This report, published by the World Bank/REDD-net, examines the nature of Indonesia’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) regulatory framework. The manner in which benefits from REDD+ should be distributed amongst actors from local to national level is a contested subject; the report describes the Indonesian Government’s draft rules for REDD+ investment, an alternative or complementary approach based upon the creation of a nationally managed revenue sharing system and the relationship between national and provincial rules.

Recent large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural production, also known as land grabbing, have attracted headline attention. However, water as both a target and driver of this phenomenon has been largely ignored in the debate. This special issue of Water Alternatives aims to fill this gap and to widen the perspective beyond the limited focus on agriculture-driven resource grabbing.

This report focuses on the promotion of economic growth and improving ecosystem protection within Brazil’s rural landscape.

This report provides key data and recommendations on the sustainable development of four commodities driving land use change in North Sumatra, Indonesia - coffee, cocoa, palm oil and rubber. The report seeks to assess the current and future situation in the districts of Mandailing Natal, Tapanuli Selatan and Tapanuli Utara, taking into account both economic and conservation perspectives.

This report evaluates the progress achieved in forest management by indigenous people and local communities, which was set as a key objective at the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This guidebook by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) project describes crop and livestock management technologies and practices that contribute to climate change mitigation while improving crop productivity and reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers. It focuses on six broad mitigation measures: cropland management; livestock management; manure/bio-solid management; bioenergy; grazing land management/pasture improvement; and the management of organic soils and restoration of degraded lands.

How can integrative analysis (IA) of city systems improve understanding of the links between environmental and social problems? Can this analysis inform future decision- making? Collaborative research by the Australian National University and Mahidol University, Thailand, uses IA to analyse environmental problems, land use, and behaviour patterns in Bangkok. Do the roots of the city’s environmental problems lie in the nature of decision-making by stakeholders at every level, as the article suggests?

The agriculture sector faces the challenge of providing adequate food to a growing world population. There is limited scope to expand arable land, and unpredictable weather, floods, and other disastrous events make food production even more challenging. This guidebook provides information on 22 technologies and options for adapting to climate change in the agriculture sector.

The economic advantages of improved agro forestry fallow systems over traditional continuous cropping systems are important tools that can be used to influence the choice of land use options at household levels. In Kigezi highlands Uganda, the upper parts of farmers’ crop field terraces are degraded due to continuous cropping. Improved fallows are being promoted in order to increase soil productivity while increasing fuelwood production.

This study compares the contributions of climate change and socioeconomic development to potential future changes of agricultural land use in West Africa.

It uses a prototype land use projection (LandPro) algorithm which is based on a balance between food supply and demand, and accounts for the impact of socioeconomic drivers on the demand side and the impact of climate-induced crop yield changes on the supply side. It considers the impact of human decision-making on land use.

This paper provides a brief review on the global and Malaysian perspective of climate change, and its impacts on Malaysian agriculture and relevant adaptation practices. It also provides policy recommendations for better coping with the changing nature of climatic factors. Changing climate has had negative impacts on Malaysian agriculture, including: water stress; worsening soil condition, disease, pest outbreaks on crops and livestock; and sea-level rise.

A workshop held in Midrand, South Africa, in May 2011 brought together policy and decision-makers, researchers and practitioners to discuss water security issues in eastern and southern Africa. This proceedings document summarises the workshop's outcomes with the aim of:

improving the understanding of water security
identifying opportunities to better address challenges faced by individual countries and sectors
highlighting areas for further research
identifying immediate opportunities for development projects.