On October 22-23, 1998, the CGIAR NGO Committee (NGOC) convened a consultation on
Natural Resources Management (NRM) involving 45 participants from NGOs, TAC, IARCs,
Universities and NARIs. The consultation came as a response to the newly-recognized
importance that the CGIAR within its renewed mission has given to NRM, calling it ¿one of the fundamental research pillars of the CGIAR¿. The goal of the consultation was to initiate a
dialogue among the various partners in order to define an NRM strategy congruent with both the CGIAR mission of poverty alleviation, food security and preservation of the natural resource base, and with a responsiveness to the needs and circumstances of resource-poor households located in marginal or less-favored areas in the developing world.