Under existing conditions (of externally driven development policies, concentration on the cash economy and existing trade relations), the typical responses of the poor have been to appropriate common property resources, intensify agriculture on marginal lands, increase heads of livestock and shorten fallow periods; migrate seasonally or permanently to cities, towns, agricultural plantations and to more vulnerable and marginal lands; and have large families in order to diversify sources of income and labor.

These responses generally have not provided long-term benefits to the poor. However, there is a growing interest in the poor as agents for their own self improvement guided by their own knowledge base and strategies which could lead to sustainable livelihoods. Our preparatory workshops confirmed the need for clear and detailed documentation of adaptive strategies that have led to sustainable livelihoods and the policy issues that enhance or constrain the development and implementation of these strategies. These strategies are likely to have evolved from an interaction between contemporary and indigenous knowledge. Hence the initiative sought to capture these synergies and the conditions and processes which produced and reinforced them. It was recognized that these strategies were diverse and included adaptations to ecological, social, political and cultural risks and shocks.

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ASAL Project

ASALs

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