Protecting land is vital to achieving food security and reducing poverty. This is the insight on which the global WOCAT network was built two decades ago. WOCAT’s early focus on soil and water conservation has expanded into a tried and tested facility for decision support in all aspects of sustainable land management for every kind of land manager. There is a special focus on providing sustainable benefits for the rural poor, both efficiently and cost-effectively.

Surveys over several years in the Kagera region of Tanzania have shown that migration has a positive impact on people's living standards, even for those who remain in agriculture. On the other hand, there is evidence of migrants ending up in unfavourable social environments and perhaps even that the traditional home communities are protecting their livelihood and survival by setting up subtle exit barriers, in the form of norms, preventing migration of their most productive members. So, should migration be encouraged at all costs?

The livelihoods of many rural dwellers are dependent on having secure and equitable access to land. Tenure security is also a prerequisite for sustainable land management. The massive interest of commercial investors has increased the pressure on land globally. This article describes the international community’s efforts to improve the responsible governance and management of land.

In today’s China, about 220 million rural migrant workers are on the move – this is more than two thirds of the US population – and their number is set to increase in the course of the country’s urbanisation process. At a rate of 47 percent, still below global average, and against the backdrop of a marked rural-urban divide, urbanisation is not only an effect of rapid economic development, but also forms part of the Chinese government’s economic development strategy.

In rural areas of many developing countries fuelwood constitutes the only energy source – often with negative impacts on humans and the environment. Wise management and modern technology can guarantee a sustainable use of this valuable resource, as some examples from Latin America demonstrate.

Labour migration, primarily to Côte d’Ivoire, masked the high rate of natural population growth in Burkina Faso for many years. However, since a political crisis began in this neighbouring country in late 1999, many Burkinabe have returned home. This posed major challenges, especially for rural areas. In the south of the country, shrewd population policy and appropriate rural development programmes have been e? ective in meeting these challenges.

On November 18th 2010, the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Ciolo?, o? cially submitted a communiqué proposing a reorientation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to the EU Parliament, the EU Council and the public. What does the proposal imply for global agricultural markets and international food matters? Some re? ections.

The debate about the e? ects of migration is still centred on economic aspects. However, the return of migrants also changes the society and cultures of their country of origin. These changes are particularly pronounced where women have emigrated and return to their communities after several years’ absence.

Zambia’s small-scale farmers are even poorer today than they were 40 years ago. According to the 2010 Human Development Report, Zambia is one of just three nations whose development has fallen behind 1970 levels. And yet Zambia is one of Africa’s “lion states” with annual economic growth rates of more than 5 percent. It is not easy to explain such a contradiction, but a DIE study is drawing closer to ? nding an answer.

Many a dogma produced by agricultural policies over the past decades has proved disastrous for African agriculture. Ms Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU), looks at lessons learnt and suggests ways to bring progress to Africa’s rural regions.

More and more young people are leaving the rural areas and migrating to the cities. Although the industrial and the developing nations come from different starting points, such migration ultimately has the same effect on village life and the rural areas everywhere. In the industrial nations the agricultural population is ageing.

Although the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants in Africa has been relatively modest until now, a number of research and development projects in this field are already operating in several African countries. These involve breeding drought-tolerant, pest-resistant or nutrient-enriched maize, or cassava varieties with greater disease and pest resistance.