This paper looks at the dynamics of land and violent conflict. It states that conflict situations in rural societies deeply affect the politics of land, and that land requires a careful approach by policy makers because it is a central element in the evolution of societies. As a result, policies pertaining to land are not neutral in terms of conflict management.The paper argues that donors seeking to promote peace and development should tackle land issues in recipient countries more systematically, more carefully and in a more coherent manner.

South African president Mbeki has characterised the developmental challenge in his country in terms of integrating the structurally disconnected ‘two economies’. On the one hand the modern industrial, mining, agricultural, financial and services sector, and on the other the ‘third world economy’ found in those urban and rural areas where the majority of poor people live.This draft chapter challenges this characterisation and focuses on the rural dimensions of the ‘two economies’ debate.

Implementing the land reform, territories of farms were quite often formed of several - up to 20 - land plots, frequently with disadvantageous borders. With reorganization of production of the farms, rural development and activities of land market, importance and tasks of rational territory organization will grow. Besides, it can be forecasted that, as a result of land rent and further buy-sell and other transactions, many new farmland properties and land uses are going to appear which might not correspond to the requirements of rational territory organization.

The sustainable development of rural areas nowadays faces the challenges of global changes. This paper aims to review the concept of land use and landscape multi-functionality in order to help adapting land and landscape use to the new social, economic and ecological demands. In this respect, the paper utilises the findings of a case study conducted in Bulgaria.The authors illustrate that multi-functionality as a qualitative characteristic combines economic with ecological principles in production and improves the end economic results in the given rural area.

Rural landscape of the southern part of Lithuania as well as its use is analysed in the article. The defects of land reclamation system cause the rise of deserted lands. Dampness and bagged up soils are a large obstacle for the proper use of deserted lands. One more reason is lands of low productivity. The third reason of the rise of deserted lands is the shortage and default of perspective farmers and agricultural companies who are able to lease and cultivate land.

A sample of 24 districts (1/3 of the Czech Republic) was used to evaluate the land market. Land prices depended on the area, culture and region of the plot. Sales of small plots (up to 1 ha) prevailed. These plots were usually purchased for non-agricultural use and their prices were many times higher than prices of large plots (above 5 ha) which are usually bought for agricultural purpose. Land market is not well developed, only 0.2-0.4% of the monitored area was sold each year. Compared with land prices in the west EU countries, land market prices in the Czech Republic are low.

Almost two decades have passed since China first enacted legislation to protect farmland from conversion to nonagricultural use. Yet hundreds of thousands of hectares of agricultural land are still developed to urban area each year, raising the question of whether the legislation is effective in preserving farmland from development. This paper examines the effectiveness of the Basic Farmland Protection Regulation in protecting high-quality farmland from urban development in China in the first decade after it came into effect (1995‒2005).

This research has been undertaken to improve our understanding of stakeholders’ knowledge and perception about ecosystem services (ES), which provides a valuable means of gaining insight into the opportunities and constraints that face ES management in a multiuser landscape. Land use preferences are influenced by a variety of motives, attitudes, and values intrinsic to every individual’s decisionmaking. Knowledge can affect attitudes and behavioral intentions, and a positive attitude toward the environment has been found to predict conservation practices.

Rapid population growth in many developing countries has raised concerns regarding food security and household welfare. To understand the consequences of population growth on in the general equilibrium setting, we examine the dynamics of population density and its impacts on household outcomes using panel data from Indonesia. More specifically we explicitly highlight the importance of migration to urban sectors in the analysis. Empirical results show that human capital in the household determines the effect of increased population density on per capita household consumption expenditure.

An increasing body of research is focusing on the question of how poor agricultural households will both perceive and be affected by climate change. In view of its predicted effects, the need to identify effective adaptation strategies is urgent.

This study was undertaken to assess if various drought-proofing and drought-relief programs are effective in mitigating the impact of droughts on crop production and household consumption in rural Bihar, India. This study is relevant as Bihar has experienced four drought years since 2009. The drought in 2009 led to an increase in the number of poor people in the state from 2004-2005 to 2009-2010, in spite of rapid growth of gross domestic product in this period.

In this chapter we use the village household survey data to quantify the effects of the green revolution on farm production, income, and employment; the changes in family income and consumption of farm and nonfarm households; and the changes in the distribution of land. There are four problems with the data set that complicate our task.