As a reaction to the 'top-down 'approach to rural development during the 1970's and 1980's, and in line with the increased focus on ‘putting farmers first’ (bottom-up) through local participation, new and integrated approaches to natural resource management (NRM) have been launched to generate sustainable development. This paradigmatic change has greatly influenced land use planning. Some of the implications involved in this change are discussed in this paper and based on empirical data from Tanzania and Botswana. In this paper we will discuss three critical issues related to land use planning for sustainable NRM: the complexity of livelihood strategies at the local level, the role of different stakeholder interests and the importance of spatial scale considerations. The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding that the different and often erratic resource endowment of the rural households influences the strategies these households follow in order to meet their overall needs, rather than ‘simply’ maximizing agricultural yields. Furthermore, the importance of spatial scale, in relation to both different stakeholder interests and their needs will be discussed. The paper highlights the need to take community heterogeneity into consideration in land use planning if sustainable NRM is to be achieved in the future.