being on Earth; the IAASTD concentrates on how knowledge, science and technology can contribute to agricultural development. This assessment is a specific step among several global efforts to achieve sustainable development that have emerged in follow-up processes and policies of the World Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. AKST will contribute to the achievement of these goals. Specifically, the IAASTD will contribute to knowledge-based decision making for future sustainable development by assessing: (1) those interrelations within AKST relevant to sustainable development; (2) knowledge and scientific development, technology diffusion, innovation, and adaptation of ecosystem management; and (3) the integration of AKST within international, regional, national and local development policies and strategies.

What is an assessment?

International assessments are very useful when they address complex issues of supranational interest and dimensions. A number of assessments have been undertaken by many organizations and individuals in the past two decades: the Global Biodiversity Assessment (GBA), the Ozone Assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CA), the Global Environment Outlook (GEO), and now, the International Assessment of Agriculture, Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD).

     The evidence-based analyses that underpin the outcomes of the various assessments have common characteristics. A key point is that an assessment is not simply a review of the relevant literature; it can be based, in part, on a literature review, but also needs to provide an assessment of the veracity and applicability of the information and the uncertainty of outcomes in relation to the context of the identified questions or issues within a specified authorizing environment (Table 1-1).

     To be effective and legitimate, the assessment process was designed to be open, transparent, reviewed, and widely representative of stakeholders and relevant experts, and the resulting documents to be broadly reviewed by independent experts from governments, private and nongovernmental organizations, as well as by representatives of the participating governments. Obtaining a balance of opinions in a global assessment based on a literature review and relevant expertise is an ongoing and iterative challenge to ensure that it encompasses a broad range of disciplinary and geographical experience and different knowledge systems. The IAASTD has been designed in a way that attempts to ensure effectiveness and legitimacy.

The role of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology (AKST). Agricultural knowledge, science and technology are seen as key factors and instruments for future adjustment of indirect and direct drivers of agricultural outputs, as well as of ecosystem services. Assessing AKST sets the stage for an informed choice by decision-makers among various options for development. It indicates how policy and institutional frameworks at all organizational levels might affect sustainability goals. Specifically, it provides the basis for designing

AKST in a way that mitigates detrimental development dynamics such as growing disparities, the decreasing share of agricultural value-added and the degradation of ecosystems. In other words, the assessment draws lessons about what conditions have led AKST to have an impact on development that has been positive for human and ecosystem well-being, and where, when and why impacts have been negative. Moreover, it explores the demands that are likely to be made on agricultural systems (crops, livestock and pastoralism, fisheries, forestry and agroforestry, biomass, commodities and ecosystem services) in the future, asking what agricultural goods and services society will need under different plausible future scenarios in order to achieve the goals related to hunger, nutrition, human health, poverty, equity, livelihoods, and environmental and social sustainability, and whether and how access to these goods and services is hindered. The result is an evidence-based guide for policy and decision-making.

IAASTD commitment to sustainable development. IAASTD sees the assessment of AKST and its implications for agriculture as a prerequisite for knowledge-based decision-making for future sustainable development portfolios. Specifically, IAASTD aims to contribute to knowledge-based, decisionmaking for future sustainable development by:

1. Identifying interrelations between agricultural knowledge, science and technology in view of sustainable development;
2. Exploring knowledge and scientific development, technology diffusion, innovations and adaptations of ecosystem management;
3. Supporting the integration of agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) within international and national development policies and strategies.

IAASTD's relationship to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA). The MDGs and the MA are cornerstones for development policy and serve as major references for the IAASTD. In addition to these frameworks, the IAASTD assesses AKST in relation to the objective of meeting broader development and sustainability goals. It is generally assumed that AKST can play a major role in efforts to achieve the MDGs, particularly that of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1) by improving the productivity of agriculture in general and the competitiveness of smallholders and marginalized groups in the expanding global, national and local markets in particular, as well as by creating employment among poor rural people and making food available to consumers everywhere. AKST can also contribute directly or indirectly to improving primary education and social and gender equity, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases (MDG 2-6), and ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG 7) by delivering a variety of supporting, regulating and cultural services (MDG 8). The IAASTD assessment enables a more adequate consideration of the linkage between poverty reduction and environmental change..

Key questions for the IAASTD. The major question for this assessment is: "How can we reduce hunger and