As a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture, UK and a  plant scientist with over 30 years’ experience in research, tertiary education and in-service training in Europe and more than 45 tropical countries, knowledge management is an essential tool for ensuring effective rural development. For the last ten years, I have been working out of Sweden as a consultant at Nakhlatec International Horticulture Advisors which has enabled me also to work closely with the International Foundation of Science (IFS) based in Stockholm. IFS is sponsored by international development agencies and NGOs and focuses its grants on supporting young scientists under the age of forty years while they carry out research concerning the appropriate management of biological resources in their home countries or regions. The support which IFS provides retains and builds the local scientific capacity needed to generate new  processes and the relevant scientific data and information essential for  supporting conservation and appropriate management of natural resources. As an IFS Senior Scientific Advisor in Forest Resources, I regularly review grant applications on tree propagation, conservation of forest resources and crop domestication — topics that more than often involve integration of traditional horticultural practices with applications of modern plant molecular biology and tissue culture techniques.