Climate change is projected to substantially alter the hydrological cycles of mountainous regions, with pronounced consequences for the human settlements in these areas. Because projections of climatic changes and their environmental and societal impacts in local settings are uncertain, policies to reduce vulnerability and strengthen adaptation should be informed by ongoing processes in sites already exposed to climatic variability and change.

Historical tensions between Nigeria's pastoralist Fulani and settled indigenous farmers have intensified in recent years, with dwindling natural resources and land availability greatly contributing to the ongoing, escalating conflict in the north of the country. The urgent requirement to engage with, rather than isolate, Nigeria's Fulani from various socioeconomic and environmental management strategies is fundamental to peace and agricultural productivity in the region.

This article evaluates the equity performance of bulk water allocation as an irrigation management strategy in the Mahaweli Ganga Development Project, Sri Lanka. Through semi-structured interviews with farmers and irrigation officials, the study collected local perceptions using seven indicators: water rights; decision-making process; contribution of resources for irrigation maintenance; water allocation rules; actual water distribution; information sharing; and conflict resolution.

Farm typologies are a useful tool to assist in unpacking and understanding the wide diversity among smallholder farms to improve targeting of crop production intensification strategies. Sustainable crop production intensification will require the development of an array of nutrient management strategies tailored to farm-specific conditions, rather than blanket recommendations across diverse farms.

Since the 1950s, intensification and scale enlargement of agriculture have changed agricultural landscapes across Europe. The intensification and scale enlargement of farming was initially driven by the large-scale application of synthetic fertilizers, mechanization and subsidies of the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Then, after the 1990s, a further intensification and scale enlargement, and land abandonment in less favored areas was caused by globalization of commodity markets and CAP reforms.

Recent increases in farm real estate values in the United States have increased farm equity. By exploiting periods of high and low appreciation that caused various increases in wealth for farmers owning various shares of their farmland, we examine whether U.S. grain farmers expanded their acres harvested or acres owned in response to an increase in their land wealth. We find that land wealth had little effect on farm size. However, for similarly-sized farms, a larger ownership share (10 percentage points) led to an increase in the growth of land owned (2 percentage points).

The recent appreciation in agricultural land values across the United States has raised a number of important questions for farmers, farmland owners, lenders, and policy makers. While traditional economic theory suggests that farmland values are determined by the discounted stream of expected returns, previous research has shown that agricultural land values are actually driven by a complex set of factors.

BACKGROUND: Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) addresses the challenge of meeting the growing demand for food, fibre and fuel, despite the changing climate and fewer opportunities for agricultural expansion on additional lands. CSA focuses on contributing to economic development, poverty reduction and food security; maintaining and enhancing the productivity and resilience of natural and agricultural ecosystem functions, thus building natural capital; and reducing trade-offs involved in meeting these goals.

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia encompasses an extraordinary number of ecological zones and plant diversity. However, the diversity of plants is highly threatened due to lack of institutional capacity, population pressure, land degradation and deforestation. An adequate documentation of these plants also has not been conducted. The farmers in Ethiopia face serious and growing food insecurity caused by drought, land degradation and climate change. Thus, rural communities are dependent on underutilized wild edible plants to meet their food and nutritional needs.

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence indicates that some populations of European corn borer (ECB), Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner), have declined to historic lows owing to widespread adoption of Bt corn hybrids. To understand current ECB populations in Pennsylvania field corn, the authors assessed larval damage in Bt and non‐Bt corn hybrids at 29 sites over 3 years. The influence of Bt adoption rates, land cover types and moth activity on levels of ECB damage was also considered.

Understanding both the carbon dynamics within Australia’s northern savannas and the opportunities presented through diversification into carbon markets is of relevance to pastoral land managers both in Australia and globally. The Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC), through its role in assisting Indigenous people to acquire and manage land for cultural, social, environmental and economic benefits, has operated in the carbon market and is keen to continue working with its partners to explore the opportunities to develop and broaden this further.

In developing countries, the landscape surrounding agricultural land is important for maintaining biodiversity and providing ecosystem services. Forests provide a full suite of goods and services to subsistence farmers in the Himalayan agro-ecological system. The effects of biomass outtake on woody species richness and composition were analysed in forests under communal and government management. Interviews on forest use and perception of forest condition and ecosystem service delivery were conducted in farmer households bordering the forests.