Changing and competing land use, where we make use of a growing share of resources, potentially undermines the capacity of forests to provide multiple functions such as timber, biodiversity, recreation and pasture lands. The governance challenge is thus to manage trade-offs between human needs and, at the same time, maintain the capacities of forests to provide us with these needs. Sweden provides a clear example of this kind of challenge. Traditionally, timber has been the most apparent contribution of the forest to Swedish national interests.

One of the main issues regarding the implementation of REDD+ in Latin America has been the growing concern that such projects may infringe upon the rights and negatively affect the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. Various indigenous and civil society organizations are ardently opposed to the initiative. Such is the case in Ecuador, where indigenous opposition to REDD+ represents a considerable obstacle in the creation of a national strategy since more than 60% of the country’s remaining forest cover is on indigenous land or under indigenous occupation.

Les nouvelles sur l’état de l’agriculture en Afrique sont en grande partie décourageantes, mais on entrevoit des lueurs d'espoir. Quelques efforts stimulants réalisés par des agriculteurs et chercheurs africains au cours des dix dernières années ont sensiblement augmenté la productivité agricole dans certains pays et pour certains produits. Ces cas peuvent servir de modèles pour de futurs efforts, mais seulement si les responsables des politiques de développement et les professionnels comprennent les processus qui ont amené ces résultats, et les éléments clé de leur succès.

The aim of this study is to discuss and analyze key factors that affect the desertification in Pa Deng Sub-district, Thailand, in order to assess the desertification risk of the sites. The MEDALUS Model was used to conduct the desertification risk assessment. The spatial analysis study was done with Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) programs. The key factors that had an impact on the desertification in Pa Deng area are climatic factor, soil factors (soil texture, fertility and erosion) and human activity factor (land use).

1. The long-term history of Quercus in southern Scandinavia has received little attention despite its important role in modern conservation. In this study the 4000-year dynamics of Quercus, its habitat and other important taxa were analysed with pollen data from 25 small hollows and 6 regional sites across southern Scandinavia. The aim was to provide a context for understanding the species' current status and managing its future dynamics. 2.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the structure of forest landscape and its impact on biodiversity in the Bauska District, Latvia. The database of the State Forest Service and field research from 1994 to 2004 were used. Diversity and protection of the current forest ecosystems were described using different forest classification methods. The structure of tree species and their age was analyzed. Analysis indicated a decrease of oak forests by 3.5% of their native vegetation area and a high proportion of drained forests, as well as a disproportional age structure of forest ecosystems.

Fossil pollen and plant macrofossils over the last 2000 years are documented from three small forest hollows in Southern Sweden. One of the sites is inside a 5 ha highly prized old growth mixed Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies forest of high biodiversity which has been protected since 1940. The other two hollows are located 400 and 700 m away in an outlying buffer zone established in 1995 which is mainly coniferous plantation forest.

We evaluated how the management and use of public forest land administered by Minnesota county land departments changed once these forests were transferred to private ownership. To characterize these changes, the individuals and organizations who purchased forest land from Minnesota's county land departments were surveyed using a mail questionnaire. The sale of county forest land did not appear to produce noticeable changes in timber harvesting or the level of investment in forest management.

Poverty and deforestation are critical issues in a number of developing countries where the policy framework is in many cases insufficient to provide rural people an incentive to afforest. This paper analyzes both the impact of land privatization on afforestation efforts of rural farm households in the Northern Uplands of Vietnam and the economic incentive of farm households on afforestation efforts. The determinants of afforestation by farm households were analyzed.

Soil erosion is a growing problem in Central Chile, particularly in coastal dry lands, where it can significantly decrease the productivity of rainfed agriculture and forestry. In this study, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS), and used to evaluate the effects of different combinations of vegetative cover on soil erosion rates for Santo Domingo County in Central Chile. Implementing RUSLE in the GIS required a complete description of the county’s soils, climate, topography and current land use/land cover.