With the rise in population placing ever-increasing pressures on scarce land, governments of developing countries should give high priority to rational land use, improved land management, and avoidance of degradation. At international level, public concern has been more with pollution aspects of the environment, and nature conservation, than with land as a productive resource. In developing countries, awareness by governments of the critical role played by land resources is poor, and institutions inadequately funded. Much progress has been made over the past 50 years in approaches and methods for land resource survey, evaluation, and management. What is needed now is more widespread and effective application of these methods. Sustainability, the combination of production with conservation, is a central concept in land resource management.