefully into account in finalizing the recommendations on future strategic directions of the CGIAR's work in this area.
I would like to express sincere thanks to Drs. Hans Gregersen and Ted Henzell who served, on behalf of TAC, as co-convenors and organizers of this study. They also served as the principal drafters of the report. The two supporting documents were prepared by a number of consultants in collaboration with the TAC Secretariat. Their names are listed in the report and we gratefully acknowledge their important contributions. Finally, this study could not have been conducted without the excellent support of the TAC Secretariat, which is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
Donald L. Winkelmann
Mr. Ismail Serageldin
CGIAR Chairman
World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington D.C.
USA.
