This paper examines the changing profile of water traders (both allocation and entitlement traders) in the Goulburn-Murray Irrigation District in Australia, and examines the efficiency of the water allocation and entitlement markets from 1998-99 to 2003-06. The results suggest that the profile of traders in the early and mature stages of the water allocation market differ greatly. In addition, the profile of allocation traders is significantly dissimilar from that of water entitlement traders at all stages of water market development.

This paper examines the occurrence and impact of gender discrimination in access to production resources on the income, productivity, and technical efficiency of farmers. Through an empirical investigation of farmers from Koussin-Lélé, a semi-collective irrigated rice scheme in central Benin, we find that female rice farmers are particularly discriminated against with regard to scheme membership and access to land and equipment, resulting in significant negative impacts on their productivity and income. Although women have lower productivity, they are as technically efficient as men.

Recreational Multifunctionality refers to those farms providing at least one recreational service to members of the farm household or the public. Based on the types of recreational services offered, two types of landowners have been identified: Productivists and Ruralists. They differ on their extent of Recreational Multifunctionality, farm household attributes and farm representation. Both types of landowners also have different behavior and understanding of agroforestry.

Between 2005 and 2009, the EU-financed project ForLive set out to analyse promising local forest management initiatives in the Amazon Basin in four countries: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Researchers aimed to identify locally viable practices that benefit livelihoods and ecological stabilisation of landscapes, as well as to define ways to promote these practices as a basis for sound rural development. This book presents lessons learnt from more than 100 studies by researchers from Latin America, from practitioners and from local families themselves.

Between 2005 and 2009, the EU-financed project ForLive set out to analyse promising local forest management initiatives in the Amazon Basin in four countries: Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Researchers aimed to identify locally viable practices that benefit livelihoods and ecological stabilisation of landscapes, as well as to define ways to promote these practices as a basis for sound rural development. This book presents lessons learnt from more than 100 studies by researchersfrom Latin America, from practitioners and from local families themselves.

Canavalia brasiliensis (canavalia), a drought tolerant legume, was introduced into the smallholder traditional crop-livestock production system of the Nicaraguan hillsides as green manure to improve soil fertility or as forage during the dry season for improving milk production.

Farmers are in a continuous process of, individually and as community groups, adjusting to the observed variability in climate parameters. Climate shocks are considered by farmers in their decision-making as factors affecting risk and uncertainty, and farmers make their choices so as to minimize such risks. The overall outcome of these individual and community efforts is known as climate adaptation, which itself is a continuous process. Farmers are traditionally supported by local institutions in this process, which are also currently in a state of transformation.