Discusses the widely help conception that arid shrub-lands in Syria and elsewhere in West Asia and North Africa are degraded. A particular characteristic of such areas is a preponderance of unpalatable shrubs or a lack of overall ground cover with a rise in the associated risks of soil erosion.The article finds that:migrating pastoralists have been the scapegoats for this condition of the range.

This review explores environmental change in northern and south-central Kenya, roughly covering three decades from the 1960s to the 1990s. The report answers three questions:has vegetation change occurred in these districts?if vegetation change has occurred, why and how has this happened?what are the trends for livestock populations?The article concludes that:rangeland sites have been fundamentally altered by woody encroachment over the past 40 years.

There is a general consensus among academics, politicians and social movements, that BRICS as ‘new donors’ are increasing both their quantitative and qualitative role in defining what is considered to be ‘the world economic order’.

This case study, conducted in north Afar pastoral settlements in Ethiopia, explores pastoral natural resource management as well as indigenous conflict management.Main findings of the study include:the pattern of natural resource management has shown dramatic changes in 4-5 decades time, eroding traditional strategies of pastoral resource management; and this is caused mainly by the encroachment of cultivation and human population pressuregrazing reserves once used to sustain pastoral livelihood during drought periods are no longer widely used by community.

Over the last 25 years civil disturbances, drought, population increases and global market pressures have all contributed in direct and indirect ways to a modification of Sub saharan African land cover. 

This perspective document: 1 Provides examples of ‘no regrets’ approaches, applied in small island countries to cope with current climate variability and adapt to future climate change, at different levels ranging from communities, local administrations and national governments. 2 Demonstrates the need for a sound knowledge base and information system, as well as a better understanding of the relation between water resources, water and health, and climatic extremes.

This case study shows how the activities of a large foreign-invested mining company on land held by the Awajun community in the northern forests of Peru have led to a characteristic cycle of state permissiveness in granting mining concessions, thus leading to social conflict.

This paper seeks to analyse some of the problems of degradation persisting in the dryland regions with particular reference to Sub-Saharan Africa, and describe the processes that aim to tackle them.It identifies the threat to dryland regions as a complex mixture of degrading soils, continuous exposures to frequent droughts and political and economic marginalisation which is putting poor people living in the drylands at risk.

This paper discusses issues surrounding indigenous land rights, sharing an understanding and information about land tenure and titling within Latin America. The study focuses on examples from the country level, with the aim of influencing policy coherence and legislation.In particular, Chapter four of this document examines the implications of indigenous land tenure for natural resource management, using case studies from Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama and Peru.

Conflicting interests in land and resource use emerged in postwar Mozambique, giving rise to multiple layers of dispute. This article explores the disputes occurring between 1992 and 1995 in two districts which are notable for the severity of competition over land by virtue of their proximity to Maputo, namely, Matutuíne and Namaacha. Although private sector claims were beginning to be staked with the potential for displacing people occupying the same land, other conflicts still predominated.

The objectives of this study are to analyze and synthesize the experience of the World Bank and other agencies in dryland management, with special emphasis on Africa.Recommendations are provided on "good policies and practices" in drylands management, which can support actions to fulfil obligations arising from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) for member countries and for international organizations, such as the World Bank.