Over the years a great deal of research effort has gone into investigating the ecology of the Serengeti/Ngoronogoro area. Much of this effort has been directed towards natural history and single-species ecology. Little has been of immediate management relevance and only recently have studies addressed community and system ecology. Our aim was to add selectively to the material already available to make it applicable to management problems. This chapter looks firstly at the central issues behind our study. The background of scientific knowledge which was used as the springboard for the 1982 management plan is reviewed. The chapter than outlines the way in which our own study objectives and sites were chosen, and research on range, livestock and human ecology planned, to complement and make relevant the earlier material. Since our study the Ngorongoro Ecological Monitoring Programme has been revitalised with funding and direction from World Conservation International. The Ngorongoro Conservation and Development Project (NCDP), a joint venture between NCAA, IUCN and the Tanzanian Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Tourism, has coordinated a series of consultancies leading up to a new management plan for NCA. We draw on these sources throughout the book.