Expected achievement of land consolidation depends on the priority given to the protection of water, soil and air quality which are the elements of rural environmental balance. Today, many of researches have carried out to determine the effects of land consolidation on the local hydrology and agricultural productivity.

In the conditions of the Republic of Belarus there were presented theoretical statements and methodical approaches to the improvement of the use of lands and organization of the territory of agricultural organizations in conditions of ecologization of land use. There were formulated the notion and tasks of improvement of the use of lands of agricultural organizations.

To preserve the quality of surface water, official French regulations require farmers to keep a minimum acreage of grassland, especially bordering rivers. These agro-environmental measures do not account for the circulation of water within the catchment. This paper examines whether it is possible to design with the farmers agri-environmental measures at field and catchment scale to prevent soil erosion and surface water pollution.

Agriculture and agribusiness play an important role in the Zambian economy, contributing around 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in recent years and about 12 percent of national export earnings. Agriculture employs nearly 70 percent of the labor force and remains the main source of income and employment for most of the people living in rural areas. The objective of the Zambia agribusiness indicators (ABI) country report is to examine factors that have affected agricultural productivity, market access, and the policy environment for agriculture in Zambia.

The Philippine economy has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in East Asia, with growth accelerating to 7.1 percent in the third quarter. The acceleration of domestic demand since the first quarter of 2012 reflects the country's strong macroeconomic fundamentals, stronger government finances, and high confidence in the Aquino government's commitment to reform.

By the year 2020, Ha Long will be a city of tourism, a center of seaborne commerce, a commercial capital and playing the role of a core urban area in the Northern region of Vietnam. It will be a place that will attract investment and tourism from all over the world with a growing, dynamic, stable economy which is environmentally friendly. Ha Long city will become an urban development co-existing harmoniously with the Ha Long Bay World Heritage Site.

There is increasing evidence suggesting that climate change will negatively impact agricultural production in South Asia. Decreased domestic production may make South Asian countries more dependent on imports. The extent to which South Asia will need to increase its imports as a result of climate change will presumably depend on the degree to which the latter will affect domestic output.

This publication is the result of an initiative to promote an exchange between Brazil and African countries on lessons learned about the role of community forestry as a strategic option to achieve the goals of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). The initiative was supported by the World Bank with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and coordinated by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) with support from the National Forestry Agency International (ONFI).

For Ghana's national REDD plus scheme to be viable, the rights to carbon or the emission credits generated must be clearly delineated, and be accompanied by equitable and efficient benefit sharing systems. There are a number of approaches that the State can use to determine whom to vest the right to carbon in. If defined as a natural resource, the state would be vested with the rights. If recognized as an ecosystem service, then the right to the benefits would be vested in the owner of the trees.

The Asia, Pacific and Oceania (APO) region is the centre of diversity of many important species of crops, animals and livestock. Most of its resource-poor farmers depend on this agrobiodiversity for food security and livelihood. Agrobiodiversity in APO has served as the source of genetic materials that propelled the Green Revolution in the region. It has enabled continuous growth in productivity, allowing agriculture to cope with declining yield, emergence of pests and diseases and occurrence of abiotic stresses like drought and floods.

This paper describes the start of a data sharing process to develop a consolidated community cropland map, which was initiated through a recent workshop on characterizing and validating global agricultural land cover. Participants from different organizations around the world were asked to contribute their various cropland maps prior to the workshop. Other data such as geo-tagged photos, in-situ data, classified satellite images and videos also were provided as part of this process. The data are now available online at agriculture.geo-wiki.org.

Traditionally, the spread and extent of human settlement beyond the major riparian zones of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and across many other arid regions of the world, has been determined by availability of groundwater supplies, accessed through hand-dug wells andsprings. In more recent times, groundwater is the preferred means of supplying water to meet the growing demand of the rural, dispersed communities and the small urban towns across SSA.