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Any editorial effort of this magnitude necessarily involves a lot of support. But this volume is noteworthy for the number of people involved. My task would have been inconceivable without the efforts they contributed. First among these are the men and women, farmers and fishers from all across Asia, whose stories of creativity and persistence are represented here. These are the people who took the biggest risks, were the most generous in sharing their time and wisdom and usually provided the most insightful criticism of the research we report. They may never read these stories, but they have already incorporated their most important lessons. Our shared debt to these people is reiterated by many of the authors in this volume, but I would like to emphasize it at the outset.

The research teams whose work is reported by the case study authors also deserve my heartfelt appreciation. They laboured long and hard with new ideas and challenging methods, struggling to translate these between languages and between very different cultures. Their commitment to learning and to action, in spite of adversities that would have overcome most researchers in developed countries, has earned my deepest admiration and respect.

The authors charged with reporting the teams' work faced the burden of writing in an unfamiliar language, on top of their many other responsibilities. For their patience and persistence in a task made more difficult by long rounds of editorial comments, questions and revisions, I am very grateful.

Special thanks are due to Silke Reichrath, whose organizational skills, attention to detail and sharp editing made a huge difference in tracking and revising early versions of the case manuscripts. I would have been lost (as would much of the text) without her.

This book owes a huge debt to my programme colleagues at IDRC. The research framework and programme cases reported here took shape through their commitment, enthusiasm, criticism and practical field experience. I only hope that I have done justice to the integrity of their vision in assembling the resulting manuscript. My warmest appreciation to John Graham, Ronnie Vernooy, Liz Fajber, Brian Davy, Guy Bessette, Hein Mallee and Wendy Manchur. Thanks also to Stephen McGurk for his encouragement and support. May each of you recognize in these pages a testament to your professionalism and collaboration.

Eric and Katherine Fletcher provided excellent editorial support, giving a consistent format and style to all the myriad details of manuscripts from two dozen different authors.

I also wish to express my appreciation to my wife Barbara, whose tolerance and encouragement enabled me to devote extra time to this project when I was not able to squeeze everything into the confines of a regular working day.

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