In this paper, we use an actor-oriented perspective to explore the nature and extent of conflict and negotiation with regard to land use and tenure among the Iban of Sarawak. The Iban are shifting cultivators who have long been involved in smallholder cash crops.

In this report the authors aim to assess and evaluate historic and current changes in land use and forestry at the national and sub-national level in Sri Lanka. Different drivers, policies and data related to forest and land use are assessed to explore factors that have contributed to changes.

These are the main conclusions of the report:

One of local government authorities is the implementation of land use planning. Due to implementation land use planning, controlling is needed as effort for the implementation is appropriate with the planning. According to Spatial Planning Act No.26/2007, land use control instruments are zoning regulation, permit, incentive and disincentive, and sanction. In Indonesia, zoning regulation is new instrument and only a few of city that have made and uses zoning regulation as land use control instrument.

Sustainable economic development is essential for hundreds of millions of poor households in rural areas. This book represents a merger of environmental science and rural development economics. It elucidates the linkage between rational choice theory and theories on land use change. It builds a quantitative framework to connect the environmental method of Material Flow Analysis to basic issues of rural development such as agricultural intensification and food security.

From forest clearing to landslides, then private claims to ownership, and with diversion of streams causing new landslides, a progression of environmental crises is tracked over time. The paper provides a timeline of 23 major events affecting the health of Rupa Lake and its wetlands (1952-2005). By 1986 government efforts were launched to control flooding and landslides, building check dams and planting trees. A Community Forestry Program to support local ownership and control of forests was begun.

The wetlands around the estuaries of Ogun River and its environs in Ikorodu/Kosofe areas of Lagos State remain unprotected. 60 per cent of Lagos metropolis was originally natural wetlands. This study tackles the quantification of land use/landcover (especially wetlands), causes, land use dynamics and the health implications through direct observations using remote sensing, surveys, disease vector studies, nutritional supply studies and GIS modelling within an ecosystem approach.

Land use change results from the interaction between the human and the natural system and therefore various scientific disciplines have developed paradigms and methods to study land use change. However, these disciplinary approaches can only cover part of the complex system of land use change. The objective of this dissertation is to develop interdisciplinary methodologies to identify and integrate factors that are important in the land use system to describe and model the land use system in a comprehensive manner.

The study explores the relationship between decentralization and conflict, comparing two case studies in Cambodia and the Philippines. It addresses to what degree and in what ways decentralization influences conflicts that are related to natural resources management (NRM), especially where local institutions are often unrepresentative of, and unaccountable to local communities. In developing countries, the research indicates that sufficient time is an essential component for bringing about genuine and effective local governance, as well as being a means for averting conflict.