This study analyses seven factors used to explain the conversion of forest to pasture in Central America between 1979 and 1994: 1) favourable markets for livestock products; 2) subsidised credit and road construction; 3) land-tenure policies; 4) limited technological change in livestock production; 5) policies which reduce timber values; 6) reduced levels of political violence; and 7) characteristics specific to cattle which make conversion attractive. Deforestation rates in Central America declined in the 1980s, but remained high.

The Bac Lieu Province in the Mekong Delta is part

of the Cà Mau Peninsula and is an important foodgrowing

area in Viet Nam. It has a population of

830,000 with approximately 116,000 farming families

living on small parcels of land producing a range of

commodities for food security and the export market.

These farmers and aquaculturalists1 (together called

producers in this report) are highly dependent on

accessing the right quality water, fresh or saline or

both, at the right time to grow their crops or raise

Secondary and logged-over tropical forests cover more than 600 million hectares. An international workshop held in Bogor (Indonesia) in November 1997 provided a forum of discussion on the research priorities for the sustainable management of secondary forests in Indonesia and more generally in South East Asia. Secondary forests were defined as: "woody vegetation regrowing on land whose previous forest cover was destroyed by at least 90 % by human activities or natural disaster".