The ability of agriculture to sustainably address the twin goals of food security and poverty reduction largely depends on the integrity of the natural resource base. Unsustainable management could easily disrupt the interrelated and interdependent relationship of agricultural and natural resource productivity. The following are important areas of emphasis or focal concerns of the Center toward natural resource conservation:
Sustainable Land Use and Water Management - Land and water are base resources upon which agricultural productivity largely depends. Research would have to focus on the development or enhancement of appropriate approaches to sustainable land use and water management. Specifically, priority will be given to concerns on watershed management, integrated water resources management, and soil conservation/land use management.
Biodiversity Conservation - A large part of the Southeast Asian region is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot. The discovery and utilization of the vast potential of its natural resources are exceeded by the rate of its destruction. Biodiversity conservation has to go hand in hand with sustainable agriculture. It is therefore necessary that issues and concerns regarding the conservation and proper management of biodiversity be addressed immediately. Priority concerns will be along resource profiling and assessment, resource management and planning, and environmental valuation and modeling.
