Fertile Ground addresses presents the findings of the first formal study and in-depth research into the impacts of participatory watershed management in a wider range of agroecological and socioeconomic settings in Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America. The Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Livelihoods Programme of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has, through its collaborative research programme, New Horizons, worked with a diverse group of organizations engaged in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of participatory watershed management and soil and water conservation projects and programmes. The twenty-three case studies provide compelling evidence of the importance of local people's involvement in natural resource planning and management and reveal how difficult it is to scale-up and institutionalize participatory approaches in large, sector-based programmes, particularly in government bureaucracies.
The collection provides an analysis of the biophysical, socioeconomic and institutional impacts of development and management practices and to point to practicable and realistic ways forward for both governments and external support agencies.