David Waltner-Toews , Tamsyn Murray , James Kay , Thomas Gitau, Ernesto Raez-Luna, John McDermott, "Agro-ecosystems, natural resources management and human health related research in East Africa" Proceedings of an IDRC-ILRI international workshop held at ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11-15 May, 1998. Edited by Jabbar, M.A., Peden, D.G., Saleem, M., Li Pub, H. 2000. Published by International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi. 254 pages pp.7-14

The urgent and multi-dimensional questions we are now asking about agriculture, human well-being and the environment, furthermore, are calling into question the normal way in which we have conducted scholarly research. If we wish to describe what is going on in any way that is even remotely realistic, then we shall have to transcend our disciplinary bases of scholarship. If we wish not merely to describe, but to promote sustainable and convivial human communities on this planet, then those people who will make the key decisions and carry them out must somehow be incorporated more fully into the research process itself.

Agroecosystem health is an approach to this complexity which draws on the experience and concepts developed by health practitioners and scholars over many centuries and applies them to the investigation and care of socio-ecological systems (Nielsen 1994;Waltner-Toews 1996). This would seem, at first, to be a logical and relatively straightforward step. However, initial efforts have uncovered some serious challenges which must be faced if further progress is to be made along these lines of inquiry . These challenges may be summarized in the form of one assumption, two observations, and several questions.

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