Coproductie RPD Staring Centrum

This chapter explores the possibilities and limits of law and institutions as instruments for generating changes in environmental behaviour. First, an overview of the different schools of thought on law and natural resources is presented. It appears that the overall trend with regard to land and common property resources is orientated towards: 1) a bottom-up/sociological approach to the law-making process, and 2) devolution of powers to local communities in a setting of comanagement.

This paper outlines FAO's past and present activities on combating desertification, with particular emphasis on the Near East Region, in an attempt to mobilise all the potential efforts towards the establishment of an adequate strategy to enable this particular part of the world to build efficient regional and national programmes to combat resource degradation, restore land productivity and achieve food security.

The survey of tropical forests reported here was developed and implemented with the aim of providing detailed and reliable information on the process of on-going chenges in the tropical forest cover, in order to meet the needs of researchers, policy makers and the public at large.

In Lesotho, some externally financed agricultural development projects have appeared particularly prone to failure. One reason may be that, when designed, projects have not been subjected to sufficiently rigorous analysis, particularly with regard to expected farmers' response to extension messages.

The Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, organized in Leipzig, Germany 17-23 June 1996 (see this number of the Forest Genetic Resources bulletin [FGR]), adopted a Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.This plan excluded consideration of forest genetic resources, "..

This note on the Machobane system is based on information gathered by an FAO Investment Centre mission which visited Lesotho in July 1996 on behalf of the Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, to prepare the ground for the formulation of a Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Programme for possible IFAD financing. Observations of farmers attitudes and behaviour as well as relevant socio-economic data were collected in February 1996 in several villages of two Districts in Lesotho and are presented. See also the related FAO Investment Centre Occasional Paper N.

The hill areas of the country especially the Himalayan and the Western Ghats Regions, were recognised as areas which required to be given special attention for restoration of ecological balance. In pursuance of the policy of accelerating the development of hill areas in the country and at the suggestion of the National Development Council (1972) the centrally sponsored Western Ghats Development Programme (WGDP) was introduced in 1974-75 for integrated developoment of Western Ghats Region.