The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project, MLIKE (Mekong Land Information and Knowledge Exchange),  and the Land Portal co-facilitated an online dialogue on “Responsible Large Scale Agricultural Investments in the Mekong Region” on 09-27 October 2017. The full dialogue can be read here. This report delineates the key messages emerging from the dialogue.

The  study  looks  into  the  work  of  two  organizations-  the  Foundation  for  Ecological Security (FES) and BAIF Research Foundation, towards Common Land Developmentin the two States of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

This study was commissioned by the South Asia Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Programme (SAPPLPP), a joint nitiative of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

The study was undertaken to identify pertinent and emerging issues that have implications for biodiversity conservation and livelihoods and the inter-relationship between them. A detailed review of the current national and state policies was undertaken along with the strategies being implemented by the government and various multi-lateral and bi-lateral agencies and other organizations, focused especially in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa as provided in the scope of the study.

RCDC pursued a bio-resource governance programme during the period of 2009-11 in four tribal districts of Odisha with an objective of developing model GPs on bioresource governance. Land use being a major factor in natural resource governance, changes in land utilization, particularly forest land diversion, has been a matter of concern for these areas. In this backdrop, RCDC intended for an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of the changes in land utilization pattern in the state with focus on forest land diversion.

The Hill Area Development Program (HADP) has been introduced by the Government of India to initiate socio economic development in the hill areas of India since the inception of the Fifth Five Year Plan. The main objective of this program is to ensure „sustainable‟ development of hill areas, keeping in view the basic needs of the hill people and generating ample livelihood options for the local community. With the progress of the Five Year plans, the focus has been shifting to preservation of biodiversity and rejuvenation of hill ecology.

The Border Area Development Programme (BADP) was introduced in the Seventh Plan as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) with the objective of infusing a sense of security among the people and building the much needed social and physical infrastructure to propel normal development activities.

This paper examines 30 years of experience in zones, reviewing development patterns and economic impacts of zones worldwide. The experience shows that while zones have been effective in addressing economic growth and development objectives, they have not been uniformly successful; successes in East Asia and Latin America have been difficult to replicate, particularly in Africa, and many zones have failed.

The study conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh aims to evaluate the effects of creation of assets on lands of Small and Marginal Farmers, Scheduled Cast /Scheduled Tribe  and Indira Awas Yojana Beneficiaries. 

The report, prepared by the Indian Environment Law Offices, offers insights on mainstreaming Shifting Cultivation or Jhum through innovative interventions, such as Participatory Land Use Planning into policy, legal and institutional framework in Nagaland and help the state realize its full development potential.

The study assessed the biodiversity impact of the project supported by UNDP and the Government of Madhya Pradesh to support local communities in rehabilitating degraded forest, generating sustainable livelihoods and protecting the areas rich ecosystem. The project was supported by the Global Environment Facility.

Background:

The wild relatives of crops represent a major source of valuable traits for crop improvement. These resources are threatened by habitat destruction, land use changes, and other factors, requiring their urgent collection and long-term availability for research and breeding from ex situ collections. We propose a method to identify gaps in ex situ collections (i.e. gap analysis) of crop wild relatives as a means to guide efficient and effective collecting activities.

Methodology/Principal Findings: