Men and women interact with water resources and landscapes in different ways, and there are frequent criticisms that little research is undertaken across disciplines to address this issue. Biophysical scientists in particular struggle with how to integrate “gendered” water uses into models that are necessarily based on prevailing laws and equations that describe the movement of water through the hydrological cycle, independent of social constructs.

Dipterocarps are one of the best known and commercially important groups of tropical trees. They preside over some of the most magnificent forest formations in the world. Exploitation of dipterocarp-dominated tropical rain forests has expanded rapidly in the past 20 years. Efforts to develop and implement sustainable management practices are being intensified and there is a pressing need for high quality information on which to base management decisions and reorient research.

The papers in this proceedings provide a cross section of science research in international agricultural research centres (IARCs), where the objectives and research foci within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have changed substantially in the 1990s. The book is divided in five sections. The first explores priority setting and research evaluation of commodity programmes. The second looks at institutional issues. The third explores issues related to commodity policies and food security.