Reforestation measures for degraded lands, strategies for the sustainable management of forest resources, and agroforestry practices that incorporate trees into farming systems are increasingly demonstrating their promise for producing commercialized tree products. Although the level of investment so far has remained modest, the challenge is to find ways to scale up promising investments in a way that will have a clear impact at the landscape level.

China's success in addressing food problems after adopting the reforms in 1978 has been nothing less than remarkable. Grain output (rice, wheat and maize) has almost doubled and most hunger has been eliminated. Ever since China embarked on its reform agenda more than 30 years ago, its economic growth and poverty reduction have been nothing less than remarkable. Agriculture has been an important contributor to these developments.

International food prices spiked for the second time in four years in early 2011, igniting concerns about a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis and its consequences for the poor. International food price uncertainty has also increased along with average levels. Although price volatility is an intrinsic characteristic of agricultural markets, it has increased markedly over the last five years, compared to the previous two and a half decades, even when controlling for inflation.

Tanzania's land, local government and forest laws mean that rural communities have well defined rights to own, manage and benefit from forest and woodland resources within their local areas through the establishment of village forests. This approach, known by practitioners as Community Based Forest Management (CBFM) results in the legal establishment of village land forest reserves, community forest reserves or private forests. By 2008, 1,460 villages on mainland Tanzania1 were involved in establishing or managing village forests covering a total of over 2.345 million hectares.

In 2011, India's economic growth has slowed to below 7 percent and the stock markets mirrored the weakening economic conditions, but recovered somewhat in early 2012. Industrial sector output growth briefly slipped into negative territory. On the demand side, fixed investment and consumption growth slowed. India's exports were growing very strongly through 2011 despite the worsening economic conditions in Europe, which continued to be India's most important export market.

For Ghana's national REDD plus scheme to be viable, the rights to carbon or the emission credits generated must be clearly delineated, and be accompanied by equitable and efficient benefit sharing systems. There are a number of approaches that the State can use to determine whom to vest the right to carbon in. If defined as a natural resource, the state would be vested with the rights. If recognized as an ecosystem service, then the right to the benefits would be vested in the owner of the trees.

This publication is the result of an initiative to promote an exchange between Brazil and African countries on lessons learned about the role of community forestry as a strategic option to achieve the goals of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). The initiative was supported by the World Bank with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and coordinated by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS) with support from the National Forestry Agency International (ONFI).

This policy note provides an assessment of some of the impacts and proposed policy responses to problems related to the drought, including the rise in food prices. To address immediate needs, the humanitarian response to the drought is being managed by the Government of Kenya and a number of international organizations including the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

There is global interest in promoting mitigation and adaptation in agriculture, forest, and other land-use (AFOLU) sectors to address the twin goals of climate change and sustainable development. This guideline deals with how to enhance carbon stocks in general in all land-based projects and its specific relationship with agriculture productivity. It outlines specific steps and procedures that need to be followed by project proponents and managers of land-based projects to enhance carbon stocks synergistically with increasing crop productivity.

This paper provides an overview of land reform in South Africa from 1994 to 2011, with the focus on the land redistribution. The government policies and associated implementation since 1994 have not generated expected social and economic results for a number of reasons. Even where land has been transferred, it appears to have had minimal impact on the livelihoods of beneficiaries, largely because of inappropriate project design, a lack of necessary support services and shortages of working capital, leading to widespread underutilization of land.

This report presents the results of a review of the World Bank's Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) experience undertaken by the World Bank learning community-the SEA Community of Practice (CoP). This report is no more than a first step. Its findings and results cannot be treated as conclusive.

The growth of agriculture output over the past 200 years has been phenomenal. When Malthus wrote in 1798, he perceived limits on agricultural production as serious and imminent. Since then world population has increased by six-fold and global agricultural production has more than kept pace. Falling real grain prices for most of the 20th Century are cited as evidence. The sources of the increase in food production, however, have been quite different and have come in distinct waves. For most of the 19th century, increased output came from expanded land area in production.