The concept of ‘sustainable rural livelihoods’ is increasingly central to the debate about rural development, poverty reduction and environmental management. But what does this new entry into the development, lexicon actually mean? This short paper attempts to draw together some of the definitional issues surrounding the concept, before moving on to explore some of the central conceptual and methodological issues involved in investigating sustainable livelihood issues. The paper concludes with some brief reflections on the operational implications of a sustainable livelihood approach.