The primary approach is to acquire new knowledge about people and their environment through Community Resource Mapping. This is a socio-cultural method that provides people a forum to share community perceptions and an understanding of their relationship with land and water. Spatial and cultural information are technically integrated with more geographically accurate information such as land use and location, water resource distribution and tenure.

Communities, local governments and civil society groups are drawn to 1) seek acknowledgement of changes in people's way of life; 2) obtain agreement on action or non-action; 3) strategise poverty reduction through changes in resource use practices; 4) develop management plans; 5) identify monitoring indicators and improvements; and 6) identify mechanisms in supportive markets and compensation for local initiatives in resource use and management.