Land Use Policy 21 (2004) 101–113 A systems network (SysNet) approach for interactively evaluating strategic land use options at sub-national scale in South and South-east Asia M.K. van Ittersum a, *, R.P. Roetter b,c , H. van Keulen a,d , N. de Ridder a , C.T. Hoanh c,1 , A.G. Laborte c , P.K. Aggarwal e , A.B. Ismail f , A. Tawang f a Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 430, 6700 AK Wageningen, The Netherlands b Alterra, Green World Research, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands c International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), DAPO, Box 7777, Metro Manila, Philippines d Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR), P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands e Centre for Applications of Systems Simulation, Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi 110012, India f Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), P.O. Box 12301, 50774 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Received 15 January 2003; received in revised form 31 October 2003; accepted 4 February 2004 Abstract This paper presents SysNet, a systems research network in South and South-east Asia, established to develop and evaluate methodologies for enhancing formulation of strategic land use policies. SysNet adopted theory and concepts from both natural and social science approaches. Multiple goal linear programming was used to integrate information on a broad range of alternative land use systems, resource availability and policy objectives, to reveal possibilities and limitations of agricultural resource use and trade- offs between policy objectives. The methodology was developed and applied in and with a network of researchers and stakeholders, for four case study areas in India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. An application is presented for Haryana State (India), to illustrate the methodology and its components, as well as the type of questions that can be explored and subsequently discussed with stakeholders. We discuss lessons learnt on how to communicate LUPAS to stakeholders in interactive settings, with details for the Kedah-Perlis case region in Malaysia. r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Agriculture; Integrated natural resource management; Optimisation; Stakeholder involvement; Land evaluation; Rice-based cropping systems Introduction In the late 1980s the sustainability and sustainable development concepts entered the political debate as well as the agricultural research agendas. It was recognised that land use policies and agricultural research must address the integrated nature of unsus- tainability at various hierarchical levels. Analysis of and influencing the use of land and other natural resources require integral consideration of a suite of problem dimensions and objectives. Research has responded in several ways. The public debate on inter-relationships between environment and development (following e.g. UNCED, 1992) triggered the introduction of new concepts in land use planning (FAO, 1995), and the creation of the so-called ecoregional research initiatives worldwide (TAC, 1993, 1994; Bouma et al., 1995). It also resulted in broad consensus that stakeholders should be involved in research supporting sustainable development, since the interpretation of sustainability in terms of natural resource use systems managed by people is ambiguous, and hence its inclusion in research is not value-free (Parker et al., 2002). In addition, it was recognised that integrated studies require intensive communication with stakeholders to increase chances that scientific knowledge can be used in decision making problems (Loevinsohn, 2002; Parker et al., 2002). In the ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-317-482382; fax: 31-317-484892. E-mail address: martin.vanittersum@wur.nl (M.K. van Ittersum). 1 Current address: International Water Management Institute (IWMI), P.O. Box 2075, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 0264-8377/$ - see front matter r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2004.02.001