FOREWORD
 Slopelands provide food
and livelihoods to millions of people in Asia
and the Pacific. They are however facing growing
problems of population pressure, poverty and environment
degradation. Most slopelands have relatively shallow
and less fertile soils. The steeper the gradient,
the more severe such production problems tend
to be. In many slopeland areas productivity is
falling and there is decline in yields. An important
reason of this resource degradation can be poor
planning for development of slopelands for agricultural
and other uses. This calls for proper development
planning to reverse the above trend and to protect
the prime agricultural slopelands.
Proper land-use planning can be supported by
appropriate classification of slopelands into
different zones for putting them to the right
use. In many cases land classification at national
level, however, has largely ignored the specific
issues of agricultural development on sloping
lands. Land classifications systems for lowlands
could not be suitable for sloping uplands due
to their high heterogeneity and complex terrain.
Land classifications developed locally should
be more meaningful for stakeholders and have higher
relevance in addressing local agricultural production
issues. Sustainable agricultural use of slopelands
would require integrated use of different land
classification tools like GIS, remote sensing
and 3-D mapping which could provide comprehensive
data and information of the rugged terrain. The
active participation of the stakeholders in land-use
planning would make the classification more relevant
and applicable to the local conditions. Sustainable
agricultural land use would require policy incentive
to the farmers for their environment protection
initiatives.
In view of the importance of promoting sustainable
agriculture in upland areas to protect and improve
their resource base, APO organized two projects
on the subject in 1997 and 2001. As a follow-up
this study meeting was organized to discuss land
classification issues in evolving sustainable
production systems in slopelands, as well as,
issues and constraints affecting relevant policies,
and formulate measures for improvement of their
performance. The meeting was organized by the
APO and hosted by Japan in July 2002. This volume
contains papers and proceedings of the study meeting.
We hope that it will prove useful to all those
interested in agricultural development of slopelands.
I wish to express my appreciation to the Japanese
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
for hosting the study meeting, to the Association
for International Cooperation of Agriculture and
Forestry for implementing the program, and to
the resource speakers and participants for their
valuable contributions. Special thanks are due
to Dr. Tej Partap for editing the present volume.
– TAKASHI TAJIMA, APO Secretary-General,
Tokyo, July 2004
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