Spatially explicit models are becoming increasingly important tools for simulating land-use change. In this study, we formulated and tested models that incorporated spatial correlates of agricultural expansion and used them to predict local- and landscape-scale patterns of agricultural land-use change and its implications in the Maasai-Steppe of Northern Tanzania. We evaluated the relationship between agricultural land-use and its spatial correlates using Multiple Logistic Regression on data derived from satellite imageries for the year 2000.

In the mountainous regions of northern Laos, shifting cultivation, or slash-and-burn agriculture, is widely practiced. However, the crop–fallow rotation cycle is becoming shorter owing to forest conservation policies and population pressure, causing loss of productivity that deleteriously affects farmers’ livelihoods in the region. To investigate regional land use conditions, we have developed a method of identifying the crop–fallow rotation cycle from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper+ (ETM+) data.

The objective of this work was to assess the effects of integrated crop-livestock systems, associated
with two tillage and two fertilization regimes, on the abundance and diversity of the soil macrofauna. Four
different management systems were studied: continuous pasture (mixed grass); continuous crop; two croplivestock
rotations (crop/pasture and pasture/crop); and native Cerrado as a control. Macrofauna was sampled
using a modified Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility method, and all individuals were counted and identified at

SUMMARY OF CIAT ASIA TEAM PLANNING SESSION 19 – 21 FEBRUARY, HANOI Participants: Asia: Rod Lefroy, Keith Fahrney, Tassilo Tiemann, Adrian Bolliger, Tin Maung Aye, Kris Wyckhyus, Georgina Smith, Aparna Mani, Jonathan Newby, Sok Sophearith, Lao Thao, Ou Wenjun, Cu Thi Le Thuy, Giang Tuan Linh and Dindo Campilan (as an observer) HQ: Joe Tohme, Clair Hershey, Kayte Meola and André Zandstra

Land degradation has been identified as severe environmental problem in Ethiopia, especially since the early 1970s. Because there is significant degradation on cultivated lands in Ethiopia, there is potentially high payoff to addressing degradation in the country. In this paper we focus mainly on the effect of short-term benefits to farmers and the explicit considerations of the linkages between natural resource management and market-oriented commodity development on the adoption and scaling out of sustainable land management practices.