Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa located between 11°37´ and 23°23´ north latitude and between 00°10´ and 16°00´ east longitude, with an area of 1,267,000 square kilometers. Niger shares borders with Algeria and Libya in the north, Chad in the east, Nigeria and Benin in the south, and Burkina Faso and Mali in the west. Three-fourths of Niger is cov¬ered by the Sahara Desert. The southern part of the country is in the Sahelian climate zone, with Sudan savannah vegetation.

In recent years, large-scale agricultural investment projects have increased in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the growing appetites of local and international investors for land resources. Research has so far mainly focused on land issues, but the water implications of these land deals are starting to surface. Taking the Office du Niger (ON), in Mali, as a case study, it is shown that while around 100,000 ha is currently being cultivated, mostly by smallholders, a total of 600,000 ha of land has been allocated in the past ten years to investors in large-scale farming.

Many people want to improve the governance of forest areas, yet what is considered good governance is not necessarily self-evident or agreed upon by everyone. This study demonstrates the diversity of views held by communities and government officials in Malinau, Indonesian Borneo about what they consider to be good governance. Each group described how they thought decisions about forests should be made, including how to represent interests, allocate land rights, distribute cash benefits from forests, share information and manage forests.

This field manual provides guidance to support, mapping, planning and management in rangelands. It is based on experiences in Tanzania, but the tools presented can be useful for other contexts too.

In semi-arid south-western Niger, climatic variability, low productivity, poverty and institutional constraints limit the scope of agricultural production to meet the rising needs of the growing human population. The integration of crop and livestock production activities has long been seen as the most promising means for intensifying agriculture and improving productivity and food security. Livestock play key roles in mediating soil fertility through excreting manure and grazing crop residues and distant pastures.