This chapter summarises the key insights from the case studies included in the book. First, it discusses the technology-deforestation link in six different types of cases: developed countries, commodity booms, shifting cultivation, permanent upland (rainfed) agriculture, irrigated (lowland) agriculture, and cattle production. Next, it returns to the hypotheses presented in the book, and discusses the key conditioning factors in the technology-deforestation link. A number of factors determine the outcome.

This paper describes the start of a data sharing process to develop a consolidated community cropland map, which was initiated through a recent workshop on characterizing and validating global agricultural land cover. Participants from different organizations around the world were asked to contribute their various cropland maps prior to the workshop. Other data such as geo-tagged photos, in-situ data, classified satellite images and videos also were provided as part of this process. The data are now available online at agriculture.geo-wiki.org.

Climate change demands new approaches to agriculture: farmers’ practices will need to change to adapt to and mitigate the effects of changing conditions. Addressing gender inequality is key to ensuring this outcome. Agriculture is a fundamental part of women’s livelihoods globally, most markedly in least developed countries, where four-fifths of economically active women report agriculture as their primary economic activity1 . More women are moving into agriculture as men move elsewhere for seasonal or paid labor.

Tropical peatlands are among the largest pedologic pools of organic carbon. This study compared soil CO2 fluxes in an intact peat swamp forest, a transitional logged drained forest and an oil palm plantation located on the same alluvial peat plain (peat dome) in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia. Dynamic closed chambers were used to measure soil CO2 efflux from January to September 2012. Chambers were placed in pairs, with one close to a tree/palm and the other at mid-distance to the next tree/palm.

This study examines the socioeconomic features that underpin the expansion of groundwater-dependent irrigation in Northern State, Sudan. Groundwater development in the region serves as an economic lifeline given the poor Nile-based irrigation infrastructure and future changes in Nile hydrology. Groundwater-dependent irrigation is found to be expanding in previously uncultivated regions increasingly distant from the Nile.

In April of 2010, Drs. Mario Herrero and Philip Thornton of the International Livestock Research Institute contracted with Drs. Boone and Conant to create a global rangeland model of moderate complexity. Boone was funded for a 50 day effort, and Conant for ca. 40 days. An opportunity to prepare a manuscript for a special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science arose, and Conant took the lead in that effort. Boone created the rangeland model, called G-Range, with input from Conant, drawing upon existing models and new information (see Acknowledgements).

Traditionally, the spread and extent of human settlement beyond the major riparian zones of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and across many other arid regions of the world, has been determined by availability of groundwater supplies, accessed through hand-dug wells andsprings. In more recent times, groundwater is the preferred means of supplying water to meet the growing demand of the rural, dispersed communities and the small urban towns across SSA.

Making sure that we will continue to have enough to eat is at the heart of our shared ambitions to mitigate climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the convention that has guided us through the highs and lows of 18 rounds of annual negotiations, states upfront that the reasons to stabilise emissions are threefold: to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally , to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner and to ensure that food production is not threatened .

Making sure that we will continue to have enough to eat is at the heart of our shared ambitions to mitigate climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the convention that has guided us through the highs and lows of 18 rounds of annual negotiations, states upfront that the reasons to stabilise emissions are threefold: to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally , to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner and to ensure that food production is not threatened .

This introductory chapter sets the scene for the discussion in the edited volume on how new agricultural affects tropical forests. It critically reviews four hypotheses that have been central in the claim that better technologies help protect forests: the Borlaug, the subsistence, the economic development and the land degradation-deforestation hypotheses. Each of them appears to be valid only under certain restrictive conditions. The chapter then gives the aims and scope of the book, the key conclusions, as well as a summary of each of the chapters.

This Working Paper summarizes research conducted as part of the AgWater Solutions Project in Zambia from 2009 to 2012. Approximately 48 million hectares (Mha) of land in Zambia are suitable for agricultural use. An estimated 67% of the Zambian labor force is employed in the agriculture sector. Researchers from the AgWater Solutions Project examined ways of improving the motor pump supply chain, how to make better use of small reservoirs and improving the function of horticultural markets. Researchers also explored gendered aspects of agricultural systems.