Per 1 juli is de nieuwe versie van het Landelijk Grondgebruiksbestand Nederland (LGN5) beschikbaar gekomen. LGN5 is een landsdekkende bestand met een resolutie van 25 meter waarin 39 vormen van landgebruik worden onderscheiden. In het bestand worden de belangrijkste landbouwgewassen, bos, water, een aantal natuurklassen en enkele stedelijke klassen geïdentificeerd. Het bestand is gebaseerd op satellietbeelden uit de jaren 2003 en 2004.

This bulletin is issued by FAO as a medium for the dissemination of information and views on land reform and related subjects to the United Nations, FAO Member Governments and national and international experts and institutions. Articles are published in the original language (English, French or Spanish).

This issue of Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives offers the reader a series of articles and information related to the discussions that will take place in March 2006 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (7–10 March). Needs have changed and there are new dimensions to previous concerns. Gender issues have been integrated into FAO activities, and Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives has published articles on how the rights of rural women have or have not been taken into account in agrarian reform programmes.

This bulletin is issued by FAO as a medium for the dissemination of information and views on land reform and related subjects to the United Nations, FAO Member Governments and national and international experts and institutions. Articles are published in the original language (English, French or Spanish).

Millennium Development Goal Number Seven is particularly concerned with the safeguarding and provision of freshwater resources to all human.beings; this is a major challenge – and perhaps even the main challenge – for all the world’s drylands. SUMAMAD project aims at the sustainable management of marginal drylands, where the scarcity of water imposes restrictions for the productivity of each particular ecosystem. It is needed therefore to look into the entire water complex so as to promote a wise and sustainable water use. However,

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, shared his thoughts about how the global community can face the double challenge of protecting our environment and strengthening our economies. Brazil is working to turn this double challenge into a double dividend, by meeting energy needs that are essential for growth and fighting poverty, while leaving a smaller environmental footprint. Investing in the environment is investing in the future of the poor.

This article focuses on the role of environmental movements that have an influence on state policies regarding community forestry in Thailand. It analyses how conflicts between the state and local people over the right to manage forest resources have ceased to be seen as isolated incidents, but as part of a structural shortcoming in Thai law.

It may come as a paradox that while interest in tropical forests worldwide has been steadily growing in the last century, this has in no way halted the continued loss and degradation of one of earth's grandest terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, the extent and rate of degradation is accelerating. Some places have completely lost their original forests, while in others the structure and biomass of the forest have been irreparably damaged. Concern for this loss is not limited to the extinction of animal and plant species.

The 26 December 2004 earthquake and tsunami devastated the lives of millions. With considerable determination, local communities have joined national and international organizations and governments to bring relief and start the recovery work. FAO has been involved in assisting the affected countries in numerous ways so that agricultural activities may be resumed. While short-term assistance is indispensable, strategic planning for medium and long-term rehabilitation in collaboration with partners and governments is required for appropriate intervention.

The Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Project in the Philippines was initiated in August 2002 for the assessment of Philippine forest and tree resources as part of the framework of the Forest Resources Assessment Programme of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to support national forest assessments (NFA).

The preliminary conclusions put forward in this Rural Sector Note may be used as basis for further discussions between the Government and the World Bank to ascertain the mutual interest in any programme or project follow up.