Classification Concepts The FAO Land Cover Classification System software is due to be released in its third version, and with it come four supporting volumes. The first of these is Classification Concepts, which lays the foundation for an understanding of the Land Cover Metalanguage (LCML) that is used to create classes for legends.

The pressing need for increased agricultural production in the years ahead can only be met by more efficient use of our land and water resources including more widespread and better irrigation in those regions where rainfall is inadequate. Production gains will be shortlived unless the attendant hazards of salinization, water logging and lowered fertility are kept in check by effective planning and management based on a thorough understanding of the soil conditions. Soil survey and land classification are generally accepted essential preliminaries to investment in irrigation development.

Classification Concepts The FAO Land Cover Classification System software is due to be released in its third version, and with it come four supporting volumes. The second volume is the User Manual which is a practical guide to all the features of the software version 3, with examples of how to make various types of classes e.g. for distinguishing managed and non-managed forest.

Land Tenure Working Paper 17. This publication identifies and assesses issues related to land governance and provides examples of good governance in the Caribbean subregion. This working paper was done in light of FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources.

Document de travail sur les régimes fonciers 17. Cet article identifie et analyse des questions relatives à la gouvernance des terres et apporte des exemples de bonne gouvernance de la sous-région des Caraïbes. Cette étude a été conduite en vue de l’initiative de la FAO sur les Directives Volontaires sur la gouvernance responsable de la tenure des terres et des autres ressources naturelles. Disponible en anglais

The main goal of this project that FAO will propose in Afghanistan is to strengthen national capacity to facilitate monitoring, analysis and interpretation of agriculture and natural resources information combined with information generated from remote sensing for sustainable agricultural land use planning and management.

The Land Cover Atlas of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was initially prepared in the framework of the FA O Government Cooperative Programme under the auspices of the project on “Strengthening Agricultural Economics, Market Information and Statistics Services”. The project was formulated upon the request from the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and funded by the European Commission. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA O) provided technical assistance as the executing agency in close cooperation with all parties.

The Land Cover Atlas of the Republic of South Sudan provides information on the land cover distribution by administrative and sub-basin divisions. The dataset was created using the FAO/GLCN methodology and tools. Main data sources include satellite imagery from SPOT and Global Land Survey (GLS) Landsat, existing Africover land cover database and ancillary data.

Land Tenure Working Paper 18. Presents the main themes that characterize the governance in land tenure and analyses the aspects related to the evolution of agricultural policy issues in various Central American countries. It also offers some examples and lessons learned from new models of land administration and land access mechanisms that Central American governments and International Cooperation have fostered over the past fifteen years in the Region. Available in Spanish

Advanced Database Gateway The FAO Land Cover Classification System software is due to be released in its third version, and with it come four supporting volumes. The third volume is a tutorial for the use of the Advanced Database Gateway which allows users to better interact with the LCCS and adapt it to their needs. The FAO LCCS is applicable to commercial use, national security, environmental protection, natural resource management, climate change mitigation and tracking of greenhouse gas emissions; and creates land classifications that are internationally transparent and comparable.

A landscape perspective is generally recognized as essential for conservation biology. The main underlying reason is that species respond to features of the landscape at various spatial scales, for example habitat area, connectivity, and matrix habitats. However, there is also an “historical” component of a landscape perspective, which has not received similar attention. The underlying reasons for historical effects are that humans have influenced landscapes during several millennia and that species and communities may respond slowly to land use change.

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) has been experiencing significant forest depletion since the 1980s, but there is little evidence to demonstrate the major causes and underlying drivers for the forest cover changes. In this study, we investigated the relationship between forest cover decrease and increase in the south of Lao PDR between 2006 and 2012 and selected physical and socio-economic factors.