Report of the external review of the systemwide program on Alternatives to Slash and Burn (ASB)

The CIGIAR System Wide Programme on Alternativ es to Slash and Burn (ASB) was born out of recommendations agreed at the 1992 Rio Earth Su mmit. It has operated as a CGIAR programme since 1994. The Programme has an ecoregional focu s on the forest-agriculture margin in the humid tropics, with benchmark sites in the Amaz on of Brazil and Peru, the Congo Basin forest of Cameroon, the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, the northern mountains of Thailand, and the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Its current goal is to“raise productivity and income of rural households in the humid tropics without increasing deforestation or undermining essential environmental services.” It appr oaches this goal though a strategy of integrated natural resource management (iNRM), emphasizing long-term engage ment of researchers with farmers, local communities and policymakers at various levels. Today, ASB consists of a partnership of over 80 institutions from around the world, including research institutes, NGOs, universities, comm unity organizations, farmers’ groups, and other local, national, and international partners. Its governance is provi ded by a Global Steering Group (GSG) comprising 6 NARs and 5 IARCs. The governing body was chaired by ICRAF for most of ASB’s history, but since 2004 has been chaired by CI FOR. The convening centre is ICRAF. Coordination is provided by a global coordina tion office, 3 regional facilitators, and 6 national facilitators prov ided by partner institutions. The ASB network of partnerships encompasses a complex array of project activities. These have been supported by grants totalling $64.5M (constant 2004 USD) over the period 1994-2004. This Review was commissioned in 2004 by CGIAR’s Science Council as an Evaluation and Impact Assessment of ASB. The Review was carried out between la te 2004 and mid-2005 by a three member Panel. Members of the Panel vi sited ASB field sites in Indonesia, Cameroon, and Brazil, as well as the ASB Global Coordination O ffice in Nairobi. One Panel member attended the December 2004 meeting of the ASB Global Steering Group in Bogor. The Panel also benefited from discussions with a group of ASB regional leaders assembled in Nairobi by the Global Coordination Office in June 2005. A numbe r of other relevant experts from inside and outside the CGIAR system were in terviewed by Panel members. The summary findings and recommendations of this Review are presented in this Chapter. The body of the Review, backed by a number of Ap pendices, provides the detailed evidence and discussion supporting this summary. An intermed iate level of detail is provided by the final “Summary of Findings” section located at the ends of each Chapter.

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