This study reports the results of “action research” to identify and prioritize stakeholder driven,
locally relevant response options to climate change. These response options comprise the basis of
local action plans developed to address agricultural adaptations to climate change in three
diverse agroecoystems: the Yaqui Valley in northwestern Mexico, the Mantaro Valley in central
Peru, and the western littoral regional of Uruguay. The study has three primary objectives. The

This paper develops a method to explore how alternative scenarios of the expansion of maize production for biogas generation affect biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES). Our approach consists of four steps: (i) defining scenario targets and implementation of assumptions; (ii) simulating crop distributions across the landscape; (iii) assessing the ES impacts; and (iv) quantifying the impacts for a comparative trade-off analysis. The case study is the region of Hannover, Germany.

This paper reports on research to evaluate the potential of Original Texas Land Survey (OTLS) to generate information that can be used to quantitatively map historical vegetation cover and analyse pertinent aspects of vegetation ecology. Research was conducted in Brazos County in east-central Texas. OTLS data are easy to acquire and convert to geo-referenced autecological information.

This paper analyzes and quantifies the land use/land cover changes of the main forest and semi-natural landscape types in Sicily between 1955 and 2012. We analyzed seven representative forest and shrubland landscapes in Sicily. These study areas were chosen for their importance in the Sicilian forest panorama. We carried out a diachronic survey on historical and current aerial photos; all the aerial images used to survey the land use/land cover changes were digitalized and georeferenced in the UTM WGS84 system.

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A recent overview of World Bank social safety net programs and gender highlighted the need for greater consideration of intra-household dynamics in the design of social protection programs (Bardasi 2014). During program design, decisions have to be made about who to target, how much and how often to give cash transfers, and what measures should accompany cash transfers. These decisions become even more complex in the context of polygamous households. The conclusions above are meant to illustrate important links between intra-household dynamics and the design of cash transfer programs.

Making evidence-based decisions regarding coastal environments, infrastructure, and natural resources and their interaction with people requires accurate data. Because of the nature of coastal phenomena and their impacts on livelihoods and the environment, integrated systems that collect and share data regionally and focus on coastal areas and marine conditions, land use, climate patterns, and natural hazards are needed. Monitoring coastal areas requires scientific input, public-private partnerships, and an interconnected effort among national and regional actors.

... In December 2015, representatives of governments, civil society organizations, Indigenous Peoples’ groups, and the private sector met in Paris for the 21st
Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The aim of this meeting was to determine a global path forward that would limit the rise in global temperature to no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and allow countries to reach peak greenhouse gas emissions as soon
as possible.

The goals of this review are to: (i) identify options with proven success and high potential for up-scaling in Ethiopian drylands, (ii) analyze factors underlying relative success in different agro-ecologies and under different institutional conditions, and (iii) assess options that may have high potential in areas and systems without well proven successful options.

Soil indicators may be used for assessing both land
suitability for restoration and the effectiveness of restoration
strategies in restoring ecosystem functioning and services. In
this review paper, several soil indicators, which can be used
to assess the effectiveness of ecological restoration strategies
in dryland ecosystems at different spatial and temporal
scales, are discussed. The selected indicators represent the
different viewpoints of pedology, ecology, hydrology, and
land management. Two overall outcomes stem from the review.

Rice is the world’s most heavily
consumed staple crop. Its production requires enormous
volumes of water and emits large quantities of atmospheric
methane, a greenhouse gas some many times more powerful than
carbon dioxide - particularly during a medium term period of
about seven years. In a global context of growing
population, increasingly scarce water resources, and climate
change, more productive, sustainable, and efficient rice