Consolidated List of Criteria for INRM Research 

2^nd Draft  

Preamble

 INMRM research and development activities within the CGIAR provide the basis for the development of sustainable agricultural landscapes within which the products of the genetic improvement programmes can gain maximum impact for the benefit of the poor. 

Projects within the INRM sector must satisfy a range of criteria in common with all CGIAR research, including: 

• Being rigorously defined in a collaborative manner with all the relevant stakeholders,

• Producing measurable positive long-term impacts with respect to the CGIAR goals of poverty eradication, food security and environmental enhancement;

• Building on existing information and case-studies to generate new knowledge and innovations that take into account both the contributions of indigenous knowledge and modern science;

• Incorporating the inputs of all relevant disciplines, scientific partners and other stakeholders needed to reach solutions;

• Taking into account to the extent possible the externalities from the research;

• Focusing on the root causes of problems, the processes and the knowledge derived from comparative analysis that permit extrapolation of results and methods beyond specific sites and countries (the International Public Goods requirement for CGIAR research);

• Working across all appropriate sectors of the research-development continuum;

• Effectivel communicating and disseminating results and conclusions to all stakeholders;

• Strengthening institutions from local to policy levels to ensure future capacity for local research and effective mechanisms for adaptation and adoption of the results of research;

Beyond the above, the INRM research and development programme of the CGIAR is characterised by the following criteria, some of which, although not necessarily all, will apply to projects in this sector.

INMR projects:

1. Address natural resources related causes of impoverishment and the links between natural resources degradation and poverty;

2. Respect and strengthen the rights of the poor to resources and knowledge

3. Diagnose and characterise problems across a range of scales, from site to landscape and beyond, including consideration of transnational and global implications where applicable;

4. Utilise  interdisciplinary and participatory research approaches which:  

• draw on the methodology of the integrative sciences;

• enhance communication between scientists, farmers and other stakeholders;

• utilise expertise as needed from the appropriate rage of institutional sources (e.g. IARC, NARS, NGO)

5. Develop management practices that integrate environmental functions and human interventions at the ecosystem and landscape scales.

6. Lead to economic and social benefits gained from developing multifunctional agroeco-systems which simultaneously provide goods and ecosystem services

7. Utilise approaches to optimise functional efficiency through integrated management of biological, human and manufactured inputs

8. Study ecosystem functions and services across a range of spatial and temporal scales from local to global and short- to long-term and take on-site and off-site effects of ecosystem management practices into account.

9. Focus on understanding the biophysical and socio-economic processes and properties that determine ecosystem function and integrity to enhance the generalisation of results and their extrapolation beyond specific sites and conditions.