This paper argues that REDD+ will not stop forest destruction developing countries and the underlying causes of deforestation remain untouched. The paper suggests that because REDD+ is embedded in the logic that environmental destruction in one location can be ‘compensated’ in another, it acts to reinforce the underlying drivers of deforestation and climate change. It also gives forest destroyers a way to legitimise their actions as environmentally ‘friendly’ or ‘carbon neutral’.

A University of Leeds collaborative study has probed links between environmental change and famine – two problems perceived to lie at the heart of Africa’s current crisis – in the context of another all too often linked to the continent - warfare and civil unrest. Land hunger and environmental depletion in the aftermath of war are often cited as causes of famine that in turn will lead to further conflict. Is such a chain reaction really at work? Is there an inevitable causal link between environmental degradation and violent conflict?

Describes the main features of the new Eritrean land law and its operative assumption that the legislation is meant to extend state control over land.The legal devices employed by the law are widely used in sub-Saharan Africa (and were largely inspired by colonial policies). The State of Eritrea frequently asserts that its recent independence gives it the opportunity to learn from other developing countries' mistakes and to avoid them.The basic patterns of the new land law, however, are common to the rest of Africa, notwithstanding the evident poor results.

Series of country papers on HIV/AIDS and land in Lesotho, Kenya, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, with concluding paper on methodological and conceptual issues. The key questions addressed include: The impact on and changes in land tenure systems (including patterns of ownership, access, and rights) as a consequence of HIV/AIDS with a focus on vulnerable groups. The ways that HIV/AIDS affected households are coping in terms of land use, management and access, e.g. abandoning land due to fear of losing land, renting out due to inability to utilise land, distress sale of land, etc.

This paper examines the evidence for land degradation in Burkina Faso, and argues that local farming practices are not as unsustainable and environmentally destructive as many reports suggest.Main findings of the study include:there is little evidence of widespread degradation of crop and fallow land in Burkina Faso; the low external input practices used by West African farmers are not leading to region wide land degradation processesa major reason for the overestimation of land degradation has been the underestimation of the abilities of local farmersthere is much more to soil and water co

This paper considers the degree of environmental variability in an extensive pastoral area of Altay, northern Xinjiang (China); assesses the extent to which institutional arrangements are able to accommodate environmental variability, and discusses the implications of this for rangeland policy.The article finds that:there is some inter-temporal variation in rangeland productivity (in pasture zones), suggesting some applicability of new range ecologythere is less environmntal variation in summer pasture, suggesting that the concepts and tools of conventional rangeland management might be mor

To understand Thailand's policy on development and industrialization, one must also study its policy on trade and agriculture. Certain Thai policies have facilitated economic development in Thailand: Raising agricultural productivity even during the early period of import substitution. The relatively equal distribution of land. Decentralized industrial growth. The labor-intensive export orientation of both rural and urban industries. Generally open, merit-based access to education.

How do the spatial dynamics of the socialist city compare with those of the market city? What happens to a city when all investment decisions are made without land markets? What are the outcomes when the forces described by familiar urban models are not allowed to work?Bertaud and Renaud describe the structure of Russian cities after 70 years of Soviet development.

In Latin America, government interventions in land grabbing processes provide some preliminary lessons on dealing with this phenomenon, while highlighting some serious threats.

This book explores four central propositions on climate-smart and multifunctional landscape approaches: A) Current landscapes are a suboptimal member of a set of locally feasible landscape configurations; B) Actors and interactions can nudge landscapes towards better managed trade-offs within the set of feasible configurations, through engagement, investment and interventions; C) Climate is one of many boundary conditions for landscape functioning; D) Theories of change must be built within theories of place for effective location-specific engagement.

This case study assesses the strengths and weaknesses of a simple, inexpensive, village-based land registration system put in place between 1996 and 1998 in Tigray, Ethiopia.The authors found that the system worked well and fairly - in large part due to it’s simplicity and low cost. Success also depended, however, on effective local governments which were able to prevent inequities from unforeseen shortcomings.

The 21st Century opened with a commitment to involving forest-local communities in the processes of securing and sustaining forests. But what is the relationship between people’s right to land and the manner in which they may be involved in the management of forests?