Possibilities for integration of ecological land use capability classification and agroecosystem analysis techniques

Gordon Conway of the Center for Environmental Technology, Imperial College, London, has proposed a new approach to holistic agricultural development - Agroecosystems Analysis Procedure (AAP) - which combines the rigorous framework of formal systems analysis with flexibility, the broadest possible interdisciplinary base, and a workshop environment in order to produce eco-development decisionmaking for a specified area. This report, based on experience at an 11/85 workshop in the Philippines, provides a general description of AAP and assesses the possibility of effectively integrating it with the ecological land capability analysis being applied to Latin American development by Costa Rica"s Tropical Science Center. It is concluded that the value of AAP, coupled with land capability analysis, will be realized best in recently and soon-to-be colonized areas of the tropics and subtropics, in which there is still an opportunity for ecologically-guided and socially responsible development. Appendices include one page of references and various workshop papers.