In the highlands of South America, Africa, and Asia, diversity is the single most notable feature of the landscape. After years of growth, NRM research at CIP has entered a flowering phase. Using a variety of powerful data-gathering and analytical tools, CIP scientists and their collaborators have dramatically expanded their understanding of complex highland ecosystems. The thrust is now in translating that understanding into action. Government agencies and NGOs will use the digital maps to plan and implement development activities and infrastructure improvements to combat poverty and decrease land degradation.
Similar atlases are now under construction for other key sites in the Andes.
This effort should result in specific recommendations for land use and management in an important agricultural production zone, as well as in methods that will help scientists and policy makers make sound decisions in other areas. On the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru, CIP scientists, in collaboration with researchers from a variety of national and international institutions, have used satellite images and data from ground surveys to create large-area maps for frost risk and biomass production. These maps will be indispensable in efforts to increase crop and dairy production in one of the western hemisphere's most depressed areas. In the mountains of central and eastern Africa, CIP researchers are working with other institutions as part of the African Highlands Initiative , which seeks to extend research findings and methods to poorly-studied areas, and to promote the idea of integrated rural development in complex mountain environments. CIP scientists are now linking integrated pest management techniques with efforts to improve soil fertility on small potato farms, with the goal of increasing productivity, reducing nutrient loss, and helping control the spread of crop diseases.