Rural development and urbanisation are often seen as competing, but in most cases are intimately linked. It is essential that policies re? ect and support the many positive links between rural and urban areas, enterprises and people. This in turn requires a better understanding of urbanisation processes and the role of small towns.

We are continuously transforming a resource that is both essential and finite: our soils. We do so in a way that has serious social, economic and ecologic implications. There is an urgent need to shift these transformations to more sustainable pathways. Transgovernance can assume a pivotal role in this regard.

In today’s China, about 220 million rural migrant workers are on the move – this is more than two thirds of the US population – and their number is set to increase in the course of the country’s urbanisation process. At a rate of 47 percent, still below global average, and against the backdrop of a marked rural-urban divide, urbanisation is not only an effect of rapid economic development, but also forms part of the Chinese government’s economic development strategy.

With more than 900 million people world-wide affected by chronic hunger, international action on soil conservation is urgently required. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) enjoys substantial support, and the author of this article demonstrates that it could play a key role as a global policy and monitoring framework in addressing land and soil degradation.

Many a dogma produced by agricultural policies over the past decades has proved disastrous for African agriculture. Ms Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU), looks at lessons learnt and suggests ways to bring progress to Africa’s rural regions.

Labour migration, primarily to Côte d’Ivoire, masked the high rate of natural population growth in Burkina Faso for many years. However, since a political crisis began in this neighbouring country in late 1999, many Burkinabe have returned home. This posed major challenges, especially for rural areas. In the south of the country, shrewd population policy and appropriate rural development programmes have been e? ective in meeting these challenges.

Establishing a rational forest policy is a difficult task for many countries. One of the reasons for this is that different policy sectors - such as energy policy, foreign trade policy, are closely linked to forest policy and the interests of a multitude of actors need to be accommodated. Moreover, the unregulated exploitation of forests promises large profits. 

Initially hailed a huge success, Malawi’s effort to boost agriculture with fertiliser subsidies appears to have met with failure. The author has a look at what went wrong, arguing that developments must be assessed against the backdrop of politics.

Climate change is one of the major threats to the development of rural Africa, and without wide-ranging adaptation strategies the challenge it presents cannot be met. Although appropriate measures have been identi? ed, international funding for adaptation has not materialised at the rate that was pledged. This is irresponsibly delaying the implementation of adaptation measures.

The Congo Basin Forest Partnership aims to reconcile forest conservation with forest use. This article explains what a “policy network” of this sort can achieve and where its limits lie.

Recent studies have shown that modern breeding for high yield, visual appearance and long shelf life led to an unintentional decline in taste and the content of essential nutrients in vegetables. AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is studying whether traditional vegetables are more nutritious than modern varieties and whether early growth stages of these vegetables offer consumers a higher content of phytonutrients.

Carbon labels for food are a new strategy of industrialised countries to reduce climate change-relevant gas emissions in agriculture. However, not every label includes the measurement of all emissions and may disadvantage and even exclude exporting farmers from developing countries. Policy-makers should reconsider this approach or at least focus on fair and non-discriminatory labels.