This paper investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy. Drawing production data from household survey conducted in the highlands of Ethiopia, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of variety richness, land degradation, and their interaction on the mean and the variance of wheat yield. Ethiopia is a centre of diversity for durum wheat and farmers manage complex variety mixtures on multiple plots.

In Ethiopia deforestation is a major problem and many peasants have switched from fuelwood to dung for cooking and heating purposes, thereby damaging the agricultural productivity of cropland. The Ethiopian government has embarked on a two-pronged policy in an effort to stem deforestation and the degradation of agricultural lands: (i) tree planting or afforestation; (ii) dissemination of more efficient stove technologies. The motivation in here is, therefore, to examine the potential of the strategy of disseminating improved stoves in the rehabilitation of agricultural and forests lands.

The study was caried out in Peru in 2003 and 2004. The study aims to increase the chances of future success of forest rehabilitation efforts by identifying the strategies that best contribute to long-term sustainability with minimal negative effects on stakeholders. Specifically, the study derives strategic lessons from the past and ongoing initiatives. The study identifies and disseminate the most promising approaches and incentives for rehabilitation in different ecological and socio-economic situations.

Rangeland condition assessment was conducted in the Borana lowlands, southern Ethiopia to determine the current status and future trend of the grazing land with emphasis on comparing different functional land use units, called Kalo, Worra and Foora. An approach that integrated data from herbaceous and woody plants, soil and pastoralists' perceptions was followed. Density and canopy cover of woody plants were determined in 123 plots of 500m2.

Most of the world’s poor work in the “informal economy” – outside of recognized and enforceable rules.
Thus, even though most have assets of some kind, they have no way to document their possessions
because they lack formal access to legally recognized tools such as deeds, contracts and permits.
The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) is the first global anti-poverty initiative
focusing on the link between exclusion, poverty and law, looking for practical solutions to the challenges

On the occasion of the International Year of Mountains-2002, FAO and its partners undertook a large-scale assessment and global review of the current status and future trends of integrated and participatory watershed management. The overall objectives were to promote the exchange and dissemination of experiences in implementing watershed management projects in the decade from 1990 to 2000 and to identify the vision for a new generation of watershed management programmes and projects.

This paper represents part of an area of work in support of enhancing access to land and forest resources in support of rural livelihoods in Mongolia. . This synthesis report draws on field studies undertaken recently in five rural areas of Mongolia, covering all ecological zones from montane and northern taiga forest to arid forest in the Gobi. Our findings document and explain, with case studies and documentation from participatory analysis, the downward cycle of resource depletion and descend into poverty that is in action.

The project objective is to recognize and promote multiple values of the rice-fish system for livelihoods, ecological and cultural preservation by evaluating policies, institutions and technological developments that impact on farmers’ practices of rice-fish system, and developing a network of demonstration sites and partners in provinces of Zhejiang and Guizhou, China.

About 88% of the population is concentrated in the highlands, which constitute less than half of the national territory; here the population density is 141 persons km-2. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood and national income in the country. Over 85% of the population directly depends on it and about half of the GDP is generated from the sector. However, agriculture is small-scale and subsistence oriented, and it is in a very low state of development.