and applied scientific capability. Breakthroughs in advance science will not lead to relevant effective and efficient appli­cations that address development and sustainability unless investments in public, commercial and civil society at local levels are sustained or increased. The challenges ahead de­mand a greater focus on management systems—from crop to whole farm to natural resource area, landscape, river sys­tem and catchment scales. Management systems require so­phisticated understanding of the institutional dimensions of management practices and of decision processes that must

be coordinated across variable spatial, temporal and hier­archical scales. AKST specialists will need a more profound understanding of the legal and policy frameworks that in­creasingly will steer agricultural and food system develop­ment.

Emerging challenges. In all the regions, there is an overarch­ing concern with poverty and livelihoods among the rela­tively poor, which are faced with intra- and inter-regional inequalities. The willingness of different actors, including