ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins
Our vision
Prosperous people and flourishing forests across the tropics.
Our mission
By bringing together local knowledge, policy perspectives, and science, we work to understand the tradeoffs among conservation and development goals, and to identify and develop innovative policies and practices that work for both people and nature.
Who we are
ASB is a global partnership of research institutes, non-governmental organizations, universities, community organizations, farmers' groups, and other local, national, and international organizations. Since 1994, ASB has operated as a systemwide programme of the Consultative Group for International Research in Agriculture (CGIAR).
What we do
ASB works at the nexus of two important problems: tropical deforestation and human poverty. Through collaborative efforts, we deliver attractive livelihood options for rural people while bringing hope the world's remaining tropical forests can be conserved for future generations.
How we do it
ASB applies an integrated natural resource management (iNRM) approach to analysis and action through long-term engagement with local communities and policymakers at various levels:
- ASB's multi-site network helps to ensure that analyses of local and national perspectives and the search for alternatives are grounded in reality.
- ASB partners work with households to understand their problems and opportunities.
- Consultations with local and national policymakers bring in their distinctive insights.
- Participatory research and policy consultations guide the iterative process necessary to identify, develop, and implement combinations of policy, institutional, and technological options that are workable and relevant.
Where we are
ASB focuses on the landscape mosaics (comprising both forests and agriculture) where global environmental problems and poverty coincide at the margins of remaining tropical forests. These rainforests are an invaluable natural heritage. ASB partners have established 12 benchmark sites in the Amazon, the Congo Basin, the islands of Sumatra and Mindanao, and the highlands of northern Thailand.