This edition of The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) presents objective and comprehensive information and analyses on the current state, trends and challenges facing two of the most important agricultural production factors: land and water.

 The Abyei Administrative Area (AAA) is a contested zone located on the central border between South Sudan and Sudan. Its status has remained unresolved since South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011, and the governments failed to agree on the border division. A United Nations peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), has since monitored the situation. It is entrusted with overseeing demilitarisation and maintaining security in the area.

In the conditions of the Republic of Belarus there were examined different formulations of a notion and term of 'land use', there was presented its content taking into account modern conditions. There was shown the notion and content of intra-farm land use planning of agricultural organizations; its content updated with the issues on ecologization of land use planning. There was suggested an energy approach to the economic estimation of taken project decisions made in land use planning.

The article examines the use of the fertile layer of soil and its reproduction, shows the qualitative
composition of lands of Stavropol Territory. Some basics mechanism of reproduction of agricultural land are presented. The main methods of reproduction of fertility of the soil – agrotechnical actions (use of rational system of agriculture – optimum crop rotations, chemicalixation, melioration) are proved.

Az árvízvédelmi töltések védelmében, az árvizek levonulásában, ezáltal ma-gában az árvízvédelemben a gyepesítésnek jelentős szerepe van. Gazdaságossá-gát nem lehet egzakt módon bizonyítani, hiszen míg a létesítési és fenntartási költségeket egyértelműen meghatározhatjuk, a bevételi oldal összetett és nehezen számszerűsíthető. Az árvízvédelmi földgátak gyepesítésének társadalmi hasznossága és gazda-sági előnye mégis vitathatatlan:-közvetlen gazdasági haszon: pl.

Traditionally, in the context of environment and natural resources management, many communication efforts have focused on the dissemination of technical information to end-users who were expected to adopt them. Development practitioners were trying to ‘push’ their products on communities in order to receive community commitment to their development initiatives.

Unprecedented pressures on land and its governance have been created. As evident around the globe, where land governance is deficient, high levels of corruption often flourish. Under such a system, land distribution is unequal, tenure is insecure, and natural resources are poorly managed.

In this oil research paper, we have set out the challenges confronting oil producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa by giving case studies of Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. We have also critiqued the draft National Oil and Gas Policy under formulation as well as the legal framework. We argue that the oil Dutch Disease and conflict nexus associated with oil producing countries are not a given since there are examples such as Norway which have utilised their oil revenue for transformation and sustainable development.

Tracking adaptation and measuring development (TAMD) is a twin-track framework that evaluates adaptation success. Track 1 assesses how widely and how well countries or institutions manage climate risks, while Track 2 measures the success of adaptation interventions in reducing climate vulnerability and in keeping development on course. This twin-track approach means that TAMD can be used to assess whether climate change adaptation leads to effective development, and how development interventions can boost communities’ capacity to adaptation to climate change.

China’s investment and trade in Africa’s natural resource sectors have significant implications for Africa’s forests. Many investments are in forest areas. Some directly engage in logging while others, such as mining, infrastructure and agribusiness, affect forests and rural livelihoods. This report provides an overview of trends, evidence and issues related to the impacts on forests of Chinese investments in four African countries: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Uganda.

Mozambique is Africa’s largest exporter of timber to China. Yet multiple published concerns over the sustainability and legality of that timber trade assert the rapid commercial depletion of future timber stocks, the marginalisation of local forest communities, and the loss of revenue to government estimated at US$146 million between 2007 and 2013 alone.