This study provides an assessment of the impact of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)’s work in Ethiopia during the period of 1995–2010. From 1995 to 2004, nearly all of IFPRI’s Ethiopia work was undertaken by Washington-based research teams working on specific themes under various “global research programs” (GRPs). In each case, Ethiopia represented one of several case studies in a larger multicountry study.

Recent experience has shown that as countries get richer, nutritional status does not necessarily improve. In a recent article in the journal The Lancet, IFPRI researchers and others explain that creating the right conditions for nutritional advances often requires political action. The feature article in this issue of Insights looks at how some developing countries and regions—Ghana, Peru, Thailand, and the state of Maharashtra, India—have made nutrition a political priority and how they’ve turned political commitments into widespread changes on the ground.

Production of guidelines for best sustainable land management (SLM) technologies and approaches in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) has been part of TerrAfrica’s programme during 2009-2010. These guidelines and case studies are intended to help create a framework for investment related to SLM in SSA. The particular aim of these guidelines is to identify, analyse, discuss and disseminate promising SLM practices - including both technologies and approaches - in the light of the latest trends and new opportunities.

The WOCAT-LADA-DESIRE mapping tool is based on the original WOCAT mapping questionnaire (WOCAT, 2007). It has been expanded to pay more attention to issues such as biological and water degradation, it also places more emphasis on direct and socio-economic causes of these phenomena, including their impacts on ecosystem services. It evaluates what type of land degradation is actually happening where and why and what is being done about it in terms of sustainable land management (SLM) in the form of a questionnaire.

With the continual rise of global commodity prices and increasing population pressures worldwide, the future of agriculture is looking increasingly unstable. As a result of this escalating demand and intensification of unsustainable agricultural techniques, natural resources are facing an increasing threat of depletion.

This document is the first part of a two part manual on local level assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management:
? Part 1 ? Planning and Methodological Approach, Analysis and Reporting
? Part 2 ? Field Methodology and Tools

This document is the second part of a two part manual on local level assessment of land degradation and sustainable land management:

? Part 1 ? Planning and Methodological Approach, Analysis and Reporting

? Part 2 ? Field Methodology and Tools

The two parts should be used together as Part 1 provides the background information for the conduct of the methods and tools that are provided in Part 2.

One out of every three people on earth is in some way affected by land degradation. Latest

estimates indicate that nearly 2 billion ha of land worldwide – an area twice the size of China

– are already seriously degraded, some irreversibly. This includes large areas of cropland,

grassland, woodland and forest areas whose degradation reduces productivity, disrupts vital

ecosystem functions, negatively affects biodiversity and water resources, and increases

vulnerability to climate change.

The Occasional Paper Series published by the FAO Investment Centre covers technical briefs, research treatises and particularly useful case studies.

Although several institutional and management approaches that address the degradation of the rangelands have been tested in the dry areas of Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), impact has been limited. Nonetheless, the development of National Action Plans to combat desertification highlights the interest of governments to tackle this issue. Payment for Environmental Services (PES) may be a viable policy option, though, to date, most PES programs have focused on the management of different resources (forests, watersheds).

Institutions of collective action and systems of property rights shape how people use natural resources, and these patterns of use in turn affect the outcomes of people’s agricultural production systems. Together, mechanisms of collective action and property rights define the incentives people face for undertaking sustainable and productive management strategies, and they affect the level and distribution of benefits from natural resources.

Brief