The ongoing expansion of oil palm plantations in the humid tropics, especially in Southeast Asia, is generating considerable concern and debate. Amid industry and environmental campaigners’ claims, it can be hard to perceive reality. Is oil palm a valuable route to sustainable development or a costly road to environmental ruin? Inevitably, any answer depends on many choices. But do decision makers have the information they require to avoid pitfalls and make the best decisions? This review examines what we know and what we don’t know about oil palm developments.

This report aims to evaluate the economic, social and ecological impacts of large-scale land concessions to plant rubber and make recommendations for the future management of land in Lao PDR. Study focused on Champassak and Salavane provinces from July 2007 to July 2008. It was the product of a collaboration between the Centre for Research and Information on Land and Natural Resources of the National Land Management Authority, Office of Prime Minister, Laos, the Foundation for Ecological Recovery, and the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University.

In de provincie Limburg is er steeds meer discussie tussen overheden, de landbouwsector en maatschappelijke organisaties over de inrichting van het landelijk gebied in relatie tot de landbouwproductieruimte en andere maatschappelijke gewenste opgaven (groene, blauwe, maar ook rode opgaven). De provincie Limburg wilde graag door uitvoering van een strategisch onderzoek inzicht en ondersteuning in de vraag welke maatregelen en instrumenten ontbreken c.q.

There are millions of hectares of land in the Ukraine which either have been abandoned, or are farmed with a low land productivity due to severe land degradation. The Netherlands Embassy has requested a study to assess the opportunities and benefits of restoration of degraded steppe areas. The goal of this project is the restoration of degraded land and to develop more sustainable land use with a higher biodiversity. Innovative farming systems are proposed which are both economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural production systems.

Vegetation degradation and desertification occur in many semiarid ecosystems worldwide, particularly in the Western Mediterranean Basin. A peculiar semiarid Mediterranean land use system dominates the landscape of southern Portugal where cork oak (Quercus suber) is the main tree species.

Forests, trees and woodlands cover almost one-third of the Earth’s land area. They are a crucial source of food and income for more than a billion people around the globe. They provide a variety of wood and non-wood products and vital ecosystem services – preventing erosion from wind and water, preserving water quality, shading crops and livestock, absorbing carbon which contributes to countering climate change, and providing habitat for many species of plants and animals, thus helping to conserve the planet’s biological diversity.

The biomass of forest vegetation expands in all EU countries. This review analyses the long-term development of forest vegetation and, thereby, the sequestration of carbon in forest biomass in the EU, country by country. The sequestration estimates and their uncertainties are assessed focusing on the period 1990-2006. The most recent estimates are compared with those for earlier times. A case study from Finland is presented, which helps understand the causal mechanisms affecting long-term sequestration of carbon in forest vegetation on a centennial scale.

A combined agronomic and geographic approach has helped to explain forest agrosystem spatio-temporal dynamics in the forest regions of Guinea. The important expansion of cropping systems associating various perennial crops (coffee, kola, cocoa, fruit trees) and native spontaneous forest species – called “agroforests”- has been observed in 3 villages of the Kobela area. This spatial dynamic can be considered as the renewing of an ecosystem dominated in the past by forest.

A combined agronomic and geographic approach has helped to explain forest agrosystem spatio-temporal dynamics in the forest regions of Guinea. The important expansion of cropping systems associating various perennial crops (coffee, kola, cocoa, fruit trees) and native spontaneous forest species – called “agroforests”- has been observed in 3 villages of the Kobela area. This spatial dynamic can be considered as the renewing of an ecosystem dominated in the past by forest.

Replaced with revised version of paper 06/26/09.

This study aims to document various community efforts in land rehabilitation and assess their potential. Data were captured using interviews and focus group with 150 community members. A public participation index was used to establish the extent of community efforts in land rehabilitation. The study revealed that in the absence of proper management and dune stabilisation, large areas covered with mobile sand dunes continue to be a threat to grazing lands in northern Kenya. In recognition of this threat, the people of North Horr have launched several initiatives to contain the problem.