For Intercooperation, natural resources include land, soil, water and climate, as well as plant and animal resources. The principal managers and trustees of these resources are the people and communities living in rural areas throughout the world, farming families, herders and forest-dwellers, fisher-people, hunters and gatherers. Natural resources provide these people and communities with the basis of an often precarious livelihood, including food, fodder and medicine, fuel, clothing and shelter and - last but not least - elements of and space for cultural, social and religious identity.

Well-managed natural resources hold the promise of a gradual increase of assets as well as the generation of additional income and employment, particularly for the poorer and disadvanataged groups of the population. In order to mobilize the economic potential of natural resources for the benefit of the entire population, a framework of good local governance and an assured involvement of civil society and the private sector is needed.

The work of Intercooperation in natural resources management aims at a balance between production and protection for the benefit of the poor. Short-term needs of increased production have to be reconciled with longer term conservation interests.