This field manual contains definitions and procedures used to plan and perform a national forest inventory and assessment following the approach developed by the Forest Resources Assessment programme (FRA) of the FAO. The methodology, based on nation-wide field sampling, has already been tested and implemented in several countries since year 2000 (Costa Rica, Guatemala, Philippines, Cameroon and Lebanon).

An outcome of the second phase of a joint FAO-ESCAP pilot project, this document provides the study reports of three countries – Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar – in their efforts to transform their national water visions to action in the quest for better management of water resources in the region. The process of formulating national water visions serves as a guide for integrated water resources management in all sector activities and at all levels of water resources management.

Over the past two decades, political developments as well as macro-economic and extra-sectoral policies have affected the forests of Asia and the Pacific to an unprecedented extent, resulting in deforestation and forest degradation. Responding to the diminishing capacity of the region's natural forests to produce timber, many countries have turned to forest plantations. Governments and their respective forest agencies are asking what it takes to encourage non-government entities to grow trees.

Over the past two decades, political developments as well as macro-economic and extra-sectoral policies have affected the forests of Asia and the Pacific to an unprecedented extent, resulting in deforestation and forest degradation. Responding to the diminishing capacity of the region's natural forests to produce timber, many countries have turned to forest plantations. Governments and their respective forest agencies are asking what it takes to encourage non-government entities to grow trees.

FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Papers 465: The paper explores both the legal and the economic aspects of the management of each of the several different categories of shared stocks. In so doing, the paper draws heavily upon the results of the October 2002 Norway-FAO Expert Consultation on the Management of Shared Fish Stocks, and in particular upon those results arising from the many case studies presented at the consultation.

Mangroves produce a number of very valuable ecological benefits. However, these benefits are largely intangible and do not provide income or revenue for the managers of the mangroves or for other stakeholders living in and around them. Therefore, they are often considered as “wasteland” rather than as highly prized ecosystems. In order to capture the interest and understanding of all stakeholders in and around mangroves, it is important to try to convert some of this intangible ecological value into a monetary value.

This publication explores various aspects of the interface between water rights and land tenure. It is intended to synthetize and assess current learning on this topic, to define salient issues and to propose fruitful approaches for further investigation.

L’eau nécessaire pour produire notre nourriture quotidienne représente mille fois le volume d’eau que nous buvons chaque jour et cent fois celui nécessaire pour satisfaire les besoins domestiques des ménages. L’agriculture pluviale ne peut assurer seule l’approvisionnement en nourriture de la population du monde, et plus de 70 pour cent de l’eau que nous prélevons des rivières et des nappes aquifères sont destinés à l’agriculture irriguée. L’agriculture est la principale source de nourriture et de loin le premier secteur consommateur d’eau dans le monde.

Agriculture is coming under more and more pressure to justify its use of the world's freshwater resources and to improve its productive and environmental performance. The allocations of raw water to agriculture (and the allocations within the agriculture sector) all need to be negotiated in a transparent way. This report reviews the large set of literature on the subject and makes the case for the adoption of a functional approach to water valuation as a basis for such negotiation.

Les variations dans les définitions, aussi petites soient- elles, peuvent conduire à des résultats divergents. Les définitions constituent, par conséquent, les fondements de tout système d’informations et de connaissances. Les définitions établissent les limites conceptuelles et contextuelles autour des divers éléments d’un sous-ensemble ou d’un ensemble de données. L’efficacité d’une définition dans un contexte donné dépend de sa capacité à empêcher que le reste (sous-ensembles ou éléments) ne filtre au-delà des limites établies.

This document is the final report of the seventeenth session of the Fishery Committee for the Eastern-Central Atlantic (CECAF), which was held in Dakar, Senegal, from 24 to 27 May 2004.