Past studies have shown that the livestock sector is causing progressive soil and water pollution across East Asia. Public awareness about impacts on the natural environment and of public health issues is growing but this is rarely translated into action because of a lack of knowledge and experience among public organisations, NGOs and livestock producers. Even if expertise in policy and technology development is actually available among academia and research centres in the region, it is often not consolidated, validated or visible enough to guide intervention on a broad scale. The same expertise could effectively address issues of a similar nature in the whole region. This gap in knowledge transfer is being addressed within the framework of the “Livestock Waste Management in East Asia (LWMEA)” project, launched in 2006 with participation of groups in Thailand, Vietnam and Guangdong Province of China. The primary aim of this project is to support the introduction of sustainable livestock manure management practices in order to reduce pollution fl uxes reaching the South China Sea. In supporting the project implementation, the Livestock, Environment and Development initiative (LEAD), which is part of the FAO, has undertaken the development of a set of software packages (known as decision support tools or DST’s) to address main aspects of animal waste management. The development programme draws on cross-country synergies, local expertise and the economies of scale. Four such decision support tools have been identified to meet the capacity building needs in the three LWMEA participating countries and more generally, in the region as a whole.