This document presents the key findings of the evaluation of an integrated agricultural production and water management project implemented by IFAD in Netrakona district, in northern Bangladesh.

Following from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture project, this book examines the relationships and linkages between land use and water management and social systems. Given that agriculture is the largest economic sector in many developing countries, this volume provides innovative ideas for the prevention of land degradation and for improving the sustainability of food production in the developing world.

Through a study of the sedentarization of the Beni Guil pastoral nomads of eastern Morocco,this paper examines how gender interacts with environmental and socio-economic change.

Forestry education in recent years has largely failed to adequately respond to the dynamics in forestry practice, the demands of the job market and the challenges of new global forestry paradigms.

Paper addresses the migration process in the Zambia's Southern Province. Until recently when droughts and cattle diseases have begun to plague the area, Southern Province was known for its ideal farming conditions. Monze district has been home to vast expanses of commercial farming, as well as smaller "emergent farms" and subsistence farmers, all of whom have benefitted from good soils and climate, and easy access to markets on the line of rail. The Gwembe Valley, which lies south east and 2000 feet below Monze district, is also part of Southern Province.

This book examines the gender dimensions of natural resource exploitation and management, with a focus on Asia. It explores the uneasy negotiations between theory, policy, and practice that are often evident within the realm of gender, environment, and natural resource management. It offers a critical feminist perspective on gender relations and natural resource management in the context of contemporary policy concerns: decentralized governance, the elimination of poverty, and the mainstreaming of gender.The book is centred around three themes:

This discussion paper seeks to explore alternative investment options with the aim of enhancing resilience in the Horn of Africa. Climate change, conflict, drought and increasing populations are leading many to pessimistic conclusions regarding the future viability of pastoral farming, arguing that these livelihoods should be sedentarised and diversified. Simultaneously, others argue for their wholesale protection.

IFPRI and IWMI's report uses computer modeling to project water demand and availability through to 2025 and predicts the likely impact of changes in water policy and investment, making specific recommendations for specific locations around the globe.The report argues that if current water policies continue, farmers will find it difficult to meet the world’s food needs. Hardest hit will be the world’s poorest people.

World grain production is a basic indicator of overall food security at the global level. Since 1984, world grain production has expanded more slowly than the world’s population. By the early years of the 21st century, consumption has outstripped production. Could these trends herald a new "politics of scarcity"?In this article, the author sets out the evidence for his assertion that the world faces a future food security crisis.First, based on current trends, demand for grain will increase significantly over the coming years.

In 1992, a United Nations declaration proclaimed water as a human right. However, the water profession and the vast majority of governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have not paid much attention.
This online book systematically analyses the legal development of the concept of water as a human right with particular reference to MENA countries. It considers:

In the wake of the 2008 global food crisis, African capitals have been buzzing with renewed talk of the need for food self-sufficiency, and rice is often at the top of government agendas. Although everyone agrees on the need to increase production, the solutions coming out of the corridors of power boil down to the old formula of getting more fertilizers and “high-yielding” seeds to farmers.

This book is a challenge to those who see the drylands as naturally vulnerable to food insecurity and poverty. 

It argues that improving agricultural productivity in dryland environments is possible by working with climatic uncertainty rather than seeking to control it – a view that runs contrary to decade of development practice in arid and semi-arid lands.

Across China, Kenya and India – and most other dryland countries – family farmers and herders relate to the inherent variability of the drylands as a resource to be valued, rather than a problem to be avoided.