This special issue of Unasylva has two main objectives. It brings to our readers an edited selection of some of the position papers of the important 4th Session of the FAO Committee on Forestry Development in the Tropics and, in doing, this, it emphasizes FAO's principal concern in the field of forestry: how to make the best and wisest use of man's least understood ecological formation, the moist tropical forest.

The fifteen-page report starts with an executive summary on the forest resources in Kenya. It is composed of six sections describing the types of forests and inventories, the volume of data of natural forests, the total reported area of all forest plantations, the forest area by naturalness and the forest fire situation in the country.

Los Estudios de la FAO sobre tenencia de la tierra son publicaciones concisas sobre el tema, a menudo complejo y polémico, de la tenencia de la tierra especialmente en relación con la seguridad alimentaria, la mitigación de la pobreza y el desarrollo rural. Los Estudios no pretenden ser exhaustivos sino reflejar las «buenas prácticas» identificadas por la FAO y muchos de sus colaboradores internacionales en relación con determinados aspectos particulares de la tenencia de la tierra y de su administración.

Land Tenure Working Paper 19. The present paper is written as part of the overall Voluntary Guidelines consultation and development process and is a contribution to the subsequent preparation of the Gender Technical Guide. It contextualises and defines gender for the Voluntary Guidelines, discusses what governance of tenure means from a gender perspective and identifies and analyses key issues and themes. It then summarises recommendations relevant to gender before drawing some conclusions for the development process of the Voluntary Guidelines.

La igualdad de género es uno de los diez principios rectores de las Directrices voluntarias sobre la gobernanza responsable de la tenencia de la tierra, la pesca y los bosques en el contexto de la seguridad alimentaria nacional. La presente guía busca secundar dicho principio mediante el logro de una gobernanza de la tenencia de la tierra que es equitativa en cuanto al género. La guía se centra en la justicia entre los sexos y en las formas en que el gobierno de la tenencia puede responder a las diferentes necesidades y prioridades de mujeres y de hombres.

Most of the world’s poor work in the “informal economy” – outside of recognized and enforceable rules. Thus, even though most have assets of some kind, they have no way to document their possessions because they lack formal access to legally recognized tools such as deeds, contracts and permits.

This training package examines conflict within forest resource use and community-based forest management and offers strategies for managing it. It aims to support diverse and multiple forest user groups to manage conflicts that inevitably arise in the protection, use and control of forest resources. It has been prepared primarily for trainers who help people and organizations that work collaboratively in community forestry.

Женщины вносят существенный вклад в экономику сельских районов во всех регионах развивающихся стран. В различных регионах они выполняют различные функции, но повсеместно они имеют менее широкий по сравнению с мужчинами доступ к ресурсам и возможностям, которые им необходимы для того, чтобы их производственная деятельность была более эффективной.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and several development partners are working together with countries to prepare Voluntary Guidelines that will provide practical guidance to states, civil society, the private sector, academic and research institutions, donors and development specialists on the responsible governance of tenure.

Concentration of land ownership, lack of access, insecurity of tenure and lack of efficiency and transparency in land administration services, are among the obstacles towards responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources in Latin America. These issues have been the subject of discussions and policy recommendations during many international forums, such as the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in March 2006.