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Showing items 1 through 9 of 11.

Library Resource

Mapping for investability: remaking land and maps in Lesotho

Journal Articles & Books
January, 2016
Lesotho
Land & Investments
land information systems
cadastral maps
property law
property rights
Maps are instrumental in the commodiﬁcation of land and its exchange in markets. The critical cartog- raphy literature emphasizes the ‘‘power of maps” to (re)deﬁne property relations through their descrip- tive and prescriptive attributes. But how do maps work to achieve these outcomes? This paper examines the notion of maps as ‘‘inscription devices” that turn land into a commodity that can be bought and sold by investors. It is based on the analysis of a land reform project in the Southern African country of Lesotho.
Library Resource

Responding to mobility constraints: Recent shifts in resource use practices and herding strategies in the Borana pastoral system, southern Ethiopia

Journal Articles & Books
March, 2015
Africa, Ethiopia
Rangelands, Drylands & Pastoralism
land access
land administration
land use
pastoral land rights
pastoral lands
pastoralists
This paper investigates how Borana pastoralists of southern Ethiopia have adapted resource use and livestock mobility practices amid multiple constraints including rising population, loss of rangeland to other pastoral communities and changing access rights, among others. This study uses an innovative multi-scalar methodology to understand how herders' grazing management decisions are made within a context of communal regulations governing access to resources.
Library Resource

The IPBES Conceptual Framework — connecting nature and people

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
environment
assessment
The first public product of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is its Conceptual Framework. This conceptual and analytical tool, presented here in detail, will underpin all IPBES functions and provide structure and comparability to the syntheses that IPBES will produce at different spatial scales, on different themes, and in different regions.
Library Resource

Technical and institutional attributes constraining the performance of small-scale irrigation in Ethiopia.

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
Small-scale irrigation is playing an important role in adapting to climate change, achieving food security, and improving household incomes. The Ethiopian Government considers irrigated agriculture as a primary engine of economic growth and plans to increase the current level of irrigation infrastructure three-fold by the end of 2015. However, there has been concern regarding the performance and management of existing small-scale irrigation.
Library Resource

Surface organic carbon enrichment to explain greater CO2 emissions from short-term no-tilled soils.

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
climate change
The impact of agricultural practices on CO2 emissions from soils needs to be understood and quantified to enhance ecosystem functions, especially the ability of soils to sequester atmospheric carbon (C), while enhancing food and biomass production. The objective of this study was to assess CO2 emissions in the soil surface following tillage abandonment and to investigate some of the underlying soil physical, chemical and biological controls.
Library Resource

Quantifying Production Losses due to Drought and Submergence of Rainfed Rice at the households level Using Remotely Sensed MODIS data.

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
Combining remotely sensed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data with Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data, this study estimates losses in rainfed rice production at the household level. In particular, we estimated the rice areas affected by drought and submergence from remotely sensed MODIS data and rice production from Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data for 2000, 2005 and 2010. Applying two limit Tobit estimation method, this study demonstrated that both drought and submergence significantly affected rice production.
Library Resource

Managing Rainwater and Small Reservoirs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
Library Resource

Impacts of agricultural water interventions on farm income

An example from the Kothapally watershed, India

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
India, Southern Asia
Library Resource

Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
farmers
The importance of seed provisioning in food security and nutrition, agricultural development and rural livelihoods, and agrobiodiversity and germplasm conservation is well accepted by policy makers, practitioners and researchers. The role of farmer seed networks is less well understood and yet is central to debates on current issues ranging from seed sovereignty and rights for farmers to GMOs and the conservation of crop germplasm. In this paper we identify four common misconceptions regarding the nature and importance of farmer seed networks today.
Library Resource

Diversity in success: Interaction between external interventions and local actions in three rice farming areas in Benin

Journal Articles & Books
December, 2015
Benin, Africa, Western Africa
Since the rice crisis of 2007, the government of Benin has initiated many programmes for rice intensification. Comparison of three rice production areas shows that local rice production has indeed been increased by the facilities provided by the government programmes. Although broadly the same facilities (market outlet, credit, input, etc.) were provided to rice farmers in the three study areas, which are located close to one another, there are not only similar, but also some different outcomes with regard to farmers' practices.