This report presents an analysis of the synergies between environmental policies and the development of comprehensive environmental projects.

Multi-band remotely sensed image data contain information on landscape pattern and temporal changes that are greatly underutilized in this technological era when monitoring of disturbance and ecological dynamics is increasingly important to address questions regarding sustainability of ecosystem health and climate change.

Vier thema's komen in deze brochure aan bod: koolstofvastlegging in bos en landbouw; emissies van lachgas en methaan uit de landbouw; landgebruik als actor en reactor in het klimaatsysteem; klimaatverandering en het landelijk gebied: een integrale kijk. Uitleg over een actueel onderwerp, aan de hand van 31 vragen

In Sub-Sahara Africa, majority of the population derives its livelihood from agriculture. Smallholder agriculture accounts for 75% of agricultural production of which the majority constitutes of rainfed farming. Drought is Africa’s principal form of natural disaster which often it affects rainfed agriculture dramatically.

Forests play major roles in climate change. They contribute carbon emissions when destroyed or degraded and they suffer from changing climate, drought and extreme weather. Managed sustainably, they can provide a unique environmental service by removing excess carbon from the atmosphere, storing it in biomass, soils and products. In addition, sustainably produced wood fuels offer an environmentally benign alternative to fossil fuels.

This information paper illustrates sustainable dryland management practises in communities vulnerable to climate change with case studies in India and the Sudan.In both cases the adaptation programme is presented, including infrastructural strategy and social involvement, followed by results of the programme, subsequent impact on the community and examples of further achievements and successes in local areas.

World over the nutmeg continues to be a prized spice because of its unique flavour and pharmaceutical properties.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to greenhouse and climate change, international frameworks, carbon sequestration and carbon trading. It focusses in particular on policy relating to Australia.The paper demonstrates that increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been identified as a major cause of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol set the collective target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of industrialised countries by 5% of 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

A multi-disciplinary research with integration of the theory and methods of climatic change and history was carried out in the southern Loess Plateau of China. High-resolution soil-sedimentary data define an abruptly increased climatic aridity at 3100 a B.P. on the southern Loess Plateau. It was caused by a shift from the dominance of the maritime monsoon to the continental monsoon in the East Asia. The marked aridity induced a considerable deterioration of environment and degradation of land resources.

Europe is characterized not only by large geomorphological variability but also by a long history of land use. This resulted in a highly variegated landscape. Based on the IGBP‐transect initiative, a north south transect was established across Europe ranging from north Sweden to central Italy in order to study effects of global change. Mainly process oriented studies were established on plots along the transect, and these were used to establish functional relationships as basis for landscape integration.

This paper explores household variation in land tenure security and drought shocks across villages to investigate the extent to which land tenure systems matter in households’ capacity to cope with adverse impacts of weather shocks for agricultural dependent households in rural Malawi. Our findings reveal that land tenure security cushions the effects of drought regimes on food security. Further, we establish access to credit facilities for farm investment purposes as the underlying channel that mediates the impact of drought shocks on food insecurity.