Los últimos episodios de volatilidad extrema de los precios en los mercados agrícolas mundiales presagian mayores y más frecuentes amenazas a la seguridad alimentaria mundial. Para reducir la vulnerabilidad de los países, las políticas deberían equiparlos para que puedan hacer frente a los efectos adversos de una volatilidad extrema, y mejorar el funcionamiento del mercado.

Agri-environment schemes (AES) are central to the conservation of Europe's farmland biodiversity. The UK Government's Public Service Agreement target seeks to reverse the decline of farmland birds in England by 2020 through the use of AES. The Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme, introduced in 2005, is the first non-competitive, broad-uptake stewardship scheme designed to deliver simple but effective environmental management on farms throughout England.

The aim of this paper is to set-up the algorithm for determining the degree of workabilityof the soil, to help the owners of family farms to plan working hours of agricultural machines, i.e.with the machine park management. The plans, which would be made by use of these algorithmsand based on the accurate information of the cultivation conditions, would result in the appropriateuse of time and capacity of the agricultural machines. In some sectors, such as agriculture or certainindustries, chance that certain event occurs plays a very important role.

The development of synergies between efforts to mitigate land degradation and biological diversity decline can enhance effectiveness, speed up implementation and avoid potential conflicts. Due to the variable nature of these processes and to the variable characteristics of the areas where they occur, there is no general rule linking land degradation and biological diversity decline. Thus, a geographically limited approach focusing on drivers of change may provide a more appropriate base upon which synergies can be built. This exercise is undertaken for the case of northern Mediterranean.

In the vicinity of a city, farmers are confronted with increasing agricultural land prices and rents along the rural-urban gradient, but they concurrently enjoy the advantages associated with proximityto a larger and wealthier consumer base. We hypothesize that farmers transition fromlow-value, land-intensive \traditional" crops to high-value, labor-intensive \specialized" crops on parcels located closer to urban centers. Once returns to development of a parcel exceed theprofits associated with farming, exurban farmers may sell their land for conversion to urban use.

The impacts of agricultural practices and landscape composition on bee communities were investigated in 14 sites located in four Western European countries (Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland). Standardized interviews with farmers assessed agricultural practices in terms of agricultural inputs (nitrogen fertilization and pesticides), livestock density and crop types. The proportion of semi-natural habitats was calculated for each site. We showed negative effects of agricultural intensification on species richness, abundance and diversity of wild bees.

Temperate humid grazing lands are an important component of the landscape of the northeastern United States, as well as of the economy of this region. Unlike their European counterparts, little is known about the basic ecology of managed grasslands in this region. During an 8-year survey of 28 farms across the northeastern United States, we sampled the vegetation on 95 grazed plots, identifying 310 plant species, and collected data on topography, climate and soils.

Attempts to estimate the allowable maximum population density is well known in the history of game management in Latvia. Relatively permanent environmental features (e. g. landscape and forest structure) have been used for the assessment of carrying capacity of hunting grounds. Amount of the available winter feed was considered as a limiting factor for major game species in each landscape unit and forest type. While focusing on the actual abundance of feed, many other factors, including mutual interaction among species and populations, were overlooked.

The tsunami that originated from the Indian Ocean in 2004 wreaked massive destruction, killing more than 130,000 people and displacing half a million individuals in Aceh, Indonesia. More than 800 kilometers of coastline was affected, and close to 53,795 land parcels were destroyed. The land administration system sustained significant damage because documentation of land ownership was washed away along with people's houses and other possessions in the affected communities. Physical boundary markers, including trees and fences, also disappeared.

The paper aims to identify the rationality of peasant communities and their contribution to rural development in Kampong Thom province. To do so, the authors explore the dynamics of land use and land tenure, the strategies of labor force allocation as well as the determinants of land and labor agricultural productivities amongst peasant communities. The research is based on field surveys in two communes. The researchers also analysed changes based on time-series aerial photos.

Abstract: "Land-grabbing is occurring at a significant extent and pace in Southeast Asia; some of the characteristics of this land grab differ from those in regions such as Africa. At a glance, Europe is not a high profile, major driver of land-grabbing in this region, but a closer examination reveals that it nonetheless is playing a significant role. This influence is both direct and indirect, through European corporate sector and public policies, as well as through multilateral agencies within which EU states are members.

Uitgangspunt bij de visie op grondgebonden landbouw in de Randstad is, dat die grondgebonden landbouw een belangrijke drager is / blijft van de economie en de leefbaarheid van het landelijk gebied in de regio. Vraag is welke vraagstukken daarbij onderscheiden kunnen worden en welke sturingsmogelijkheden het ministerie heeft om ervoor te zorgen dat die grondgebonden landbouw die rol in de toekomst blijft vervullen