Natural regeneration is sometimes
sufficient for forests and other plant communities to
recover after a disturbance. In the case of severe
disturbances, however, this is unlikely to be true. Natural
regeneration may occur in such cases but the rate is likely
to be very slow. Hence, some form of intervention is needed.
This note is aimed at highlighting some of the factors that
might be needed in the initial stages of restoring forests

Eighty percent of Kenya is arid and
semi-arid land; yet despite chronic water scarcity, the
country has developed only 15 percent of its available safe
water resources. Demand for water is expected to rise, owing
to population increases and growing requirements for
irrigated agriculture, urban and rural populations,
industries, livestock, and hydropower. Meanwhile, climate
variability and the steady degradation of water resources

A watershed is an area that supplies
water by surface or subsurface flow to a drainage system or
body of water. Watersheds vary from a few hectares to
thousands of square kilometers. Watershed management (WSM)
is the integrated use of land, vegetation, and water in a
specific drainage area with the objective of conserving
hydrologic services and reducing or avoiding damage
downstream or underground. The first generation of WSM

The Andean region of Puno, known as the
altiplano, is located at 3,830 meters above sea level. The
terrain is prone to flooding, and thus difficult to
cultivate. In order to deal with this situation, Andean
indigenous populations displaced huge amounts of soil in
order to create raised fields that were better adapted to
agricultural use. Raised fields resolved many of the
problems that affect agriculture at high altitude. The

This social assessment (SA) is part of
the Sanliurfa and Harran On-farm Development Project in
Turkey, and aims at identifying an appropriate mix of
project inputs to reduce poverty. The objectives of the SA
are to understand the impact of rapid agricultural
modernization on various social groups, according to
ownership criteria, and gender issues, and, to learn how
those benefiting from irrigation, assess the quality of

This study researched Indigenous
Knowledge Systems (IKS) in agriculture in Zimbabwe's
rural areas, focusing on crop farming in the Tonga of Binga
District in Matebeleland's North Province, and
livestock in the Kalanga tribe of the Plumtree District in
Matebeleland's South Province. The study aimed to
uncover some of the knowledge that indigenous people used to
survive under the harsh climatic and physical conditions of

Dzud is the Mongolian term for a winter weather disaster in which deep snow, severe cold, or other conditions render forage unavailable or inaccessible and lead to high livestock mortality. Dzud is a regular occurrence in Mongolia, and plays an important role in regulating livestock populations. However, dzud, especially when combined with other environmental or socio-economic stresses and changes, can have a significant impact on household well-being as well as local and national economies.

An extensive review of literature on the
determinants of adoption and impacts of land management
technologies in the Ethiopian highlands was undertaken to
guide policy makers and development agencies in crafting
programs and policies that can better and more effectively
address land degradation in Ethiopia. Several
generalizations emerge from the review: 1) the profitability
of land management technologies is a very important factor

This paper reviews past studies on the
costs of land degradation in Ethiopia, with a view to
drawing implications for policies, programs, and future
research on sustainable land management (SLM). Given the
wide range of methods and assumptions used in the studies,
their findings concerning annual costs of land degradation
relative to agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) are
of remarkably similar magnitude. The minimum estimated

This paper measures the economic impact
of climate on crops in Kenya. The analysis is based on
cross-sectional climate, hydrological, soil, and household
level data for a sample of 816 households, and uses a
seasonal Ricardian model. Estimated marginal impacts of
climate variables suggest that global warming is harmful for
agricultural productivity and that changes in temperature
are much more important than changes in precipitation. This

This report assesses the economic
impacts of climate change on agriculture in Zambia, using
the Ricardian method. A multiple linear regression model
with net revenue per hectare as response variable has been
fitted with climate, hydrological, soil, and socioeconomic
variables as explanatory variables. There is one main
cropping season in Zambia, lasting from November to April.
Crop production in this period depends solely on rains.

The authors explore how Latin American
livestock farmers adapt to climate by switching species.
They develop a multinomial choice model of farmer's
choice of livestock species. Estimating the models across
over 1,200 livestock farmers in seven countries, they find
that both temperature and precipitation affect the species
Latin American farmers choose. The authors then use this
model to predict how future climate scenarios would affect