For the rural poor, secure access to productive resources is fundamental to addressing poverty and hunger. Today planners and practitioners alike understand the links between poverty, resource rights and sustainable natural resources management. How land and common property resources are regulated, how the rights of the poor are upheld and how asset ownership is distributed critically influence the long-term prospects of poverty alleviation efforts. Across the world examples can be found where innovative approaches have been tested and found to be very relevant. . The principles, methods and lessons behind such exemplary approaches need to be extracted, synthesized and shared across geographic boundaries. We now know better about which approaches work and which do not, for even unsuccessful efforts offer valuable insights and lessons.
