The Cornell International Institute of Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) through its programs on Management of Organic Inputs in Soils of the Tropics ( MOIST) and the Cornell Agroforestry Working Group (CAWG), is organizing a one-day symposium entitled Fallow Management in the Tropics. The symposium will be held during theAmerican Society of Agronomy Annual Meetings) (November 5-9, 2000) and will be co-sponsored by Divisions A6 (International Agronomy) and S6 (Soil & Water Management & Conservation). The program will include invited keynote presentations that summarize and synthesize the regional fallow management initiatives followed by oral presentations, a poster session and a final panel discussion.

The goal of the symposium is to highlight the work of on-going regional initiatives on fallow management in Africa, Latin America and S.E Asia, synthesize the results, and provide a framework for improvements in networking and coordination of regional research on fallows. We expect that our findings will facilitate the application of the results by land users, research and development specialists and policy makers. In keeping with the theme for the 2000 annual meetings, the symposium will focus on the emerging knowledge and dynamics of managed fallows. The syntheses of invited and voluntary papers will identify knowledge gaps and research priorities, and the impacts of fallow management on sustaining agroecosystem productivity, social and institutional interactions, and maintaining agrobiodiversity and environmental services in the 21st century.