Over the past two decades, perspectives on the role of the forest for society have evolved and broadened dramatically; the relatively narrow official view of the forest as primarily a source of wood and a form of protection for upland water resources has been seriously questioned and sometimes even violently opposed in favour of an approach that reflects a wider range of present and future opportunities and demands from forests and forest resources.

ABSTRACTED FROM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: 

This review does not attempt to be comprehensive. Instead, we highlight:

• benchmarks in the evolution of land use policies in Sri Lanka;

• the actual contribution made to decisions about land use by systematic information on land resources.

In an economic analysis the present use of the most important national park in South Africa, (Kruger National Park) is compared with the use of the same land for agricultural purposes. The present use of the Kruger National Park creates substantially more net social benefits to society than agricultural use. The question remains whether these benefits are equitably distributed at various levels of the South African society.

This report by Green November 32 in 1993 was the first ever NGO perspective report written on the Yadana gas pipeline and on the border dams as they were first discussed by Thai and Burmese governments around that time. It was actually one of the first detailed reports on any of the post 1988 environmental issues by any Burmese- or border- based organisation, and is of particular interest in the light of the current opposition to the Irrawaddy dam projects...

The rate of degradation and depletion of natural resources in Africa has been accelerated as a result of the increasing population pressure. The lack of reliable quantitative and qualitative information on vegetation cover and land use at national and regional levels has been the major limiting factor in development planning, sustainable management of agriculture and forestry resources, the food security early warning systems, environmental monitoring as well as in biodiversity assessment and protection.