Land-based resources are a critical asset for poor people in developing countries who rely heavily on them to generate their means of livelihood and subsistence. Land degradation contributes to low agricultural productivity and poverty and causes large environmental and social costs. Land-based resource management, including cropland, grazing land, forests, and wetlands, can have a major impact on individual welfare through flows of environmental services, such as preventing erosion and flooding, filtering and improving water quality, greenhouse gas sequestration, and biodiversity preservation.

IFPRI’s research on sustainable land management (SLM) aims to provide policy solutions that reduce hunger and malnutrition by identifying and analyzing alternative policies for the sound management of agriculture’s natural resource base. By focusing on countries and regions where problems of poverty and land degradation are most critical, many of which are densely populated, this research targets areas of great need with large numbers of poor people. SLM research is providing governments, farmers, and other stakeholders with evidence of why interventions are necessary, where and for whom interventions are likely to be effective, what impacts can be expected in different contexts, what trade-offs are likely to arise, and how interventions can be improved and their beneficial impacts scaled up and out. IFPRI is also helping policymakers integrate SLM programs into broader development and poverty reduction strategies.

SLM research falls under the institute’s work on natural resource policies, which fits into IFPRI’s broader priority focus area of efficient and fair functioning of global and national food and agriculture systems.

See also IFPRI's work on Agricultural Extension.