The Kalu Ganga Basin in Sri Lanka is generally flooded once a year. A network of low-lying lands acts as natural retention and storage that captures floodwater, minimizing damage. An increase in the flood frequency has been observed in recent years. It is commonly perceived that this increase is caused by a rise in the frequency and severity of ‘very wet’ precipitation events. We conclude that land-use changes may have played a larger role in generating floods.

Traditionally, Indian farmers kept bovines, especially cattle, for draught purposes in agriculture and transportation with milk as an adjunct. However, with increasing farm mechanization and rising demand for milk, the bovine functions have shifted more towards dairying. While bovine population has been increasing, the chronic scarcity of feed and fodder reinforces the need for optimization of bovine population for sustainable growth of dairying.

With increasing pressures from global changes (urbanization, climate change, etc.), cities in Africa will experience difficulties in efficiently managing water resources. Most of the urbanization in Africa over the next 30 years will occur in fast-growing small towns that lack mature infrastructure. This offers a unique opportunity to implement innovative solutions based on integrated urban water management (IUWM). While IUWM approaches have been widely reported in the literature, their application has been limited.

The countries in North Africa share an arid and semi-arid environment with high diversity: mountainous areas run alongside maritime areas and desert. Currently, urban dwellers in North Africa represent more than 50% of the population and are expected to be more than 60% by 2030. However, the urban system in North Africa is suffering urban primacy. The region is well known for its endowment in mineral deposits such as oil and gas. However, it is also known for being one of the poorest regions in the world in water resources.

The report considers the critical issues providing the context for discussing land issues affecting West Africa as a region. These include the political, social and economic context, colonial legacy and legal plural systems, the operations of regional economic communities and other regional initiatives, impact of demography, migration and urbanization, conflicts and post-conflict issues, as well as shared resources and ecosystems.

La législation relative à l'urbanisme ou pour reprendre l'expression

précitée, la legislation relative aux activites qui consistent à organiser l'urbanisrae et l'aménanement du térritoire, est, pour autant que j'achède création assez récente.

Habitat: United Nations Conference of Human Settlements, held in Vancouver in 1976, recommended that 'A national policy for human settlements and the environments should be an integral part of any national economic and social development policy.

This second issue of the biennial series of the African Compendium of

Environment Statistics, presents environmental and environment-related data for the African region. Like the first issue, it is also in many ways experimental but covers wider topics. A special feature of this issue is greenhouse gas emissions and mineral production in Africa.