The management of soils is an important issue for policy makers in Ethiopia. However, most of the interventions designed to conserve the soil resources have fallen short of the expectations, performing impressively in the short run, but proving unsustainable on a long-term basis. There are no simple explanations for the failure of these interventions to reverse soil degradation, but it has been evident for some time that there is an uneasy connection between 'objective' assessments of the state of the land and the way this information is used in the policy-making processes.

India has an estimated area of 129 million ha of wasteland, which can be used for providing sustainable livelihood for millions of rural unemployed. An evaluation of enhancing income and employment generation and environmental externalities due to plantations on wastelands through cooperatives and self-help groups was done. The development process was set up in leased degraded lands in three north Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The capacity building processes like savings and micro-enterprise skills empowered resource-poor farmers.

Een verkennend onderzoek onder landeigenaren naar hun houding en gedrag ter attentie van Nationale Landschappen (NL). Hiervoor zijn 36 interviews gehouden met landeigenaren (agrariërs, terreinbeheerders, recreatieondernemers, landeigenaren en buitenlui) in acht NL (Achterhoek, Graafschap, Groene Woud, Hoeksche Waard, Noord- Hollands Midden, Noordelijke Wouden, IJsseldelta, Zuidwest-Zeeland). Agrariërs zien de NL-status als een kans om in aanmerking te blijven komen voor vergoedingen voor natuur- en landschapsbeheer.