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For several years, agricultural research organizations such as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) centers and Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) have been opening their portfolio of research methods to the sciences of complexity. The recognition of the importance of these methods is linked to the strategic decision to increase research on integrated natural resource management (INRM) on their agendas. The CGIAR organized a series of meetings on INRM research during the last five years: starting with the Bilderberg meeting, followed by the workshops in Penang, Cali, and Los Baños. Collaborative research activities in this field between IRRI and CIRAD started in 2001 and were based on the recognition of several principles that emerged from the earlier CGIAR meetings.

The founding Bilderberg consensus stated that INRM research requires that (1) stakeholders and national agricultural research and extension systems (NARES) partners should participate in all stages of the research process from conception to delivery of research results, and,(2) to help the poor, agricultural research must go beyond the traditional paradigm (...) rather than focusing narrowly on increasing and maintaining the productivity of commodities, and that, accordingly, CGIAR projects in the field of INRM should satisfy the following minimum set of criteria: