Agriculture is major sector in the economy of Central Asia. The sustainable use of agricultural land is therefore essential to economic growth, human well-being, social equity, and ecosystem services. However, salinization, erosion, and desertification cause severe land degradation which, in…

Livestock grazing is the principal land use in arid central Asia, and range degradation is considered a serious problem within much of the high-elevation region of western China termed the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Rangeland degradation on the QTP is variously attributed to poor livestock…

The Khorezm oasis is one of the main ancient agricultural and cultural centers of Asia. Different studies have used administrative boundaries, without regard to the ecosystem complexity. Remote sensing is a technique that provides many advantages in relation to traditional land cover monitoring…

Northeast Asia is an area with relative concentrations of resources, a complex ecological environment pattern, and a marked human—land contrast relationship. This area has significance for analyzing land cover patterns and variations for regional sustainable development among the trans-boundary…

Much policy interest in sanitation and hygiene promotion focuses on changing behavior and increasing demand for these goods. Yet the effectiveness of large-scale interventions has been mixed, in large part because of the difficulty of changing attitudes on deeply rooted behaviors. This study…

Sarawak, Malaysia, is home to a wide range of native fruit tree species (NFTs) that contribute to the livelihoods of rural women and men. Yet, most agricultural research in the area, and elsewhere, has focused on commercial, non-native species, and the economic potential of lesser-known NFTs has…

In addition to global events and food policy changes, 2015 also saw important developments with potentially wide repercussions in individual countries and regions. This chapter offers perspectives on major food policy developments across the major regions: Africa, the Middle East and North…

The humid tropics are exposed to an unprecedented modernisation of agriculture involving rapid and mixed land-use changes with contrasted environmental impacts. Afforestation is often mentioned as an unambiguous solution for restoring ecosystem services and enhancing biodiversity. One…

Since the 1980s, many developing countries have introduced policies to promote seed industry growth and improve the delivery of modern science to farmers, often with a long-term goal of increasing agricultural productivity in smallholder farming systems. Public, private, and civil society actors…

Background
: Despite recent improvements of wastewater treatment capacities in urban areas of Hanoi, Vietnam, microbial pollution is still considerable. There is a paucity of burden estimates due to gastrointestinal infection in people living along the wastewater system, and among people…