This conmpendium of recent sustainable development initiatives in the field of agriculture and land management has been developed as a supporting document for the Task Manager's Report on the Land and Agriculture Cluster for Chapters 10, 12 and 14 of Agenda 21. The report draws together 75 cases from over 45 countries, illustrating the many features of improved land management and sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Extensive grazing is the predominant form of land use on at least a quarter of the world’s land surface, in which livestock are raised on food that comes mainly from rangelands. Extensive grazing differs from crop or forestry production, in which the produce remains in situ whilst growing. Evaluation for extensive grazing, unlike that for cropping or forestry, must take into account the production of both grazing forage, termed primary production, and the livestock that feed on this forage, termed secondary production.

At the request of its member countries, FAO has been carrying out global forest resources assessments (FRA) since 1947, in collaboration with countries and other partners, notably the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The global FRA reports on the worldwide status and trends of forest resources, their management and uses. It is based on nationally validated data from national forest inventories and assessments.

Issues relating to land and land reform have been moving up the agenda of rural poverty and food security in recent years with the increasing acceptance that the prerequisites for broad-based and equitable development include the essential need for people to have access to land and other natural resources. Access needs to be on an equitable basis allowing the poor and the disadvantaged, including women, to secure the assets needed for them and their families to generate sustainable livelihoods.

From the outset, the development of agriculture has been strongly associated

with women’s endeavour. In fact, women’s contribution to agriculture goes

back to the origins of farming and the domestication of animals when the first

human settlements were established more than 6 000 years ago. Over the

years, the division of responsibilities and labour within households and

communities tended to place farming and nutrition-related tasks under

women’s domain. Nowadays, in many societies women continue to be mainly

This background paper intends to highlight key issues surrounding the impact of HIV/AIDS on land, particularly at the rural household level in Southern and Eastern Africa. It also serves as an introduction to three country reports commissioned by the Sub-Regional Office for Southern and Eastern Africa of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on the impact of the epidemic on land issues. These studies are focused on Kenya, Lesotho and South Africa.

This bulletin gives an overview of the ninth session of the working party on Soil Classification and Survey of the European Commission on Agriculture that took place in Ghent, Belgium, in september 1973. It presents the papers, discussions and recommendations developed during the meeting. A methodology of land evaluation is being developed in FAO and will be used for the interpretation of the FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World with a view to making a global evaluation of the land resources available for agricultural development.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),

ratified by 175 countries, is the only human rights treaty that deals specifically with rural

women. This study, undertaken jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the

International Land Coalition (ILC), analyses information on the status of rural women as provided

in selected reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against

The development of agricultural technologies and a better appreciation of the existing but under-utilised knowledge of resource management will be crucial in meeting the ecological needs and in achieving the anticipated food demands of the growing population in the future. The greatest challenge for the coming decades lies in the fact that the production environments are unstable and degrading. Land degradation is proceeding so fast that unless policies and approaches change, many countries will not be able to achieve sustainable agriculture in the foreseeable future.

Reliable subsurface drainage systems for groundwater table and salinity control are needed to

maintain or enhance the productivity of irrigated lands and to contribute to the rural development

of lowlands in the humid tropics.

The purpose of this Paper is to provide this practical information to drainage engineers and

contractors. This Paper is based on the current knowledge of water flow into drainpipes and

envelopes, their properties and applicability.

A report of the proceedings of the October 2001 regional consultation on the above theme, the document explains the urgent need for arresting and reversing the decline in investment in land and water development in Asia-Pacific countries. Land and water investment priorities include coping with worsening land degradation, increasing productivity of the region’s large rainfed areas and modernising wasteful water delivery and irrigation systems.

The papers presented here formed a part of the background documentation of an Expert Consultation on Land Evaluation for Rural Purposes, which was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in co-operation with the University of Agriculture and the International Institute for Land Reclamation and Improvement, Wageningen, Netherlands. The meeting was held at the International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen, 6-12 October 1972.