Highlights of Natural Resource Management (NRM)
Research at SEPP: Past and Present
Issues and Conceptual Framework

Poverty and lack of alternative livelihood opportunities force depletion of vegetation   for charcoal production.

 Considering the requirements for sustainable agricultural development,the level of poverty in poor SAT countries could be higher than what we find from consumption based poverty indicators (n2 %vs n3 %).

 The consumption-based poverty line may underestimate the level of welfare improvement needed for sustainable resource-improving investments to take place.

 Technological progress can help transform the SAT from grey to green.First best technologies may help eradicate poverty and put such rural economies on a more sustainable development pathway.

 Second best technologies may just help improve short-term food security but may not be sufficient to achieve sustainable growth (n1 %of the population still remains below the investment poverty line).


 Without improved NRM practices, productivity of land and other resources is declining throughout the SAT due to exploitative management practices and very adverse biophysical conditions.

 The potential for grey to green revolution in the SAT depends on generation and dissemination of technologies that improve the resource base while also providing immediate benefits to the poor.

 First best options that can place the poor on an improving welfare development pathway, if made available, will be very attractive to smallholders. Under enabling policy and institutional environments, widespread adoption of such technologies will take place.

 Second best options may not be sufficient to improve the welfare of the poor overtime, but may provide viable options to existing exploitative NRM practices.

 Unfortunately, available NRM technologies may bring returns to the poor only in the long term while short-term net adoption benefits from such technologies could be negative. In this case, the large technological gap and the survival pressure on the poor may hinder adoption of technologies with long payback periods. Additional incentives may be needed to encourage widespread use of such technologies.

 In each period,household-farms as decision makers attempt to maximize their livelihoods over a period of time based on existing resource assets.

 The investment decisions undertaken and the development pathway followed depend on enabling socio-economic conditions and the available technological options.

 When biophysical and socio-economic conditions are conducive and appropriate technologies are available, farm households may undertake productivity enhancing investments.

 Such productive investments improve the livelihood of the poor and help combat degradation of the resource base (green pathway).

 When the socio-economic environment is adverse and/or appropriate technologies do not exist, farm households are unable to capture the sustainable pathway of development. The synergistic effects of poverty and environmental degradation lead to worsening conditions of the poor (grey pathway).